Games and Harddrives

I wasnt sure if this should go in the hardware section but since it dealt with more games figured it would go here. Sorry if it is in the wrong section.

I just bought a 500 gig external hardrive so I do not have to fill my laptop up with crap. I am planning on playing a lot of games so here is my question. Can i download games onto a home computer, note that the computer does not have the specs to play the game. So basically can i simply instal a game, not play, that my computer can not realistically play. if yes, this will lead to my second question.

If the first is ok, can i take that game, once downloaded on the home computer, transfer it onto the external harddrive, and then play it on the laptop without ever directly downloading it to the laptop? The reason i wish to do this is because i reallly dont want to fill my computer up with games and really want them on the external hardrive

I apologize if this is the wrong forum or the questions were confusing. If they were ill be happy to explain.

You can run games off of an external hard disk (I use an external for most of my games), but whether or not you can just move the disk to another computer and still run it depends on the game. For most older games you will be able to while most (most) newer games will not run.

Steam games will work fine, for example, while Crysis might not.

However, if the games are not intended to be played on one of the computers, you could simply download the game but not install it until the disk is plugged into the computer on which you intend to play the games. That will ensure that the necessary registry stuff is installed on the computer on which the games will be played.

i dont think so. it could lead to alot of problems anyway.

basically when u install a game, a few records are made in the registry in windows about it. now if u install it on ure old computer then the registry records will be made there. when u move the external HDD to the laptop. windows will be unaware of the games existance. i havent tried running a game without its registry enteries mind but id imagine that the game might have problems with that. some important info is kept in the registry for alot of games (like CD keys).

u could possibly find out about what registry enteries the game installer made...but transferring those over would not be recommended. sharing registry data among different computers is generally a bad idea.

now if u got a way of installing the games while using ure laptop (ie u run the installer on the laptop) then there shouldnt be a problem. just change the directory to ure external drive when u get the option during the install and u should be fine. loading times might be a bit crap but thats about it i think.

so....if i install a game onto my external using my laptop...itll play flawlessly as long as i use the laptop that i used to install the game....but if i want to play on another computer i have to install it on that computer....Serial-No_3404

It might also work on the other computer, it depends on the game and the easiest way to find out is to just try it. But essentially, yes.

i guess it could be done, but you could try to install an OS onto the external harddrive, set your laptop to boot off of that HD and install your games onto it. I don't know whether this would allow your registry files to be stored on that HDD or not, but if it did, then you'd have a portable gaming HDD.

hopefully someone more knowledgeable than me can help you out.