From Leo's mailbag:
> From: A Computer User
> Sent: July 31, 2005
> To: Ask Leo!
> Subject: laptop disk space options
>
> Leo,
> Alright, Currently I am using a Dell XPS laptop that is
> working perfectly, except I have one problem, I have run out
> of hard drive space. So now I'm looking for a solution and
> I'm wondering which route would be either the most plausible
> or if either would even work. So basically, I want to know
> what the best solution is for having more hard drive space
> that I can use for games or programs. First idea, Can I get
> an internal notebook hard drive (about 100gig), take out my
> current 60gig hard drive, and convert the 60gig into an
> external hard drive, or could I save myself some trouble by
> just getting an external usb hard drive and still be able to
> run programs (mainly newer/high end games) smoothly? The 2nd
> would be easier, but I'm wondering if it would still work to
> play games and stuff. And if you have any better solutions, I
> would be pleased to hear them, this is just what I've thought up.
Well, installing the 100gig drive in the laptop and transferring
everything to it would be the most compact solution, but would be
an aweful lot of work (reinstalling the world).
USB 2.0 drives are fast, but I'm not certain they'd be fast
enough for game play - it depends on the game, really. What
they ARE fast enough for is data transfer.
Sooooo in your shoes I'd go either of two ways:
1) get an external hard drive, and just move non-speed critical
data to it. Keep running the OS, and your games, from your built
in drive, and move other things to make room. This is perhaps the
simplest approach.
2) If you really want that 100gig drive, then I'd install it in
the laptop, reinstall the OS and other applications, and then get
a USB adapter for the 60gig drive to make transferring data over
to the 100gig drive easier. But I'd reinstall the game to the 100gig
drive.
Hope that makes sense,
Thanks for asking!
Leo