# Putting the sims 2 on a portable hard drive



## Piggycop (May 28, 2006)

I do realize that you can move your entire "My Documents" folder in order to make this work. But I am trying to do this on a notebook computer. So, I am asking if there is another way to make this game run on a portable hard drive without relocating "My Documents". A way to make the downloaded content to work from the portable hard drive would work too. Any pointers would be great.


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## Mosquito555 (Apr 25, 2007)

Hmmm I'm not sure why you need to move your "my documents" folder in order to do that...

Just install the game on the portable hard drive. Make a folder in there first (in order to avoid future confusion) and then just install as you would on a normal hard drive.

You may need to assign a permanent drive letter to your external hard drive but other than that the procedure is the same as installing on a fixed drive.


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

Saved games are stored in the My Documents folder, so if you wanted to continue a Sims family, then you would need the My Documents folder as well. I don't know if there's a way around that one.

The custom content *should* work, but you would have to make sure the game gets installed on the external drive so that Windows knows where to look for it.


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## Mosquito555 (Apr 25, 2007)

Oh, I get it now... 

However I still can't see what the problem is. Installing on an external hard drive is the same as installing to a different partition of a fixed drive, you still have to use the same "my documents" folder on the primary partition for save games.

What am I missing here? Wouldn't Sims 2 automatically locate the save games?


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## McTimson (Aug 16, 2002)

My initial thought was that the hard drive would be used on one computer sometimes, then on a different computer other times. 

You're right, if it's just going to be used on one computer, then it doesn't matter where it's installed to, just set the directory during the installation.

I guess it just depends on what they're trying to do...


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## Mosquito555 (Apr 25, 2007)

Sorry for posting twice in a raw but I think that I figured out what you want to do.

Let me give you an example: I have a netbook computer (asus eee pc 900) which can run some older games just fine but it lacks a hard drive. So I have to install my games on an external usb drive and run them from here. Some of my games store their saved games and configuration data on the "my documents" folder which is located on my C drive. But as I already told you the games are installed on my external W drive.

I have no problems. Since windows "knows" where the games are and where the save files are everything works like a charm - as if I had the games installed on my C drive.

Even on my desktop I have a separate partition for installing games. Again saved games are located on "my documents" on the C drive. No problems of course. 

However if you want to install Sims 2 on the portable drive in order to play it on different computers then you are out of luck... Moving the "my documents" folder won't help since the registry data required for the game to work simply won't be there.

Hope I managed to clarify things a bit...If you have more questions please post back!

Cheers!


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## Mosquito555 (Apr 25, 2007)

McTimson said:


> My initial thought was that the hard drive would be used on one computer sometimes, then on a different computer other times.
> 
> You're right, if it's just going to be used on one computer, then it doesn't matter where it's installed to, just set the directory during the installation.
> 
> I guess it just depends on what they're trying to do...


Exactly, sorry I missed this post of yours!

Cheers!


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## Piggycop (May 28, 2006)

Thanks for all the responses. I am trying to move an existing game to the portable hard drive. I was told several times you had to move the my documents folder. I was just wondering why you can't do a fresh install on your portable and just move all the files for the game manually. It seems like a simple maneuver but I have not gotten any good advice on how to do it.


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## Mosquito555 (Apr 25, 2007)

Piggycop said:


> Thanks for all the responses. I am trying to move an existing game to the portable hard drive. I was told several times you had to move the my documents folder. I was just wondering why you can't do a fresh install on your portable and just move all the files for the game manually. It seems like a simple maneuver but I have not gotten any good advice on how to do it.


Sorry but I got confused again...

You said that you want to move an existing game to the external drive...In order to do what? To free some space on your internal drive or in order to use this game with a different computer?

Who told you to move the "my documents" folder? This is completely inaccurate!

Make a backup of your saved games (to restore them in case something goes wrong), uninstall Sims 2 from your internal drive and reinstall it again on the external drive. You DO NOT need to move the "my documents" folder.

Again, if you want to install the game to a portable drive in order to use it with different computers, you are out of luck. Even if you moved the "my documents" folder it wouldn't work - that's the way windows operating systems are designed.


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