Is it possible to install Sims 3, EPs, and packs to my external hard drive, as well as all my custom content, so that I can avoid crash problems due to low GBs on my laptop hard drive? I have all this space on my external hard drive, but not enough on my laptop. Or, other suggestions?

I have a second hard-drive in my PC that I installed (mostly for sims, I know I am addicted!). I have the game/expansions installed on the extra hard-drive but the custom content and saved games seem to be hard coded into the game to be on your main "C" drive in the My Documents folder. There might be a way to have the game run with a "my documents" folder on your extra drive but I have not been able to figure it out yet. My game seems to run fine set up as it is though and I have saved a lot of space having the games and expansions on another drive.

I looked into doing just this when I was in the same spot as you. I am certainly no expert about computers, but here is what I found out; If you do this using USB to connect the external drive it will most likely cause a bottleneck and the game may not run as smooth as you would like. The best way to avoid the slow transfer rates would be to use an eSATA connection. If your laptop has an eSATA port it would be the way to go. As to moving your documents folder, it is certainly possible with a Windows OS. For directions on how to do this just Google "How to move My Documents" + "insert operating system here IE: Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP". Good Luck!

GiveTheNineARide: does my external hard drive need to physically have an eSATA connection, or can I get a connector to put on the end of the USB to put into the eSATA port on my laptop (or does that defeat the purpose)?

I have space issues on my computer too, and so I run my Sims 3 game + EPs + SPs from an external hard drive. I use USB, and have no transfer rate problems (it runs better than when it was installed on the computers hard drive, actually) or anything, but that might be a your millage may vary type thing.

My documents folder is in the usual area, and I'm fairly certain that even with all my CC, it doesn't take up more than 1-5 gigs. (I can't check and find out the exact amount right now.)

One problem I do have with running the game on an external drive is sometimes I leave my thumb drive plugged in, turn off the computer and turn it on again later; occasionally the thumb drive ends up taking the letter of my external drive, making nothing run because it wants the other letter, and so I have to manually change it back. Not a big deal, but annoying.

Using USB anywhere will cause the same transfer rate. Think of an eSATA connection as a 2" - 3" pipe and a USB as a 1" pipe. You can only push so much water through a 1" pipe even if it is starting out in a 2" pipe. CeJaye seems to have had a good experience doing so with a USB, so I would give it a try, can't hurt. As I said I looked into doing it, but never actually tried it. I decided to just get a larger internal drive.

I could be wrong, but I don't feel like the game accesses the drive very much at all during gameplay. Only while loading and saving a game does it seem to do much disk access. It seems to load the entire game and a whole bunch of stuff into RAM. I think the using an external USB drive may noticeably slow down loading and saving times, but overall gameplay won't be affected too much. I don't speak from experience, just my observation of how often my hard drive is accessed while playing (hardly any).

You can, however, get an eSATA card for your laptop if it doesn't have an eSATA port. They aren't very expensive.

In Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Computer Management, Disk Management, you can force drives to always use the same letter.

I use a mass drive for the starter Disk, and I have a Ready Boost USB key. I have installed games before on a Large USB key with no problems running it , but I wouldnt change the default data storage areas for the Sims that are coded for the C: drive.

My Computer has 2 sata drives, one is double the size of the other. When I installed the new large drive I just cloned the partitions on the old drive and then deleted the old drive. I happened to have a connector for the old drive so its my new F: drive. My advice is to get a larger drive for your main drive. Your manufacturer can tell you which one is right and some will give you easy step by step instructions. I just had to plug the new one in and tell it to clone and I had a drive that was twice as large as the old one. It cost me like $50 dollars, and for laptops you can get a USB enclosure to hold the old drive and still use it.

When I worked for Dell I sent out the enclosure/ new drive pair all the time and it was affordable. You just put the old drive in the enclosure and the new drive in the laptop and tell it to clone.