External storage

[CAH706]

I’m sure this is a basic question but I know very little about computers!

My son’s gaming laptop is out of storage so he can’t install new games without deleting older ones.

Is this fix as simple as adding an external drive and if so is there any particular type* that I need to get for him?

• i know they have different capacities but are there different speeds as well?

Thanks in advance for any help

[bangerhoarder]

Depending on how it has been specced up, it may have a spare drive bay that you can use, internally. This will be quicker and cheaper than an external drive (in most cases). How many physical disks does it currently have (look at Disk Management by right clicking the Windows icon)?

[CAH706]

bangerhoarder said:

Depending on how it has been specced up, it may have a spare drive bay that you can use, internally. This will be quicker and cheaper than an external drive (in most cases). How many physical disks does it currently have (look at Disk Management by right clicking the Windows icon)?

It has a c drive which is full

It has a 0 drive with 2 partitions on it but they are very small

[Mr Pointy]

Open the case up & have a look inside to see if there are any free slots to fit another drive - you'll need a drive connection as well so look on the motherboard for spare unused connectors & check the power supply cable loom for a spare power connector.

[Harpoon]

Before opening it up, I'd have a Google of the make / model / part number to see if the manufacturer lists a second bay / storage connector...

[CAH706]

Thanks both. That sounds well outside my skill set

I’ll have a google and see who I know who understands this more than me !

[Harpoon]

Post up the make / model detail and we can hopefully find a spec' sheet and make a suggestion...

[QJumper]

CAH706 said:

I’m sure this is a basic question but I know very little about computers!

My son’s gaming laptop is out of storage so he can’t install new games without deleting older ones.

Is this fix as simple as adding an external drive and if so is there any particular type* that I need to get for him?

• i know they have different capacities but are there different speeds as well?

Thanks in advance for any help

If he wants to install new games then adding external storage is possibly not the best way.

Personally I'd just buy a bigger internal drive, image the C drive onto that and swap the new drive for old. If there's space for the old drive then I'd format that and rename it as the D drive, and tranfer the default documents and file storage folder locations over to that.

[Condi]

QJumper said:

Personally I'd just buy a bigger internal drive, image the C drive onto that and swap the new drive for old.

I'd do this too. Buy a new, bigger, HD, then copy everything from the original drive to the new drive, and voila.

I did do this recently using some free software, it wasn't complicated. Upgraded from a 120GB HD to a 500GB HD. A few people said I would have been better doing a fresh install of Windows on a new blank HD, which is probably true, but it's absolutely fine as it is and there were some bits of software which would have been hard to find again. Much easier to simply swap drives than reinstall all your games and software again.

Edited by Condi on Friday 2nd February 21:33

[wyson]

You definitely don’t want to put any modern 3d games on external storage, it will be way too slow. First thing to check is if his laptop has upgradeable storage. Then as others have said, either clone the existing drive to the new drive or install the new drive and do a fresh install. If you don’t understand this, loads of computer shops can do this for you. If it doesn’t have upgradable storage, its time for a new laptop unfortunately.

[CAH706]

Thanks everyone for your help and suggestions.

I’ve got the laptop booked into to a local computer shop on Monday for them to have a look at upgrading the internal storage.