Desktop on the go

[kristian221]

My laptop just has a 120GB SSD in it for storage, as that is all I needed for school purposes with the bonus of a fast startup. However it is also a decent gaming machine and it would be nice to play my games on the go. My initial thought was to Buy that 120GB SSD (which I already have) and get a hot swappable external drive so I can just pop the HDD out of my desktop and stick it into my laptop. Sounds like a good idea at first glance but not only is there not really any hot swap external enclosures out there, but a lot of save data is stored in the documents folder of the OS drive in my desktop.

So my question is simple yet complicated, is there a way to basiclly be bringing with all the data of my desktop with me, other than having to remove both the Gaming HDD and the OS SSD from the desktop and take them with me?

[ppe1700]

Could you just store your documents and things on an external HD and carry that with you?

[JeremyCT]

A 120GB drive should have enough free space for a game or two. If you're playing a Steam game, they often save to "the cloud" so your saves are accessible from any computer.

What you describe is possible, but a pain. You'd need to copy the save game directories from your desktop Users folder to the game drive, then copy it from the game drive to the proper Users folder on the laptop after plugging it in. Also, running a game from an external hard drive would be pretty painful unless it's connected via a USB3.0 or eSATA interface.

[kristian221]

eSATA yes. There is no other way? No software or solution?

[thideras]

You don't want to download a game every time you want to play it, do you? An external hard drive is pretty much the only solution.

[kristian221]

Not at all. I thought maybe they had made a way to basicly link your desktop and computer, sounds like they are getting pretty close to that though. I dream of days when a laptop opens up to reveal your home computers desktop :P But external is the only way to go eh? The new rig I will be building has hot swap drive bays so getting drives in and out won't be a problem, but know any sort of external enclosure that is hot swap to make it easy to pack up and go without the use of a screwdriver?

[TiZakit]

Dropbox might be a solution for your game saves.

[kristian221]

I believe dropbox will be my solution to files that are stored out of the game directory, now i just need to find a hot swapable external hard drive :)

[thideras]

Use a normal USB one and keep a copy on the mobile drive. Otherwise, you are going to be spending a lot more.

[kristian221]

Use a normal USB one and keep a copy on the mobile drive. Otherwise, you are going to be spending a lot more.

Think you could clarify a bit more? I do not quite understand sorry :( . I basicly want to be able to pull the drive right out of the desktop (It is the thermaltake G10 case, so it has hot swap) and be able to throw it in my bag and be on my way. I now have all my data and it can plug directly into my laptop. Now I know that is only in an ideal world and there is currently no safe way to do that, but I would like to come as close as possible to that and for the purpose of learning lets say price is not a factor at all.

Also I suppose this is a diffrent question than what the original post, should this be a diffrent thread or is this ok?

[thideras]

It is up to you, but you should probably keep it in this thread for context.

What you want doesn't really exist, short of getting a hotswap by for your desktop (~$80) and getting an external drive that can take a drive quickly. You'd have to unbolt it from the sled for the desktop and install it in the external drive. This is quite a bit of work if you do it often.

The easiest option is to get a USB/eSATA drive, copy what you want from the desktop to the external drive and take that with you. Or, if it was eSATA/USB3, you could simply use the external drive as the location for your games, which would be easily detachable and no copy would be required.

[kraven]

Have you thought about remoting into your desktop?

Sure, there's a latency penalty so it might not work for some of your games but it's an option.

[ziggo0]

Sometimes in laptops you an sacrifice your DVD drive and rig up a HDD...Ive got several 500gb seagate external drives that are powered via USB, works great.

[kristian221]

Have you thought about remoting into your desktop?

Sure, there's a latency penalty so it might not work for some of your games but it's an option.

Currently this is not possible. I would not mind latency at all but its simply just not possible yet. We are getting close though, will probably see it fully working within the next several years.

[jaco5604]

you could buy one of those wireless hdd from seagate :)