Running large numbers of programs off a usb

[keyboard]

Hey Everyone!
I have a large number of programs (things like np++, webbrowsers, graphically heavy games, etc.) that I use on a daily basis. (excluding the games)
Because I frequently need to use them on several different computers, I am thinking about buying a large usb or an external hard-drive to keep them all on, then just run them off the external storage device.

My question is: will these programs run significantly slower than if they were running on the hard drive?
If so, is there anything that can be done to make them run faster?

Also, are there any other problems you can think of concerning this?
I know on some applications, there are options to install them on a memory stick (eg. np++) (doesn't use %appdata% when the option is selected).
What about things that don't offer this option?
How could I go about installing them onto the external storage device?

[djr33]

Cheap memory sticks can overheat or be slow, so I wouldn't recommend using them this heavily. More expensive ones might be ok, but I still don't know if they'd be that fast if you want to run a lot all at the same time.
Something like np++ isn't going to take much power, so if that's all you're doing, it doesn't really matter. The games (and webbrowsers) could become a problem.

An external harddrive is a lot more reasonable. USB 2.0 or 3.0 will be fast enough for just about anything you'd do, except perhaps for some extreme games.

[keyboard]

Ok, I might look into an external harddrive then....
Thanks!
(I'm going to leave this topic un-resolved for a little while to see if there are any other comments)

Also, in one of the games, the computer tries to generate a nuclear explosion (don't ask ;)) and that always slows my computer down for 5-10 seconds and everything stops working (e.g. while it's doing that, you can move the mouse or pause or anything like that).
Will the effects of that be amplified if I try and run it off an external harddrive?

[bernie1227]

Western digital external hard drives are pretty good:
http://m.wdc.com/en/products/external-storage/portable-drives