(I have a few screenshots showing my OS/hardware/software info and relevant specifications of devices and cant figure out how to add them to this post, Ive asked this same question in a reddit forum and posted them in the comments there, so Ill add a link to the reddit post if anyone wants to look, or I can copy any output from any commands anyone asks for here as well) I have an older Dell Precision M4700 with 32gb RAM, i7, and 500gb HDD. I just purchased a new SanDisk 1TB portable SSD, and what I want to determine is if its worth it to either move or copy all of my OS and personal data Im using on my laptop currently over to the portable SSD, and if so what is the easiest and quickest method to go about doing that. Will the speed or performance increase running everything off of the new portable SSD be so drastic that its worth switching everything over to it at all? Or should I just leave everything how it is on my HDD and use the SSD for storage overflow for media or something? I know its supposed to be much better performance with a SSD either beside or instead of HDD installed in the laptop itself, but is that the same with the portable? Any help or advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you very much! https://www.reddit.com/r/linuxquesti..._portable_ssd/

Dual posting is against the rules here.
You probably want to pick one of these to close and direct to the other so there is only ONE thread on the subject.
For reference, your other one is at https://www.linuxquestions.org/quest...ce-4175734727/

bbam400,

Welcome to LQ forums.

You can install Linux on the portable external drive, but if this were my machine, I would be more inclined to buy a new 500GB or 1TB SSD to act as the boot drive to either:
1. Replace the existing 500GB drive or
2. Install it in the optical drive slot (probably needs an adapter).

I would put both the OS and data on the new SSD but others may do it differently.

Example of 500GB SSD:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Crucial-MX5...0786QNS9B?th=1

The M4700’s optical drive interface is listed as both SATA 1 (1.5 Gb/s) and SATA 2 (3.0 Gb/s). It would need to be SATA 2 for the new SSD to run at its fastest speed.

With option 1, your SanDisk Portable can be used as a backup drive.

With option 2, the existing 500GB drive can be the backup.

In any event you will need to backup all existing data on the 500GB HDD to the SanDisk external portable drive.

I just create new folders in the external drive such as DOX, PIX, VIDZ etc and then simply copy and paste the contents (not the folders themselves) of Documents, Pictures, Videos etc to the newly created folders.

If you have email which is not web-based and any bookmarks, then you need to also backup these (plus anything else that is vital).

Other LQ members will have other suggestions.

1 members found this post helpful.

Does the rule still apply if a guru directs you to another forum because it can't be solved here?

Yes, because unlike on some platforms every member here can see posts on every forum. LQ also provides specific preset searches for new posts, latest posts, and posts without answers. All of this in addition to a powerful custom search function for anyone interested in finding mentions of a specific topic or problem.

Come to think of it, we are in someone else's home space and his house rules would stand even if all of that were not true.
We are here, for free, as his guests. It is not nice to be rude to him. Let us just be nice.

A "portable" drive normally uses a channel or connection that is the bottleneck. An internal drive SHOULD be faster, although there are some considerations there also if your hardware supports external USB3 at full speed. (I do not believe that one does, but I have not tested or researched that question.)
I do have one laptop (an older HP) that did not perform ANY differently when I replaced the internal spinning rust drive with an SSD: in that case the bottleneck was the storage controller on the motherboard. My favored use for an external device is for backup and safe transport of large blocks of data! (My database and music collection, family pictures, and ancient DOS game library.)

Point is, I would not expect a performance improvement from switching drives unless the new drive is internal. When moved internal, that improvement might OR MIGHT NOT be significant.

I kept the SSD in that old HP anyway, because it reduced noise, heat, and power consumption enough to notice. You might consider those things with the same priority, or they may not be significant depending upon your personal work patterns and standards. I hope that helps give you some ideas and perspective as you plan your forward moves.

1 members found this post helpful.

What about external forums with nothing to do with LQ?

The reason double posting is discouraged at LQ is because it keeps the discussion in one place. Otherwise members would miss information or have to switch back and forth which then becomes tedious. We can not prevent members from posting on other sites but you would probably have the same problem of missed and/ or duplicate information.

Other sites that have nothing to do with LQ have different rules. On LQ you follow LQ rules, on other sites you follow that site's rules. I mean, it is not that complicated.

1 members found this post helpful.

This should work as long as you don't install hardware specific drivers and keep your installation as bon stock as possible.