Playing TRS2019 off SSD external drive

Why? USB speeds are so much lower than a SSD can go, why would you intentionally slow down file access and data transfer speeds?

Clair
 
540MPS using USB3.1 cable and connections. Can someone else please offer an answer rather than another question?
 
bolivar - Shouldn't be too problematic - as long as the external SSD is connected via USB 3.0.
Once loaded into resident memory, the simulator won't need to access the disk too often and the bandwidth should be quite sufficient.
 
Thanks for your help PC_Ace. I have 32 GB of RAM, presuming that is what u mean by "resident memory". I also have 6GB GPU on Nvidia 980ti Graphics Card. I am running out of space on my internal drives and have access to a SSD external drive. Regards.
 
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Hi

Yes this will work. Out of interest I tried it at the weekend when I upgraded my TRS19 install to a 1Tb from a 500Gb one. As I had no free Sata connectors in the computer I had to use an external USB 3.0 connector to copy the data across and tried it while I had it set up.

I used the SnC route but whether it will work as well with larger more recent routes or on lower spec computers I don't know.

At the moment I have an SSD with a TANE install attached externally for copying assets across. Just tried ECML, Hinton and one of the payware Russian routes in driver mode. Couldn't tell the difference between running from an internal disc or the external SSD. TRS19 runs better than TANE on my machine so I may get slightly better performance with that. I don't have a lower spec machine to try it on though.

Regards

Brian
 
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The concern I have with the external drives, platter or SSD, is heat build up. These drives are not meant for continuous read-write access, and the enclosures are not vented well to dissipate heat like an internal drive does. Trainz, any version for that matter, accesses the drives quite a lot and this causes a substantial increase in temperature. SSDs run hot to begin with, and the additional heat caused by the continuous read/write cycles will definitely reduce the longevity of the drive.

Doing this occasionally is probably fine, but doing this all the time may not be a good solution unless you plan on replacing the drive often.
 
If you have physical space in the PC to add extra drives, you could get a PCIe add-on SATA controller. You can get 2 4 and upwards ones and they are fairly cheap, just don't get them from China or HongKong. Startech one work properly leastwise they do here! Tip put HDDs on the addon and SSDs on the motherboard controller, the add-on controllers have a slight performance hit, not noticeable on an HDD.

I have 4 SSDs on the motherboard and two spinners and a DVD writer on the add-on card, works extremely well.
As an example, a 2 port one https://www.ebuyer.com/205769-start...bps-pci-express-sata-controller-card-pexsat32 probably cheaper from Amazon, if you go that route don't forget you might need a SATA lead as well.

Alternatively rather than using an external SSD sized enclosure, use a normal hdd one with a 2.5 to 3.5 adapter, more space so should be cooler or get a docking station plenty of air flow round them.

Not sure about heat issues, internal SSDs run far cooler than spinners and no difference under load. Around 22°C for SSDs compared to 31°C upwards for spinners here.
 
Is this possible. ?
If the drive is visible to the Operating System then it can be used like any other drive. But I suspect the question is actually "How well with this work compared to a proper installation" and that question can't be answered without much more detail of the hardware involved and what you expect to be doing. For instance, Surveyor or driver, content testing or running large routes, multiplayer or single, etc.
 
It will work just fine, be sure to take that the drive letter assigned remains the same, that is the only thing to consider worrying about, which should really be fine as long as you plug it back in the same port every time, or never unplug it.
 
It will work just fine, be sure to take that the drive letter assigned remains the same, that is the only thing to consider worrying about, which should really be fine as long as you plug it back in the same port every time, or never unplug it.

Yes it does work and I've done this when traveling because my laptop doesn't have a big enough internal drive to handle my Trainz data. The external drive contained a duplicate of my database at the time, and off on the road I went. It worked well, but the USB3 interface was still a lot slower than the internal SATA interface that is used normally. It wasn't bad and it suited my purpose perfectly while on the road. The drive also got quite warm in the process, but for the short time I used it for it did no harm.
 
Yes it does work and I've done this when traveling because my laptop doesn't have a big enough internal drive to handle my Trainz data. The external drive contained a duplicate of my database at the time, and off on the road I went. It worked well, but the USB3 interface was still a lot slower than the internal SATA interface that is used normally. It wasn't bad and it suited my purpose perfectly while on the road. The drive also got quite warm in the process, but for the short time I used it for it did no harm.
I am thinking you were not using an external SSD but you were using a regular spinning platter drive. SSDs tend to not heat up in the external units.
 
I am thinking you were not using an external SSD but you were using a regular spinning platter drive. SSDs tend to not heat up in the external units.

I've used both, and had SSDs get toasty, but not as hot as a spinning drive. It may have to do with the enclosure that was being used.
 
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