Why is my external SSD making games load super slow all of a sudden?
Asked by
TechWiz88
I usually download my Steam games to an external SSD, and everything was going smoothly until today. Yesterday, I played without any issues, but now the same setup is taking forever to load the game—over half an hour! I've already tried restarting and reconnecting the drive, but that didn't help. Any ideas on what's causing this problem?
Answers
Make sure you're using a USB 3.0 connection instead of USB 2.0, as that can really slow things down. Also, if you’re using a newer USB-C cable, consider upgrading to a USB4 cable to maximize your speed. And don’t forget to check for any firmware updates on your SSD!
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One possibility is that automatic updates in Steam could be causing the drive to work overtime. I've turned off auto-updates for my games to avoid spikes in drive usage. You might want to check if that's affecting you as well.
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If your SSD is connected via Thunderbolt USB-C, that should be fast enough. Try cleaning the USB port too, sometimes dust can cause issues. Also, consider creating a smaller empty partition on the drive to see if that helps with performance.
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