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crinrict's avatar
crinrict
Hero+
7 years ago

Re: Can you play sims 4 with an external hard drive?

HI @xLEMN11 

You can only move the game files to an external folder. The game also creates a user folder in documents but that can't be redirected. So your user data will always be in the hard drive of your partner.

Also running the game from external drives has it's downsides, especially when you remove the drive and it potentially gets a new drive assigned.  

8 Replies

  • lucy4mfb's avatar
    lucy4mfb
    7 years ago
    i was wondering can you solve this? I have moved all of my game content including origin and the application (the sims 4 ) itself to an external hard drive. that was some time ago - now when i open the game from my external hard drive none of my saves or content is there and it opens as if the game is new. I have noticed this is because it is not referencing the Electronic Arts folder that is on my external hard drive - but instead creating a new Electronic Arts folder on my macs Documents tab and using that one instead (which obviously is new and has no saves) i have tried re-installing/downloading the game to my external hard drive and ensuring the location it is installed is always my external hard drive but it still makes a new electronic arts folder on my macs hard drive? I have contacted you once with this issue and I’ve tried moving my game application into my macs applications folder but the issue is not resolved ☹️
  • jpkarlsen's avatar
    jpkarlsen
    Hero (Retired)
    7 years ago

    @lucy4mfb 

    The user folders are only created under Documents and can not be moved to an external drive. You can have a copy there for backup purposes but that is all.

  • annabelle178's avatar
    annabelle178
    7 years ago

    Hi! I copied my sims 4 files onto an external hard drive and then copied the files from the hard drive onto a device that does not support origin (Latest model of touchscreen chromebook) can I open it on a device like this? If so, how do I open it from my files?

  • jpkarlsen's avatar
    jpkarlsen
    Hero (Retired)
    7 years ago

    Chromebooks are not capable of playing any PC games.

  • deecharrl's avatar
    deecharrl
    6 years ago
    @jpkarlsen Does this mean that you can transfer your old (backed up) save files into the new Documents folder on the internal hard drive, whilst running the game itself on the external drive?
  • jpkarlsen's avatar
    jpkarlsen
    Hero (Retired)
    6 years ago

    @deecharrl 

    Yes, saves go in the Saves Folder. You also should copy the contents of the Tray folder. Ignore files you are told already exists.

  • REOFOX08's avatar
    REOFOX08
    5 years ago

    So if I buy a Seagate Expansion 1TB USB 3.0 External Hard Drive for my asus laptop, will it work for the sims 4?

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    5 years ago

    @REOFOX08  You could certainly install Sims 4 on an external hard drive.  How well it would work would still depend on your computer's internal components though: processor, graphics card, memory.  And playing from an external drive would be slower than playing from your internal drive, perhaps by a significant amount depending on how fast the internal drive is.

    If you'd like to get a general idea of how your computer might handle Sims 4, please list the internal components I mentioned, or even better, run a dxdiag and attach it to a post.

    https://help.ea.com/en-us/help/pc/how-to-gather-dxdiag-information/

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