Game folders in My Docs

Relentless81 · 31 Dec 2016 at 17:09

Hi,

A question for you -

Games save data in the My Docs folder, if the My Docs folder isnt on the C drive which is an SSD and is mapped to a different drive which is mechanical or a network drive, would this effect game performance as it accesses the data?

Thanks

FloppyPoppy · 31 Dec 2016 at 17:11

No save files are so astronomically small it wont cause any performance. + it will only access it once each time you play.

LadFromWales · 31 Dec 2016 at 17:11

Depends what the game is storing in there. If it is using this location to store caches etc then it'd likely benefit from being symlinked to a faster drive. I've no idea how you do this in Windows, but it's likely to be easier to move your entire Documents folder, which can be done in the control panel under storage

HazardO · 31 Dec 2016 at 17:13

It could, you might get very short freezes when the game is loading or saving data to the drive, (10-20ms so hardly time to make a cup of tea). It will depend on how much data the game wants to store there and when as to whether you would notice.

Ryan0r · 31 Dec 2016 at 17:26

Relentless81 said:
Hi,

A question for you -

Games save data in the My Docs folder, if the My Docs folder isnt on the C drive which is an SSD and is mapped to a different drive which is mechanical or a network drive, would this effect game performance as it accesses the data?

Thanks

I have this same set up; OS and games installed on SSD and My Docs, etc all mapped to a mechanical HDD. No speed or loading issues.

Are you having slowness issues? Could be a number of factors.

Relentless81 · 31 Dec 2016 at 18:01

No I havent noticed anything specifically as my My Docs has been mapped to a mechanical drive for some time and I havent noticed any issues so far, I was curious more than anything else and always looking for ways to improve performance and I was also thinking of ways to keep my personal stuff separate and the game related stuff on the SSD C drive, I'm also thinking of migrating the My Docs folder to a network drive

demonix · 1 Jan 2017 at 15:24

harry5522 said:
No save files are so astronomically small it wont cause any performance. + it will only access it once each time you play.

Master Of Orion save files can hit the 500MB mark per save file, so not all are that small.

Ryan0r · 2 Jan 2017 at 12:02

Relentless81 said:
No I havent noticed anything specifically as my My Docs has been mapped to a mechanical drive for some time and I havent noticed any issues so far, I was curious more than anything else and always looking for ways to improve performance and I was also thinking of ways to keep my personal stuff separate and the game related stuff on the SSD C drive, I'm also thinking of migrating the My Docs folder to a network drive

If you want speed, don't put My Docs on a network drive. Why add network latency into the equation? Unless you have a huge need to have them available elsewhere, having them on a mechanical HDD (and storage is so cheap nowadays) inside your PC will tend to be faster. I wouldn't want to be browsing through pictures across the network, for example. Higher-tier options may mitigate the latency obviously, but you'll be paying through the arse for that, and for what? Must have plenty room for HDDs in your case?

Relentless81 · 2 Jan 2017 at 15:22

Ryan0r said:
If you want speed, don't put My Docs on a network drive. Why add network latency into the equation? Unless you have a huge need to have them available elsewhere, having them on a mechanical HDD (and storage is so cheap nowadays) inside your PC will tend to be faster. I wouldn't want to be browsing through pictures across the network, for example. Higher-tier options may mitigate the latency obviously, but you'll be paying through the arse for that, and for what? Must have plenty room for HDDs in your case?

You are quite right, after much reading and weighing up the benefits of an SSD only gaming rig (Silent build) for my next build with a NAS for storing my data vs what I have now which is SSD for Windows and mechanical drive for storing all of my data I think I'm going to stick with what I have now and try and find the most silent HDDs possible

I have a Define S so might as well reuse it for my next build with two large mechanical HDDs for storage and SSD for Windows