Can I just copy GW2 to another drive and play?

[draykorinee]

This is good to know (not the advertising guy above) I hate redownloading games.

[Deleted]

Yes.

One note:
If you're like me and copying GW2 to an SSD then you can't simply through it on there and play. It doesnt like it for some reason as the .dat file becomes locked. You need to throw it all inside another folder and make sure read only is unchecked for the folder and apply to all subfolders and files to fix.

Dunno what your settings are, but simply moving the folder from HDD to SSD worked fine for me. Got my SSD just 1 week ago.

[Deleted]

You COULD have an SSD external drive. But it would be slightly pointless in my opinion because you would be bottled necked by the connection choice. Eg usb 2.0 or firewire or what have you, I don't think there is a connection type that really goes fast enough to take advantage of a SSD's speeds (now i don't know about thunderbolt, but i think usb3 is slower then sata III)

Well, USB 3.0 has a transfer speed of 5120 Mbit/s (or more commonly termed, 5 Gbit/s), whereas in comparison the Crucial RealSSD C300 has a read speed of 2840 Mbit/s.

Now, I don't know how that particular SSD model compares to others, but as I doubt there are SSDs with nearly twice the speed, as long as you have a slot for USB 3.0 on your computer, you shouldn't be bottlenecked by that.

[Vengfulr3ap3r]

Well, USB 3.0 has a transfer speed of 5120 Mbit/s (or more commonly termed, 5 Gbit/s), whereas in comparison the Crucial RealSSD C300 has a read speed of 2840 Mbit/s.

Now, I don't know how that particular SSD model compares to others, but as I doubt there are SSDs with nearly twice the speed, as long as you have a slot for USB 3.0 on your computer, you shouldn't be bottlenecked by that.

That's the theoretical max for usb3, which is almost never achievable. There are SataIII SSD's which are clocked at 6Gb/s theoretical max speed, again almost never achievable. So yes, a usb 3.0 connection can bottleneck a SSD when used as an external.

Here is a link to an example drive;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147164

[Deleted]

That's the theoretical max for usb3, which is almost never achievable. There are SataIII SSD's which are clocked at 6Gb/s theoretical max speed, again almost never achievable. So yes, a usb 3.0 connection can bottleneck a SSD when used as an external.

Here is a link to an example drive;
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820147164

Interesting - however, the product you linked still has an advertised max read speed of 4160 Mbit/s, which is still lower than the USB 3.0's 5120 Mbit/s.

I'm not saying you're wrong by any stretch of the imagination, but I still think my statement holds when comparing to that product.

[Shadzta]

Yes, just like GW1.

Copy the .dat big file and you're set.

This man is right...just copy dat big file derrr and yall good to go =P...me and my mates all laugh everytime we are like yea just get dat file...the dat file...err whut?>

[Stormgnoef]

It Will work With any game.My ext hdd is full With 400gb With steam games :V and other mmos.

[Lackluster]

Yes, just like GW1.

Copy the .dat big file and you're set.

Might wanna get the .exe as well.

[Vengfulr3ap3r]

Interesting - however, the product you linked still has an advertised max read speed of 4160 Mbit/s, which is still lower than the USB 3.0's 5120 Mbit/s.

I'm not saying you're wrong by any stretch of the imagination, but I still think my statement holds when comparing to that product.

You are comparing the theoretical max, which isn't achievable, to the real world speed of that SSD. Take a look at the comment's. People have infact reached 500MB/s read speeds.

So far what i'm seeing after my last hour of researching, is that USB 3.0 cannot achieve a real world speed of 500MB/s read. If you can link me to an article, or a benchmark, or anything proving otherwise I will stand corrected. But as it stands no usb 3.0 drive can achieve 500MB/s, and as such a sataIII ssd will be limited by the USB 3.0 connection. here is a picture of a benchmark of a samsung 830 connected via a usb 3.0 external enclosure. http://i47.tinypic.com/28hhfgg.jpg taken from this thread http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1963101 as you can see the max read is less then 500MB/s proving that it does indeed bottleneck the drive.

Now if your choice is between a sataIII ssd external, and a HDD external? By all mean's go for the ssd. It will perform almost double of what the HDD would. Because a HDD would get.. maybe 100MB sustained through usb3 and the SSD would perform better, But it is still slower then if you were to connect the SSD it's self to a sata III port on your mobo, assuming you can and your mobo supports sataIII

[Deleted]

You are comparing the theoretical max, which isn't achievable, to the real world speed of that SSD. Take a look at the comment's. People have infact reached 500MB/s read speeds.

I was actually calculating on the advertised 520MB/s read speed, so my calculations don't actually change a great deal. :P 500 MB/s = 4000 Mbit/s. Still below 5120 Mbit/s.

So far what i'm seeing after my last hour of researching, is that USB 3.0 cannot achieve a real world speed of 500MB/s read. If you can link me to an article, or a benchmark, or anything proving otherwise I will stand corrected. But as it stands no usb 3.0 drive can achieve 500MB/s, and as such a sataIII ssd will be limited by the USB 3.0 connection. here is a picture of a benchmark of a samsung 830 connected via a usb 3.0 external enclosure. http://i47.tinypic.com/28hhfgg.jpg taken from this thread http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/1963101 as you can see the max read is less then 500MB/s proving that it does indeed bottleneck the drive.

I can't link you anything like that, no, and that's why I can't brand my thesis as fact, or a candidate for fact. It's merely a hypothesis, a theory. Part of it has taken into account benchmarks, and there's no clear way of telling whether the limited speed in benchmarks is actually because of limitations with the USB 3.0 system. At least not in any of the benchmarks I've found, including the one you've linked.

Again, this is strictly a theory, and if it can be proven that due to a limitation with the USB 3.0 system design (and nothing else) an SSD cannot utilize its full read speed, the theory is an immediate bust. So far, though, the theory seems to hold.

[Ghosty]

I'm not sure I understand the question, or you're confused. Are you asking about external hard drives or did you mean to ask about SSDs?

If you're asking about SSDs...The SSD becomes the drive that has your operating system on it as well as your primary internal drive, and then it's not a bad idea to get one with enough space to fit a few games on it too, so the OS and some games go on the SSD. It should help load games/other things a bit faster that aren't on the SSD too, but it's more beneficial to have it on the SSD.

It makes loading everything faster, from loading screens in games, to navigating windows, and loading windows from a restart/start up. I timed restarts on my computer before and after I got my SSD. Without the SSD, from the time I pushed restart until my computer was back up and windows was completely loaded up to the point where I could use programs without lagging it was about 5 minutes. After the SSD, a restart is about a minute or less.

One major note to this. SSD drives are relatively small in storage size (but growing) in that the largest you can buy at this time is 512GB (might be abit large now I haven't checked lately), which are fairly expensive. You can pick up a number of smaller SSD's and a standard HDD pretty cheap, then put your OS on to one SSD, your games on to another SSD, then use the standard HDD for file storage.

[Vengfulr3ap3r]

I was actually calculating on the advertised 520MB/s read speed, so my calculations don't actually change a great deal. :P 500 MB/s = 4000 Mbit/s. Still below 5120 Mbit/s.


I can't link you anything like that, no, and that's why I can't brand my thesis as fact, or a candidate for fact. It's merely a hypothesis, a theory. Part of it has taken into account benchmarks, and there's no clear way of telling whether the limited speed in benchmarks is actually because of limitations with the USB 3.0 system. At least not in any of the benchmarks I've found, including the one you've linked.

Again, this is strictly a theory, and if it can be proven that due to a limitation with the USB 3.0 system design (and nothing else) an SSD cannot utilize its full read speed, the theory is an immediate bust. So far, though, the theory seems to hold.

Okay, see. Now you've completely lost me. :P What exactly are you saying then? See I thought you were being factual, which is where my stand point comes from. What I'm saying is that usb 3's max theoretical is 5gb/s(5120Mbit/s) where as Sata III's max theoretical is 6gb/s (6144Mbit/s). Are you saying there is no way to prove that the bottle neck it's self is usb 3?

[Deleted]

Okay, see. Now you've completely lost me. :P What exactly are you saying then? See I thought you were being factual, which is where my stand point comes from. What I'm saying is that usb 3's max theoretical is 5gb/s(5120Mbit/s) where as Sata III's max theoretical is 6gb/s (6144Mbit/s). Are you saying there is no way to prove that the bottle neck it's self is usb 3?

Substitute the max theoretical speed of SATA III with the max theoretical read speed of any given SSD, and bingo.

[ZerOKami]

Might wanna get the .exe as well.

Well yes!

But I like the feeling of redownloading the program with every computer, then just switching the .dat for instant update. It makes me feel fuzzy

[LoveCoach]

Hi all ;-)

I didn't try to copy game yet but my friend tried as you suggested and copied whole gw2 directory (those 3 or so files) and when he tried to load launcher on another comp it just started downloading whole client again... Any toughts?

Also, I need to bring gw2 to office and I can't download anything huge on my comp at the office since it has only mobile usb net with some limitations so I have to bring whole game from home on external disk. If it cant be copied that would suck :-\

[randomperson39]

I don't get how to put it on your usb and then play?
can someone help me
sorry

[Lazuli]

Yep, same deal with Venezuelan internet. Every time I have to download the client of Wow, SWTOR, or GW2, that's anywhere from 1 week to a full 2 weeks of wait time.

Glad to know I can just back up my installation folder on a few DVDs and just copy the whole thing if I ever have to re-install the game.

That's terrible, charter 40mb connection here in US that downloads any MMO in under an hour. (I never pay attention to how long exactly)

I guess that's what I overpay for haha.

I don't get how to put it on your usb and then play?
can someone help me
sorry

Put USB in, move/copy your GW2 folder to the external device (USB) and once it is done transferring you can put the USB back in on any other comp or the same one for a quick 'reinstall' by moving the file back to your program files. It can go anywhere really.