Reddit mentions: The best computer hard drive accessories

---

My rationale for the chosen products:

---

• CPU: Intel quad-core, hyperthreaded, unlocked CPU clocked at 4,0GHz with a turbo boost up to 4,4GHz. You can learn more about hyperthreading, overclocking and turbo boost in the videos above. But the turbo boost will be different once you OC. This CPU will be more than powerful enough for streaming and playing games while doing so.
  
  
• CPU Cooler: When overclocking, you need a CPU cooler. While this is overkill for this CPU. You could get a $30-40 cooler and be perfectly fine with it. The reason I went for this AIO liquid cooler is because it looks cool and it also will be able to perform very well while keeping the fans at low RPMs. Wich result in a more silent system.
  
• Motherboard: Z97 is the chipset from intel and got all the latest features, mostly storage improvements. This motherboard is designed with overclocking in mind. So it got great power delivery, etc. But it also carries the "gaming" brand. This is somewhat justified because of the improved on-board audio. Which uses a seperate PCB for the higher quality audio components. Resulting in a cleaner and better sound. It also got a killer NIC. This is a network adapter chip that lets you prioritise games and streams over other random internet crap, resulting in a more stable and slightly better connection.
  
• Memory: RAM is RAM. As seen in the video above, speed does not matter for gaming. Capacity is the only thing that does matter for gamers, 8GB is enough as of right now. So I went for a 2x4GB, 1600MHz, CL9 kit from G.Skill. This is considered the "standard speed" and will work just fine. It also looks pretty cool. You still have the option to upgrade to 16GB later if you want, need to. I highly suggest to get the exact same kit if possible or at least the same speeds (1600MHz/CL9). This will cause the least trouble, but technically most RAM sets should work just fine.
  
• Storage: 250GB SSD & 3TB HDD. Went for a 250GB SSD as I find this to be a sweet spot in terms of price. It also should be more than enough for a while. You should install your OS on it and perhaps a game or 2 that you play often. But do note that the only thing an SSD does is make the loading screens go faster. Games won't get any higher FPS or anything when played from an SSD. Here is a nice detailed review about all the 4 capacities. For the HDD I went with a low RPM, 3TB HDD from WD. This HDD isn't as fast compared to higher RPM HDDs but it will be a lot more quiet compared to those. That is my reasoning behind this suggestion. The speed difference also is very small to begin with anyway.
  
• Video Card: This is the beauty of the system. The R9-290X is a great card wich got all 4GB of VRAM. Reason why I went for AMD is that the other card that is in this price bracket is the GTX970. Wich got 3,5GB of VRAM instead of the 4GB that nvidia speced it as. This won't be fixed by a driver update either since it's a physical binning process that causes the 3,5GB issue. Also a few cool technology bits that this card offers are Free-Sync & True-audio. Mantle as well, but.. not to sure how much that will matter as DirectX 12 seems to be pretty amazing. The cooler on this card is pretty amazing. Here is a very detailed written review.
  
• Case: Here is the best video review of this case. It is a beauty in my opinion and also an amazing piece of technology went into it to make it silent. The only tricky part is the radiator. I would suggest to not mount it in the top to keep the overall build silent. Because if you open the top moduvents, it will let sound escape. So my suggestion would be the front or the bottom of the case. I doubt that the tubing lenght will be long enough to get the radiator in the bottom. Perhaps it's possible. I have not worked with this case yet, so I can't tell for sure. You got 300mm lenght on the tubing, so that is a good amount, but not sure if it's enough. If you put the fans at the bottom so the radiator is slightly higher, you could perhaps just about fit it. The other option would be the front. But this would mean that you need to use the optical bay drive as your HDD drive. You can't mount the 3 x 3,5" drive bays in the top as it won't have the hooks. So you are forced to either mod it or use adapters. The silver one is a bit cheaper. So I would highly suggest to buy this adapter just in case.
  
• Case fans: The stock fans are of very solid quality. No need to replace them. Depending on how you can setup your radiator, I would suggest to place the 140mm that is in the front at the bottom of the case pushing air into the case, when you mount the radiator in the front. See more about fan orientation in the video above.
  
• Power Supply: 10 year warrenty, 80+ gold, fully-modular, semi-passive fan design, 850W PSU from EVGA. This is probably the best PSU you can buy in this wattage range. It's made by SuperFlower who make exceptional quality PSUs. The price is also pretty amazing and the semi-passive fan is a nice extra, meaning less noise. Here is a very detailed written review. Spoiler: 9,9/10 wich is very good.
  
• OS: Windows 8.1 is the latest Windows out there, it's also been confirmed that you get a free upgrade to windows 10 with it. At least the first year after it's release you can upgrade to it for free. Anyway, windows 8.1 is a pretty solid OS, much better and faster compared to 7. It also is less demanding on the system. I would highly recommend to visit ninite.com after you are done with the OS and motherboard/GPU driver installations. That site is pretty amazing. I would recommend to get classic start button, for sure.
  
• Monitor: I went for 2 monitor setup. A 144Hz gaming monitor and a 60Hz IPS secondary monitor. Watching movies, streams, etc will all be awesome on the IPS monitor. I have this exact model myself. Not the 144Hz, just the 60Hz IPS. It's a beautiful display and it also got an 3 x USB2.0 HUB wich is sweet. I use it for my keyboard and webcam. The 144Hz monitor is pretty awesome as well. Here is a fairly in-depth review. I've seen this monitor in person and it looked pretty well, considering it is a TN panel.
  
• Keyboard: As said above, it's very hard to recommend peripherals without having more information. So I went with parts that I find will work in most cases. Here is a great, short informative video review of the MX brown version. The only difference is the backlight and the switches. Here is an image of the red version. I do highly recommend a TKL keyboard because of the more natural posture. But it's up to you if you want this or not.
  
• Mouse: Here is an hilarious, but very detailed video review. It's an amazing mouse and I am sure you will like it. IF you use a fingertip, claw grip it will work fairly well but a palm grip is what I use and love. All grips pretty much can work with this mouse, but palm is the most ideal. Just let me know what grip you will use and if you want an other mouse, I can suggest a lot.
  
• Mousepad: Just get one, this one is relatively cheap and works like a charm. I have been using SteelSeries their mousepads for a very long time now and love them. Here is a very short review with a nice trick!
  
• Headphones: Now generally a gaming headset isn't something I recommend. A good pair of headphones + a seperate microphone is often much better in terms of quality for both the sound and microphone. But this headset is an exception. It is an amazing value as well and more than good enough quality. I have multiple friends now who got this headset after I recommended it and none of them dislike it. The only funny complaint I got from one of my friends was the fact that they seal so good, that he can't hear him talk to well wich made him talk slightly to loud sometimes. Here is again another detailed review. You can look for other reviews of this unit as well, they all pretty much say the same.
  
  

  Hope you like it and If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask.
  

  
  

Alright! So There's good news and bad news. The good news is you can absolutely upgrade your computer in a variety of ways. You can even give yourself a dedicated graphics card! The bad news though, is that doing so probably won't be cheap. It might be better to buy a new laptop, or start putting together a desktop rig for yourself. I'll let you be the judge though! Here we go!

RAM: Upgrade from 4GB to 8GB

This would definitely speed up your computer. *GB is the minimum I recommend to anyone, regardless of what they are using the computer for. 4GB of RAM is the minimum necessary for a modern operating system to function, so doubling to 8GB will give you some very noticeable improvement.
I generally stick with Crucial.com RAM for upgrades. They're affordable, have good customer service, and have never steered me wrong before. You have two choices for an 8GB upgrade from them. A standard 8GB module and a Ballistix 8GB module. The latter is supposed to be higher quality, but I'm not really familiar with the differences, nor do I think it's worth the extra money. I'd go with the standard.

Hard Drive: Upgrade to Solid State or Fusion Drive

Upgrading the hard drive won't improve gaming performance, but it will make everything you do on your system faster overall. Not 100% sure, but I think your computer has a 500GB drive in there right now. decent space, but bare bones performance. Upgrading to a Fusion Drive or SSD will give you a huge performance jump. SSDs are the fastest drives out there, but assuming you don't want to decrease your disk space, your going to have to pay the premium. SSHDs aka Fusion Drives offer the best of both worlds; they add flash storage to a standard drive, and optimize performance by putting the system files and most frequently used files and programs on the flash section. Huge performance boost for a MUCH lower price than an SSD. I love these things, and definitely recommend one if budget is an issue. To upgrade your drive, you'll need to either have a backup you can restore to the new drive, or clone your existing hard drive to the new drive beforehand. My recommended method of doing this is by buying a hard drive enclosure. It's super affordable, and will let you repurpose your old hard drive as an external drive or backup drive when you're done.

CPU, Motherboard, and GPU:

Ok, here's where everything gets complex. The RAM and Hard Drive are easy upgrades, but while they will definitely speed things up, they won't help with gaming performance as much as this will. Your processor is trying to handle running the computer and running the games at the same time, and since it's not a great processor, it can't do that very well. Upgrading the processor allows your computer to do a lot more at once, and adding a GPU essentially gives games their own dedicated processor to work with. You'll see huge gaming performance boosts by going this route. Here's the trouble though: Your CPU is integrated in the motherboard. The only way to upgrade it is by swapping in a new motherboard with a better integrated processor. The silver lining here is that your computer model line had several motherboard options, both with more powerful CPUs as well as dedicated integrated GPUs. This means that by buying a new motherboard, you could upgrade your CPU, add a GPU, or both!
Here's the problem though. These motherboards are hard to find, expensive, or both. Parts-People.com has the listings and Dell Part numbers for several upgrades to your system, both with and without NVidia GPUs.

No GPU:
i5-4210U 1.7GHz - 6YPRH |
i5-5200U 2.2GHz - THVGR |
i7-4510U 2.0GHz - 7G1CD

With GPU:
i5-4210U 1.7GHz - 1P4HG |
i5-5200U 2.2GHz - T7TC4 |
i7-4510U 2.0GHz - CHXGJ

As you can see...pricey AND sold out. But at least this gives you a references. You may also notice that the ones with NVidia GPUs actually say they are only compatible with models that already had a discrete GPU...that's not actually true. I double checked with one of their technicians; all you'd need would be a replacement fan/heatsink. The one in your system only covers the CPU. The new one would cover both the CPU and the GPU. Fortunately, this part is inexpensive, both on the Parts-People site and on eBay.
Speaking of eBay, I think it's the best option for finding one of these motherboards. I did find the best version of the bunch for sale, but they're still quite pricey. There is another option though. By watching eBay for used Dell Inspiron models that have the motherboard you need, you might be able to find and win an auction for a whole computer at a far lower price point than the motherboard alone. As it turns outYou'd need to look for keywords like processor speed, and hope that if you tactfully asked if it said "nvidia" somewhere, the seller would understand what to look for. It gets risky, but you might even find auctions for damaged versions being sold for parts. Idiot cracked his screen? Motherboard's probably ok! Idiot spilled beer all over the computer...avoid that one. You wouldn't be restricted to Inspiron 15 (3542) either. As it turns out, these boards were used in Inspiron 14 (3442) and Inspiron 17 (5748) models as well. Definitely helpful if you go that route. Hell, with nothing wrong with it and at the right price point, you might find a whole new computer this way!

Speaking of a new computer...we come to my final point. Cost and worth. If you were to buy the RAM, Fusion Drive, external enclosure, i7 + GPU Motherboard, and Fan/Heatsink right now, you'd be looking at something like $350. Not terrible in the grand scheme of things, especially considering the fact that you could buy them at separate times, upgrading in stages as budget allows. However, the Wirecutter's pick for a budget laptop is $550 on Amazon, and would match or exceed the performance of everything above with no hassle or downtime. Just something to consider!

Phew! That was a lot. Hopefully it's helpful information, and gives you an idea of your options. Let me know if you have any questions!

The best way to see is to search for the model number + tear down / upgrade and see if you find stuff. Otherwise it is boring technical docu. Usually you will find videos or guides.

In regards to that probook, it is nice. Those are business devices that have been retired (generally used well for 2-3 years.) The nice thing about those is they are usually well made, cheap, and you can find replacement parts easy because of how they flood the market at the end of their expected life cycle. If it doesn't fail in those 90 days, it probably won't. I've bought a few refurbs without issue... some have had but they usually get resolved quickly. Just make sure to put it through its paces early and quickly.

As far as 6th vs 7th, there are differences. They may not affect you as much as someone else. The reality is that the performance jumps between intel gen isn't huge. It is there but not so much to say, you must upgrade. Now, when we talk about 8th gen... to me the core count is a massive upgrade. 9th gen hopefully will be a new architecture (this one has spanned 3 gens now... ugh) and should be a significant increase that could justify an upgrade. That said, so long as you don't skimp too much now, you won't have any issues for years.

The caddy is fine, I've done stuff like that no problem.

As far as benchmarks... https://www.notebookcheck.net/ and sites like tomshardware are great to look at. There are others. Also the site you linked (userbenchmark) is great as well. http://cpu.userbenchmark.com/Compare/Intel-Core-i5-6200U-vs-Intel-Core-i5-7200U/m36796vsm153577 this is their compare tool. Very handy. Combine that with notebook check and other resources to get an understanding of its real world performance.

I still like that dell the most... https://www.boadica.com.br/produtos/p141935/dell-computer-inspiron-15-5559

Here is a guide on how to replace the boot drive.
http://laptopmedia.com/highlights/inside-dell-inspiron-5559-disassembly-upgrade-guide-and-internal-photos/

If you do this I suggest buying something like the below link. You can use it as a backup drive in that case which is great though I strongly suggest multiple backups.

https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-USB3-0-External-Enclosure-Supported/dp/B01M08LCXW/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512077029&sr=8-3&keywords=external+drive+enclosure

Here is info on the caddy upgrade for it...

http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/id-2862858/dell-inspiron-5559-replace-dvd-drive-ssd.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSLvD6jIJ4A



http://www.tomsguide.com/forum/id-2862858/dell-inspiron-5559-replace-dvd-drive-ssd.html

As far as the SSD, you would want a minimum of 250gb in my opinon. Ask yourself how much data you are really storing... Consider use of services such as Onedrive, Google Drive, SpiderOak, icloud, dropbox, etc... (some are better than others)

For example, I have a surface with 128gb on it.. perfect for what I use it for. I have never had an issue. It is almost entirely a work device.

I have a gaming laptop with 256gb ssd. This is great for a couple games and some work stuff. No problems.

I have a main desktop with 2tb of SSD storage and 4tb of standard HDD for backups. This is my main work horse and I use it for work and pleasure. That still isn't enough storage ha!

I have a server with 16tb of storage and I am working on building a NAS with 100s.

I have some cloud servers with as little as 20gb of storage and as much as 200tb. It ranges depending on use...

You get the idea. So, ask yourself how much you actually need. I think a 250gb+ ssd is plenty. If you had that 1tb as external and used online services, you'd be hard pressed to use it unless you start doing some data processing, media creation, or gaming.

I'm in the same situation as you. My WD My Book crapped the bed. It still spins up but the computer sees no writable partitions. The I/O light doesn't even blink anymore. Just stays solid. Although, I got the cable just right once and I was able to slowly copy a few files over before the problem started repeating again. So this leads me to believe it is a port/cable issue. It was even still under warranty. But you have to ship it back to them and they ship you a NEW one. If you want your data recovered you have to send to to a third party first. WD says they destroy your data but I don't trust it.

The WD My Books are just HDDs with a shell so you should be able to swap the HD with another working WD Mybook

You can also take the case off and it has an adapter on the HDD to change it from 2.5SATA to USB 3.0 micro b that you can slide off and make it a normal HDD. So if you have an extra PC or trust yourself installing a second HDD in your current PC you could try that. I attempted this and failed. But I contributed it to trying to install a 4TB hd on an old dell with 2GHz processor and 2gbs ram. Even when I set my bios to boot to the Dells original Seagate HDD, the dell still tries to boot from the 4tb WD drive that never had an OS on it. And plugging it into an already booted computer failed too (risky move but I was desperate).

I've got three more solutions I'm gonna try. Gonna email WD an ask istead of replacing my drive if they will send me a new SATA to SS adapter and a new cable that comes with it. If not, Hopefully a USB 3.0 to 2.5 SATA cable does the trick.

And if all else fails. An HDD dock seems like my favorite and an all round better solution than external WD my books.

You shouldn't have to solder anything. But I haven't been successful at recovering the data so what do I know hahaha

Good luck.

Yeah, there’s no reason to replace your internal drive when the USB 3.0 bus will fully take advantage of the faster read/write speeds of your SSD. An enclosure like this should work well


As far as the SSD itself, just make sure it’s within the size limitations for the PS4. From the looks of it, PS4 requires external drives to be between 250 GB - 8TB in size, and apparently they’re pretty strict on that lower limitation. There is a Sandisk 240 GB SSD that works for Xbox (despite Xbox lower limit supposedly being 256 gb) that people have said will not work for PS4. There are plenty of reasonably priced 250+ GB drives available though.


Other than that, make sure you read the reviews for the SSD before buying it. Samsung is always a good pick, as are other brands like Crucial, Western Digital, and Intel, but people do appear to be having some success with the cheaper brands like Silicon Power and Adata. If you wanna play it safe, stick with Samsung, but there are enough people that have had good luck with the other brands that it may be worth considering to save some money.


Keep in mind that while most all games should load faster on your SSD, for some the load times don’t add to anything. For instance, Rainbow 6 Siege loads the maps faster, but you still have to wait for everybody on your team and the enemy team to load the maps before you can even start playing. Battlefield 1 is kind of similar in that you’ll finish one match and load the next map like 60 seconds before everyone else, but you’re just stuck there looking at the overhead battlefield waiting for people. I will say it can be nice when you’re joining a server with a match in progress, as your load time is easily halved.


Take your favorite games and their sizes into account, then ask yourself which ones have odd loading issues (overwatch mystery heroes for starters) or you just want to load faster, and purchase your SSD accordingly.


Also, one last thing, the invisibility with OW mystery heroes will be a non issue most of the time, but there are still instances where loading the first hero in mystery heroes will result in an invisible character for 1-2 seconds. I will say I’ve never had any invisible heroes in non-mystery queues since my SSD, even in backfill situations.


/end rant lol

Here you go.

• • -
    

    PCPartPicker Part List
    

    
    

    Type|Item|Price
    

    ----|:----|:----
    CPU | AMD - Ryzen 7 3700X 3.6 GHz 8-Core Processor | $329.00 @ B&H
    Motherboard | MSI - B450 TOMAHAWK ATX AM4 Motherboard | $114.99 @ Newegg
    Memory | Crucial - Ballistix Sport LT 32 GB (2 x 16 GB) DDR4-3200 Memory | $124.99 @ Newegg
    Storage | Western Digital - Blue 500 GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | Purchased For $0.00
    Storage | Seagate - Barracuda 1 TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | Purchased For $0.00
    Video Card | XFX - Radeon RX 5700 XT 8 GB Video Card | $399.99 @ Newegg
    Case | Fractal Design - Meshify C ATX Mid Tower Case | $84.85 @ Walmart
    Power Supply | SeaSonic - FOCUS Plus Gold 650 W 80+ Gold Certified Fully Modular ATX Power Supply | $91.99 @ SuperBiiz
    | Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
    | Total | $1145.81
    | Generated by PCPartPicker 2019-07-11 19:45 EDT-0400 |
    

• • -
    Breakdown:
    
    The R7 3700X is very close to the performance of the i7 9700K, but with double the amount of threads, which should be very handy for gaming while streaming (8c/16t is better than 8c/8t). And it already comes with an impressive stock Wraith Prism RGB cooler, so there is no need for an liquid cooler.
    
    The B450 Tomahawk is a mobo with VRMs good enough to even handle a 16 core 32 thread R9 3950X, provided you have ample airflow. So something like an R7 3700X will be perfectly fine. The B450 has the USB BIOS Flashback feature, which allows you to update your BIOS without having to have CPU and RAM installed. All you need is a flash drive.
    
    Here's 2x16GB of 3200MHz CL16 RAM.
    
    I included the SSD and HDD you already have into the build, saving you an easy $100+. I decided not to include the SSDnow V300, since its specs are not so great. Please use the WD Blue SSD as your boot drive, and just convert the SSDnow V300 into an external SSD or something.
    
    I swapped in the RX 5700 XT, since it offers the same level of performance as an RTX 2070 Super/GTX 1080 Ti/Radeon VII/RTX 2080 for only $400.
    
    Here's a the Meshify C. A good quality PC case with great airflow thanks to its front mesh.
    
    Here's a 650W Gold PSU. 550W Gold would have been more than enough, but I chose the 650W since it seems you may be interested in overclocking later down the line.
    
• • -
    Additional Notes:
    
    Consider waiting for aftermarket RX 5700 XTs to come out in mid-August so you'll benefit from much better cooling and much lower noise.
    
    Consider waiting for the RTX 2080 Super to come out. It will have better performance than the RTX 2080 for $700.

Well there's a few considerations.

1: If you want to keep your data (all your downloaded games, Windows, documents, Steam, etc.) then you will need to clone your old hard drive to the new SSD. A lot of SSD's come with cloning software, but just to be safe check on the SSD's page to make sure it will come with it. If they don't, you can download a free software called EaseUS ToDo Backup Free but in my experience this software is a little unreliable. (EDIT: /u/spif_spaceman recommended another software called Macrium Reflect Free, and after testing it myself I concluded that it does seem to work much better than EaseUS, and going forward I will recommend it to everyone as well. Thanks spif!) If you don't want to move your data, you could always just disconnect the HDD, connect the SSD in its place, and reinstall Windows.

2: To actually get your system to read both drives if your going to copy your data, you can simply power off the system and install the SSD in a second drive bay and plug in SATA power and data cables, or you can get a SATA to USB conversion kit and plug the drive in externally. Here is a great kit that I use at my job as a computer repair technician all the time, as it's very reliable, works with most major drive types, and is simple to use. You could also go with something like this if you want something a little more clean and easier to use. Personally either one of those solutions would work, however that enclosure does have a USB 3.0 connection vs the cable which uses a USB 2.0 connection, so the enclosure would have a faster data transfer speed provided you have an available USB 3.0 port.

3: Once you actually get your data moved over (or not) you may need to get a 2.5 inch to 3.5 inch mounting bracket depending on your case. Most modern cases (3-5 years old generally) will have support for an SSD built right in, but some may not. If not, here is a good kit for a great price, and you get 2!

Hope this helped!

I'll make a few points:

• HDD size: Do you plan on eventually owning a lot of games? If so, you're probably going to end up with an external HDD at some point, since you can get 2+ TB for pretty dang cheap these days. If you suspect that you will get an external drive, then the 1TB Xbox probably isn't really worth the extra cost over a 500GB. I have a 2TB external on my Xbox with like....100 games installed, and it's only at 50% capacity. I don't store anything on the internal drive except apps.
  
  
• I agree with you about the S. Just save the money and buy the original instead. Maybe the S's trade-in price toward Scorpio would be higher enough to make up for the extra cost you'd pay now, but that's speculation only, on something that is more than a year away.
  
  
• Here's 1 really big selling point for the original as well, imo. This can hold a 2.5" HDD inside, as well as adding 3 more ports, so if you include the HDD connection you're effectively getting 4 ports on the front of your console instead of just the 1 on the side, plus you don't have an external HDD dangling around. This is honestly the biggest reason why I won't be getting an S, because I use both back USB ports and 2/3 front USB ports most of the time. I can't go back to having only 1 front port. If this brand makes a hub that fits onto the S then I'll be way more tempted to buy it.
  
  
• Games: As someone else said, Ori is a fantastic game, honestly one of the best games this generation that I've played. In a completely different vein, Witcher 3 is also absolutely phenomenal. Probably the best game I've ever played (although I play it on PC). I guess since you're coming from PC you probably are more curious about Xbox exclusives though. Sunset Overdrive is a really fun and often overlooked game, just a lot of wacky stuff going on all the time. Halo 5 is very highly regarded by a lot of Halo fans for its balanced multiplayer mechanics; I've been playing Halo since 2002 or 2003, and honestly I'm not a huge fan of Halo 5. But I can't deny that the multiplayer is very refined and balanced at the core. The campaign was pretty shit though, story-wise.
  
  I kinda got my own wall of text going here. Let me know if you have more questions!

I went with the Libre Renegade since it was on Amazon and had prime shipping but it looks like Amazon only has the
4GB for $80 so it would be pointless to pay that much when the NanoPi M4 is $65

Looks like you can still get the 1GB version ($35) and the heatsink($4) from Love our PI but anything above that would be a waste of $ the main benefit is a solid OMV 4 build and the fact you can use any Rasp Pi case.


Here's the case I bought for $10.

I had to mod it to fit but I was able to easily mount a 40mm Noctua fan to it
So you're looking at around $50 not counting micro SD.

Then I have a 4bay Mediasonic Probox with 4x8TB shucked WD My Books(WD80EZAZ) and Easy Stores(WD80EMAZ). The 4 i purchased were all basically the same white drives which are the same thing as the 8TB reds.

Currently getting 100-110mbs and SMART actually works perfectly.

So total cost is gonna set you back $150 for everything except hard drives.

With that said, I personally would still go the same route since I know its reliable and all the kinks are ironed out.
The RK3399 boards are coming out every day so I would probably get the NanoPi M4 since it has OMV ready to go.

TLDNR; Without having more info on what I described in the first paragraph. I'd say just buy a couple 10TB Easystores on sale ($180ea) and use your current SBCs and smaller server setups. After I wrote all of this I saw that you are from AUS(I think), so no clue if you can get close to $18 per TB in your area, but prices are coming down every year so sometimes better to just save $$$. It is super fun to think about a new and more powerful setup, plus buying it and putting it together, but as you can see I've done a lot of this thinking already. You are also probably feeling guilty that you have to make use of all your 2TBs, but lots of little HDDs do require more electricity to power up and cool. You need storage density and you cant get around that. Upgrade to 10TB and use the 2TB as a cold storage (backup). You are at a heck of a crossroads because the cost to go from SBCs to a "Proper" server plus buying storage isnt a cheap one. Currently there are limited stepping stones, but more powerful SBCs and Ryzen Embedded are here and on the way so wait if possible. Either way you go, you will spend more money and use up storage faster than you planned... The more powerful SBCs arent always cheap either, once you factor in cost of: memory card, power supply, case, possible heatsink/extra heat sinks, a fan, etc. Their lower price starts creeping into the middle range...


What brand, how many, and how long have the 2TBs been powered on for? It sounds like you are currently swapping out the 2TBs for others depending on what you want to watch and on which HDD it is? Do you have any projected storage numbers and what is your current and future budget? You mentioned that you have a small dedicated server? Is that another SBC or what is with that setup and how many sata ports? I'd forgo the transcoding ideas and nix buying any sort of new "Server" options. Focus on reusing what you have or going with a "Used" setup, so you can start saving that money for when 8TB or 10TB Easystores go on sale.

IMO for a true new build you'd want to price in ECC RAM, UPS, and I personally prefer a case that has hot swap access to HDDs. The Rosewill that meemo linked cant be beat for the price especially since it comes with 7 fans, but it requires extra steps to access the HDDs (internally only), which may be fine for you. There is Mediasonic (JBOD version only) that you could plug into your SBC, but that technically isnt hot swappable either, plus it is USB 3.1 to USB-C which isnt the worst but it isnt the best... I know you wanted to get away from SBCs, but if you disable transcoding there are some SBCs that use SATA to SATA connections that are very viable. Any SBC or standalone storage that uses USB is a potential risk, since USB can suffer connection issues when doing rebuilding, parity, and scrubbing maintenance (same if your power goes out, hence a need for UPS). Helios4 is a time restricted option, since they only open up orders once or twice a year (they are currently taking orders). *I saw a post saying that since the Helios4 is a 32bit processor, so it is limited to 16TB volumes. You get 2GB ECC + 4x SATA and I believe you can use any HDD size with that (double check tho), so 4 separate 10TB volumes (4x$180sale=$720+tax), not including parity... I'm not sure how the 32bit and the 16TB volume limit effect drive pooling... I gotta research more into that. I'm not familiar with the UnRaid, FreeNAS, or the other options that you mentioned, but OpenMediaVault4 has MergerFS drive pooling and Snapraid plugin, you could run 3x storage HDD and 1x parity or you could forgo parity for now. If you prefer Windows (You can also run omv4 on windows in a VM) there is Stablebit Drivepool (Not free) for pooling and then Snapraid (not completely novice friendly) for parity. Depending on the HDD type you could reuse the discarded Easystore enclosures and put your 2TB drives in there (still USB connection). If they are a different brand (non WD/HGST) I think you have to desolder something on the Easystore board? I lost the link on how to do that. You could also just keep the 2TB as cold storage backups, but that still carries a risk, but it's cheaper. You could also get 2nd Helios, but for about the same price you could use that money on a 10TB. That would replace 5x of your 2TB drives... Not too mention the extra electricity to power and cool 5x drives vs 1x drive... As you can see, storage density starts coming into play here, big time.
UPS https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00429N18S/
Mediasonic https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078YQHWYW/
Helios4 https://shop.kobol.io/collections/frontpage/products/helios4-full-kit-2gb-ecc-3rd-batch-pre-order?variant=18881501528137
https://www.reddit.com/r/DataHoarder/comments/as17od/helios4_batch_3_available_for_preorder/

There are other SATA SBCs that you could use and you could also do a janky setup and put the SATA SBCs inside a hot swappable case like this Silverstone one. There are other cases, but this is the only name that came to mind. This case also doesnt have any power supply or fans to cool the HDDs so there will be extra cost there, plus you'll need a power supply, PLUS a way to turn on your power supply (with a power board), since that SBC setup wont have a motherboard. You can also make your own "Dumb" JBOD HDD enclosure and connect that to your mini server. Another option to SBCs is the ASRock cpu+mobo line: J3455-ITX, J4105-ITX, annd J5005-ITX. The issue with this that it appears you are still limited to 4x SATA or other variations of these boards have a PCIe 2.0 x16 slot at x1 or x2 transfer lanes/speed instead of x8 or x16... Also you have to factor in the price of ram and a mini PICO power supply. There is a subreddit+website that focuses on used parts for cheap server setups, but you might want to verify the power consumption of those setups when they are idling. With the NAS killer option, you gotta make sure all of the parts are still available on ebay or refurb sites, plus make sure you have time to build your setup to verify everything is working plus stress test it before the return window closes to weed out any weak used parts.
Silverstone https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00IAELTAI/
HDD enclosure option https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-5-25-Inch-3-5-Inch-Hot-swap-SATAIII/dp/B00DGZ42SM/
Power Board https://www.amazon.com/Super-Micro-Computer-Supermicro-Cse-ptjbod-cb2/dp/B008FQZHZE
J3455-ITX https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-157-728
https://www.serverbuilds.net/nas-killer-v30/

Another option if you really want transcoding and a more powerful "Server" would be a Dell Optiplex 7010, which are used business computers that are "Refurbished", but I think they just take them from that company and wipe the hard drive, nothing else. The Minitower Desktop version is roomier than the slightly cheaper SFF (SmallFormFactor) version, which might be important if you want to swap out the power supply, watch the youtube video to get an idea of what you are getting into. Since a cheap power supply is a weak point plus a potential hazard I'd recommend swapping in a new power supply, but you could risk it with its current power supply. Everything else should last for a good while. You'll also need to install a HBA card. You can get Genuine used cards that were in good working order or you could get a new knock off from China. Both options are viable, but personally I prefer the used option. Theartofserver, ebay seller, also has a youtube channel, so I purchased from him, but I have also purchased from other sellers and got good working parts (I think Ebay still has the most honest and accurate rating system out there?). Since the Optiplex doesnt have room for internal HDDs then you are left with a few options with various HBA cards (internal vs external), expander cards, and adapter setups (SFF-8087 to SFF-8088). If you want it to look "Proper" there will be a lot of wasted money on 2x adapters (1x Optiplex + 1x external HDD enclosure) and an extra SFF-8088 cable between the two. I'd just go janky with it and get a longer reverse breakout cable of 3.3feet (4x SATA to 1x SFF-8087), which should be long enough to go from your external HDDs setup into the Optiplex case and internally connected to the HBA card, like the popular 9201-8i. The janky part being that you'll have the reverse breakout cable snaking directly into each case, instead of plugging into an adapter in the back.
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01K0GNUOG/
https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Matters-Internal-Breakout-SFF-8087/dp/B018YHS9GM
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Genuine-LSI-6Gbps-SAS-HBA-LSI-9201-8i-9211-8i-P20-IT-Mode-ZFS-FreeNAS-unRAID/162958581156
Single adapter https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16816133055
Double adapter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01GPD9QEQ/
SFF-8080 cable https://www.amazon.com/Norco-Technologies-C-SFF8088-External-SFF-8088/dp/B003J9CZCK/

TL;DR - Buy this. Simple. Done.

• Around $350 - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-gtx970gaming4g
  
  
  ----------------------------------
  
  Wasted space... aka the details.
  
  
  That's what you are currently running? That's a solid foundation.
  
  Here's what you'll do to make it great, as budget allows:
  
  

1. [NESSESITY] Video Card - Nvidia GTX970/980 or AMD R9 290/290X
   

• Most important thing you need is a better video card. It will give you a night and day improvement on gaming. This alone and you might feel like you've done enough.
  
• Around $350 for an Nvidia GTX970 4GB if you want to stick with Nvidia. - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/msi-video-card-gtx970gaming4g
  
• Around $275 for an AMD R9 290/290x 4GB if you want to go with AMD - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/his-video-card-h290qmc4gd
  
• Around $550 if you want the fastest single GPU available Nvidia GTX980 4GB. The 970 is better bang for the $$, but some people want the best. - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/pny-video-card-vcggtx9804xpbcg
  
• NOTE: Dropping in a GTX970/GTX980 is easy. First, with your GTX 650 in there, update to the latest Nvidia drivers. Then shutdown, install the 970, power back up.
  
  

2. [Optional, but recomended] Solid State Drive. General windows use will be dramatically faster, it will feel like a brand new computer.
   

• Around $100 for a 256GB SSD you can use for your OS and one or two games. - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct256mx100ssd1
  
• Around $200 for a 512GB SSD you can use for your OS and a good number of games. - http://pcpartpicker.com/part/crucial-internal-hard-drive-ct512mx100ssd1
  
• NOTE: You'll need to reinstall windows to get the most out of an SSD. This makes it a lot of work to get going. It also looks like your case doesn't nativly support 2.5" drives, so you'll need this adapter: http://www.amazon.com/SABRENT-Inches-Internal-Mounting-BK-HDDH/dp/B00G57BN1M/
  
  

3. [Optional] An improved CPU cooler to allow some overclocking
   

• A better than stock cooler should let you get a little more performance out of that CPU.
  
• $35 Cooler Master Hyper 212 EVO + $12 2nd fan
  
• Note: Overclocking requires tweaking advanced settings and monitoring temperatures - This complicates your setup, and depending on how much you like to tinker, might not be worth it for you.
  

I usually recommend this for 3.5 drives - https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-Toolfree-External-Enclosure-Support/dp/B00GAML7OK/

They also have full alu ones for a bit more, but I actually prefer ABS plastic. But feel free to choose other designs or brands, as long as they good reviews it should be fine.

I'd recommend a WD Blue 4TB or 3TB - around $115 and $85 respectively on Amazon. Best price vs performance. WD Reds are also good if you can find them cheaper, Greens are a bit too slow for me (unless for long term storage) - they power down when idle a lot.

Honestly I would buy the drive and enclosure separately as you can always buy a new drive to use in the enclosure, or move the SSD into a laptop or desktop as well. It offers more flexibility. The price of a 240gb drive and enclosure is $62 +$15 = $77 versus $100. There are other options as well, but below is what I personally did. If you have any questions, I'd be glad to answer them.


I'm going to copy and paste an old comment of mine:

> Just a heads up, a 240GB ssd works as well! I bought a Sandisk SSD Plus drive from Amazon for $65 (USD. This was February of 2016.)
>
> Playing Destiny, the boot up time to load into the tower time went from
>
> ~3mins from internal drive to
>
> ~2:18 on portable HDD (5400 RPM) to
>
> ~1:36 on the SSD.
>
> Some/most games won't be that drastic of a difference, but I've been quite happy putting the games I play the most on the SSD. The formatted capacity of the 240gb SSD is 223.5gb
>
> I used the following (found my US linked items and located them in the UK store):
>
> This SSD drive
>
> This UASP supported SSD enclosure
>
> If you have any questions, let me know and I'll be happy to help. I use that 240 GB ssd in conjunction with a 2TB external, so that I get a best of both speed and storage capacity.

EDIT- Your drive has a read speed of 415MB/sec versus the stand alone ssd that has a read speed of 520MB/sec as well as being cheaper.

Sure. There's plenty of disk bays that connect to the PC via USB 3 or esata. I have a Drobo, which has served me well, but my next purchase will likely be something cheaper than that. I've been running it nearly 24/7 since I bought it 4 years ago (there was a month or two when my PC was off, so the drobo was in sleep mode).

There's a wide range of things like that available. Just search 5 Bay enclosure or 5 hdd Bay on Amazon (I'm on my phone or else I'd link you).

Edit: Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_E62LybZ817YQM

That's a 4 bay drive for 99 dollars. But just FYI, I don't know much about what hardware is good or reliable for USB drives (or Nas for that matter). It's something I plan to figure out or ask about when I get the money to buy a new enclosure or Nas.

And it should be noted that while I've had a good experience with Drobo (it's super easy to use, you can swap out drives for larger ones when you need to, and it can protect against one or two simultaneous drive failures), they use a proprietary RAID. That means if your drobo enclosure dies, you'll need to get it fixed, or replace it with another Drobo before you can recover the data on your hdds. I've read thaf migrating from one drobo to another is easy, and you don't need to know which order your drives are in or anything like that.

I think you definitely have enough to get started. The Z400 datasheet says you should have physical slots for four 3.5" drives. You could also get 3.5" adapters that allow you to hold two SSDs in one slot (something like this). Power might be an issue with only two SATA power connections, but you might be able to split an unused molex connector or something like that.

What questions do you have about ESXi? I think any hypervisor you choose (KVM and hypervisors based on it, ESXi, Xen, or HyperV) will work for your needs at least right now. My question so that I can better help is what do you want to learn? ESXi is popular in enterprise, so if you want to learn on something that is used in large and small companies alike, it is a good choice. Advanced features cost money, so that is something to keep in mind if you want to travel far down that road. If you want to learn containers, proxmox (based on KVM and LXC) allows you to run containers and VMs on the same box easily. For adminstering Windows servers, HyperV might give you some good experience doing that. Anyway, please ask the questions you have, and hopefully we can get you started!

>media, writing, etc

If you're comfortable with a used laptop you can find Thinkpad T440 variants for less than $180. I write and watch YouTube with a T430 (T440 predecessor). Heck I even game (Kerbal Space Program, Half Life 2/Portal/Portal 2, and indie games) without issue. On a 7-year old laptop. Partly because Thinkpads are business-class devices, and built to higher quality standards than consumer devices.

Part of the reason I recommend Refurb/used Thinkpads is your desire to use Linux. Thinkpads have phenomenal Linux support because they're popular. Not just with Linux developers, but the sort of tech-oriented user that might want to run Linux. Older ones especially, since they've been around long enough for people to patch/fix/update things to get them working. Heck you can even set their battery charge thresholds just like you can in Windows, for better battery lifespan (not battery life).

And you wouldn't be lacking for power either; an i5-4300U (mid/entry-level CPU for the T440's; you probably won't need more power than this) is just as, or more powerful than, the Celerons in the laptops you linked (yikes!), and from what I saw when I quickly searched eBay; feature either 500GB HDD's or 180-256GB SSD's. Plus you can set up/buy one with dual-channel RAM which will help your iGPU. I'm not as sure about the amazon options.

If you're writing, especially to publish/for school, I recommend picking a T440 or T440s with a 500GB HDD, and buying a 128/256GB SSD and a HDD enclosure like this one separately. Once they all arrive; replace the HDD in the laptop with the SSD, install Linux on it, and use the 500GB HDD as part of your on-site backup (along with cloud storage and a second on-site backup solution, for redundancy). If you like to write on the go; maybe consider buying an extended battery.

I almost forgot the reason I'd recommend a Thinkpad to anyone who'll be doing a lot of writing; the on-device keyboard is legendary. You won't find a better one unless you spend thousands on a gaming monstrosity with a mechanical keyboard. Lots of laptops have an OK keyboard. Thinkpads have good keyboards.

I have an SSD and that improved my loading times by a good amount of time, also helps to have better internet, my speeds are good enough but not great at all.

They really aren't that expensive, I'll point you in the right direction if you want. Also helps a ton with games like PUBG, BF, Red Dead, GTA etc.

.

Edit: If anyone is wondering I have one 512GB Silicon Power 3D NAND A55 SLC Cache Performance Boost SATA III 2.5" 7mm (0.28") Internal Solid State Drive from Amazon for $49.99 USD along with another of the same Silicon Power SSD but in 256GB for $28.99 USD.

Then you need the enclosure which costs $8.99: Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III]. Super simple set up, literally open the enclosure by sliding the top off, slide the SSD into the connection slot in the enclosure, put the top on, plug it in to the USB slot and turn the thing on. Really nice price, had never heard of the brand but it has really good reviews, and works well for me. Just about the cheapest SSD I've seen on Amazon with an average review of 4.5+ (and at least 1k reviews).

I think he is referring to a multi-boot USB, not just selecting a single ISO to 'burn' to the USB. I like xboot myself, but yumi is another one but I wasn't able to get it to work. There is also UNetBootin, but I was also not able to get this one to produce a workable USB. Another one to try is called Easy2Boot. I'm seeing one called multibootusb.org as well, but it looks like it is only linux distros, not just any random ISO file.

Lastly you could invest in something like this, which is a hardware USB that allows you to select which ISO to boot from.

I hope this list helps. Like I said, xboot is the only one that I've been able to successfully boot from windows ISOs as well as linux ones. Good luck :)

Your best bet (and greatest speed increase for your money) is to upgrade your HDD to a SSD. The Samsung EVO series (https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U - select a storage capacity based on your needs) is a pretty good bet, though most SSDs will speed up your system considerably.

Installing the SSD isn't too difficult. The most time-consuming part is copying all of your files over. I recommend that you get a HDD enclosure like this one: https://www.amazon.com/Tool-free-Inateck-External-Enclosure-FE2004/dp/B00JQTO8TU/

You'd insert the SSD into the enclosure, plug the enclosure into your MacBook Pro and then use a program called SuperDuper to duplicate the files on your current HDD and copy them onto your new SSD. That way, when you install the SSD, you can plug in and go.

CNET has a guide for upgrading the laptop to a SSD: https://www.cnet.com/uk/how-to/upgrade-your-macbook-install-ssd-hard-drive/

If you don't use your CD/DVD optical drive, you can actually replace it with another HDD/SSD for extra storage. There's a guide for that here: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Installing+MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Early+2011+Dual+Hard+Drive/8529

Depending on your budget, you can also upgrade your RAM, though it may not be worth it depending on your usage. If you use Virtual Machines a lot, or other memory-intensive applications, this may be a worthwhile upgrade.

iFixit has a pretty good guide for upgrading RAM: https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Late+2011+RAM+Replacement/7651

If you want to upgrade to 8GB of RAM, check this out: https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Apple-Certified-Laptop-Memory/dp/B005JRH9V2

If you want 16GB of RAM, look at this: https://www.amazon.com/Corsair-Certified-Laptop-Memory-CMSA16GX3M2A1333C9/dp/B006ON5KZC

What sort of stuff do you use your laptop for? That'll give us a better idea of what you may need RAM-wise. Feel free to ask if you have any more questions. There are also guides on YouTube if you want a visual guide for how to do this stuff. Just search for "MacBook Pro Late 2011 RAM/SSD Upgrade" and something should come up.

First: Avoid the J-series Synology units. All J-series are meant to be cost-reduced, low power units, typically based on ARM processors. They will perform rather poorly, and be completely useless for any kind of video editing applications.

>So when I get a NAS, what can I expect?

Lower performance than USB 3, but greater convenience because all your devices can access it simultaneously. You're going to want your computer and the NAS to be on the same Ethernet switch. Don't even think about doing anything serious over Wifi.

>Would it be a good idea?

Yes and no. Yes, in that it could make a great backup target, and a handy way of storing non-video content for live use, like music libraries.

>How is performance when connected to a network?

Depends on the NAS and the network. As I just finished writing up over here the rest of the traffic on the network can play a role in limiting performance, and the functional capacity of the NAS itself also plays a very key role in whether or not it can keep up with what you demand out of it.

>Is it totally doable for live editing or is it best connected directly to my PC via USB 3?

Maybe. Depends on the footage you're working with. Unless you're getting a higher end model, know how to tinker with these things, and you're not working with like gonzo 4K footage it might work out, but USB 3 will deliver far superior performance, and it would be recommended you continue to work off something like this.

>I'm less concerned about RAID... I'm really only doing this so I can have multiple drives using one power cable.

No, you're getting involved with RAID, so you need to be concerned about RAID. I have a write-up in the Wiki about RAID that gives you a sort of 10-foot perspective on the thing. The RAID tech you invest in will determine how you move forward in the coming years in terms of data protection and storage growth.

And if all you care about is the power cord then you're getting into this for the wrong reasons. IF that's all you care about you could get a DAS solution. You could go with just a simple dual disk dock, or a dumb 'ole JBOD enclosure, or get some kind of real RAID solution, either by buying a card and building an array inside your computer or in some kind of external enclosure, or by buying a device that handles RAID internally and exposes itself to the computer as a single dumb disk.

>Currently looking into these two models:

Keep in mind that those are dual-disk models, which limits you to RAID0 and RAID1. This is quite limiting in terms of options, and in terms of volume. However upgrading capacity is cheap, since you only have two disks to replace (however this is only possible in RAID1, and impossible in RAID0 unless you've got enough external storage lying around).

The SSD is mounted behind the motherboard tray. You really wouldn't be able to store an OS drive over the network since motherboard BIOS don't really have network support.

The description of the computer picture says it, but I have my storage drives in an external RAID enclosure from Mediasonic (link). I also realized that I got a 4th drive, so I have to add that to the pcpp list.

I currently have 4 3TB drives running in RAID 10 in the enclosure, attached eSATA to my WRT1900AC and accessible over the network. It took some setting up and some troubleshooting as to why the router wouldn't get the proper partition info (disable write caching!), but it works and it works great for a makeshift NAS. Copying many files is definitely not as fast (take into account 4K speeds on mechanical drives as well as pushing things over the network), but I get a constant 75MB/s write speed when copying over larger files, which is pretty much the most you'll get out of an eSATA II port over Ethernet. I'm very happy with the performance and would definitely recommend it.

I'm surprised that you haven't gotten much response in the last day. I suppose the FAQ is there, but you've looked through it and it doesn't provide you with the answers you're looking for so you're asking the community. So... what to do next? I'm gonna assume you're asking about what to do next hardware wise. Something that is low cost and won't lock you into something you can't change later.
40-50TB is nothing to scoff at, I'm surprised you've managed to get by with hooking them up direct this long, but hey if it works, it works (it's not dumb if it works).
A baby step could be increasing your density.
Grabbing a MediaSonic Pro Box https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-ProBox-HF2-SU3S2-SATA-Enclosure/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1540336320&sr=8-3 and shucking your externals into a 4up bay would free up some ports.
Then a cheap next step would be to upgrade from USB3 to some ESATA ports. I use this ESATA card https://www.amazon.com/StarTech-Port-Express-eSATA-Controller/dp/B003GSGMPU/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1540336457&sr=8-2 to hook up to the MediaSonic box and it works great. I still run this setup on one of the computers in my garage for "offline" backups. I just WOL the machine and backup some critical data then power it down.
If you want to start offloading the workload to another computer all this stuff would transfer well into another computer.

Other than that the FAQ does have a ton of good recommendations for what software to run under each different platform WINDOWS/MAC/Linux. In this day in age I don't think there is a "wrong" choice. Work in what you're most comfortable in. I'm partial to Windows and then Linux (mainly Ubuntu). If you have any other questions feel free to reach out.

Not too sure if this OK to post here, as it's regarding a laptop, but some knowledge here would be helpful.

​

I recently purchased an MSI GS65 Stealth for both Uni and gaming. It has a relatively small drive, at 250gb, but I would preferably like to keep the internal drive mainly for productivity data. I was thinking of purchasing a 250gb ssd and enclosure and keep that reserved for my games. I would also keep maybe 1 or 2 games that I am currently playing at the time on the internal memory so I don't have to plug something in every time I want to play.

​

This solution would costs ~£35, whilst an external ssd would cost ~£50. I also wouldn't want to install an internal ssd, as I don't particularly want to void the warranty just yet.

​

This would mean I would install steam on the internal drive and sometimes run games from the external drive. I don't think read/write speeds would be an issue, due to usb 3.1/c connectivity, but are there any other issues I could run into? Or is there another solution that may be better?

​

For reference, please see the below links:

MSI GS65 Stealth: https://www.msi.com/Laptop/GS65-Stealth-Thin-8RE/Specification

Enclosure I am considering: https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00OJ3UJ2S?pf_rd_p=330fbd82-d4fe-42e5-9c16-d4b886747c64&pf_rd_r=21AN8XGCNVGGWXPR04N5

​

Any help would be most appreciated.

Haha, I feel you-- I do miss the days when a console was a console and you didn't have to worry about customizing it to improve performance.

Here's the drive and the external enclosure I'm using, total $59.98:

Original link (see edit below; might not want to get this one): https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-240GB-Solid-State-SDSSDA-240G-G26/dp/B01F9G43WU/ref=sr_1_6?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1537193290&sr=1-6&keywords=250gb+ssd

Better link (Samsung, $8 more): https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-250GB-Internal-MZ-76E250B-AM/dp/B07864WMK8/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1537193972&sr=1-3&keywords=250gb+ssd

https://www.amazon.com/UGREEN-External-Enclosure-Adapter-Housing/dp/B06XWRRMYX/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1537193304&sr=8-4&keywords=external+enclosure+2.5

There are better SSD drives that that one, but the PS4 OS is not optimized for SSD so other people's tests show the better drives aren't any faster than lower-end drives. If you're buying one for a PC, then you might want to spring for a Samsung or something, but it's not necessary on PS4.

Edit: Ah, wait, that's not the exact same drive I'm using. Mine is listed as 250GB. This one is listed as 240GB. I think the minimum PS4 can use externally is 250GB. I know there's funny business in hard drive capacities due to the next step of bytes being 1024, not an even 1000, but I don't know if it would make this 240GB not meet PS4's "250" requirement or not. Might want to go with something explicitly 250GB to be safe.

Edit 2: Wow, Amazon actually has the Samsung brand 250GB for only $57 on sale today. I added that link if anyone's interested.

Well, for one thing, I know /u/Steve2926, who is a friend of mine, and who helped me repeatedly in the past.

So I know about Easy2Boot, and the last thing I'll ever do will be to go behind his back, to create a utility that is more or less a clone of his even as he is still actively developing it, to try to undercut all the effort he has put in it. Sorry, but that's just not how it works.

Also, you can read my stance on multiboot in the Rufus FAQ. While I do very much understand why people think they absolutely need multiboot (and while some SysAdmins actually do), I also came to the logical conclusion that it is a complete waste of time for the vast majority of users, who only need to boot a single image right here, right now, and don't go around trying to boot multiple targets computers in the same day. Of course, the people who need multiboot exist, but they are a minority of users and I consider that, since it's very usually their job, and therefore should already have the knowledge required for it, they don't need to get their hand held to achieve the custom multibooting scenario they require (since every single multiboot scenario is different, and comes with its own problems).

So, sorry, but investing a lot of my development time, which is already very limited, to cater to what is actually a small number of people, when I can use it to add features that will be more beneficial to a much larger majority, doesn't seem like a wise investment of my time. As such, I will continue to do what I do and advise people interested in multiboot to look at the current existing solutions, one of which being Easy2Boot, or invest in something like an IODD drive, which is probably what they are really after (since only BIOS/UEFI level CD/DVD-ROM emulation can guarantee your ISO to boot as expected).

Also, it seems that your main issue here is that you don't trust the work that somebody else's did, mostly because their site doesn't use HTTPS, and also, because the application may be closed source, which is a bit silly IMO, especially as I know that Steve makes good use of FLOSS projects like Grub4DOS (even if the application itself might have parts closed).

Besides, as someone who, like Steve, has put a lot of effort in developing their software, I would say that, if you do have an issue with a utility, your first reaction should be to contact the author of that utility and hear what they have to say about it (Maybe Steve is working to add SSL to his website? Maybe he is also planning to do things that will ease your woes?), rather than ask a completely different software developer to go around the back of the first one, and develop a directly competing application. Al in all, what you are asking doesn't sound like a very nice thing to do, unless you have exhausted all other options...

/r/PlexACD Refugee here, looking to bring everything back in house. Curious if anyone has been in a similar boat and has some feedback?

Here are some details about my situation:

• I'm trying to optimize for space and minimize heat generated so i can run server/data from a closet
  
• I'm planning on buying a storage solution (to save space and cut down on my complexity) instead of building one
  
• I have maybe 4 TB of media, looking to grow a TB per year
  
  • Redundancy in data is not critical required
    
• Concurrent transcoding is a rare situation - maybe 2 720p concurrent streams @ worst case
  
• Happy running Ubuntu
  
  my approach (feel free to tear it apart or suggest alternatives)
  
  
• NUC for Computer (this one has a CPU Passmark of 3824, so should be good for a 1080p and 720p concurrent) -
  https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01N4EOJNG/ref=ox_sc_act_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
  
  • I'll add 4 GB of RAM to it - seems like plenty
    
• PRORAID drive enclosure (gives me the option to use RAID or some software equivalent like flexRaid if i want in the future) - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YFHEAC/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
  
  • I'll probably go with RAID5 and just buy some drives up front that will last me a few years - sounds simpler than the software raid stuf
    
    My findings through this research:
    
    
• a NAS likely won't give me enough horsepower to feel comfortable in the transcoding department
  
• If i use a NUC to serve up data, i don't need an underpowered NAS for storage - i could do just fine with drive enclosure
  
• There are WAY too many software RAID options out there
  
  Thanks!

No :) By external enclosure, I mean One of these

Also, If you have made a time machine backup on the 1 TB external drive, you'll be able to restore all your files and settings and programs exactly as they were, with just one click. :)

However, you still need to:

1. Download a Copy of Yosemite from the Mac App Store (Free)
   
2. Obtain an 8 GB USB Stick
   
3. Download DiskMaker X
   
4. Make sure the flash drive is empty!
   

5. Plug in the Flash Drive, Run DiskMaker X, and select the correct flash drive. Then, wait about an hour or so, and it should finish the process. Do not let your mac go to sleep during this time, so you may want to use caffeine.
   

   
   

   Once this is done, you should have a bootable disk, that will work just like an OS X CD would, however it's a USB drive :)
   

   
   

   Now... what you'll do is put the SSD you just bought into the external enclosure (from the link above) and you'll be able to plug it in like an external hard drive. Run Disk Utility on OS X and format the external SSD as a "Mac OS X Extended (Journaled)" drive.
   

   
   

   Once you do that, back up your computer using Time Machine, to the external 1TB hard drive you already have.
   

   
   

   Finally, Open up your mac, Swap the SSD for the HDD. This is the tutorial I'd watch in order to do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_vk2wKwmzg (they upgrade the RAM and the Hard drive to an SSD) I've watched the entire thing to make sure it's legitimate :)
   

   
   

   ) Feel free to PM me anytime if you have issues with the process. I'll get back to you as quickly as I can. Cheers.

So if you're getting in mainly for Destiny you will be disappointed. SSDs give a marginal improvement because remember you have to wait for everyone to be loaded into an activity before you load in. Second everything is stored server side so that delay in opening your inventory isn't caused by your slow Hard Drive but the Destiny servers themselves, there is a 2 second improvement but at least to me it doesn't make a difference. (I have 2,000 hours on an SSD with Destiny and I saw no improvement to speak of)

Now assuming that you still want to get one because you play other games,

For the Enclosure, this little unit is awesome and what I use.

Collective Minds 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure & 3 Front USB 3.0 Ports Media HUB - Xbox One $39.99 from Amazon

It acts as an enclosure and a 3 port hub for 3 USB 3.0 ports, so it's super useful.

Now for the Drives

Drive | Seller | Price
---|---|----
Intel 730 SERIES| Amazon| $250 480GB
Samsung 850 PRO | Amazon | $220 512GB
Samsung 850 EVO| Amazon| $165 500GB


These are the 3 I would stay with in order from top to bottom in terms of performance and quality.

Hope this helps.

Just take a look at the other numbers aside from the main menu time and you'll see they aren't that much faster.

WD Black (3.5"): https://www.amazon.com/Black-Performance-Desktop-Hard-Drive/dp/B00FJRS6FU/ref=pd_sbs_147_1/138-2200904-9500565?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00FJRS6FU&pd_rd_r=aebe322f-1268-4416-bcf4-344f1483f9ff&pd_rd_w=k3Ban&pd_rd_wg=Hpesb&pf_rd_p=43281256-7633-49c8-b909-7ffd7d8cb21e&pf_rd_r=60ABZBZ0F3H18EK9F8XE&psc=1&refRID=60ABZBZ0F3H18EK9F8XE

​

Looks like Amazon also has some drive enclosures if you don't actually want to crack yours open. This one looks like it could even be easily replaced if you wanted to switch up the drive down the road! https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Lay-Flat-Docking-EC-DFLT/dp/B00LS5NFQ2/ref=sr_1_5?keywords=external+hard+drive+enclosure+3.5&qid=1567645642&s=electronics&sr=1-5

​

Otherwise that WD_ Black that you found seems like a good option too and at a reasonable price point for a 2TB drive. The DIY solution using the links in this post would be roughly $40 more to get the same 2TB capacity. But I guess the benefit of the DIY is that you could switch out the drive at any time and the enclosure is compatible with both 2.5 and 3.5 HDDs/SSDs... I may have to buy one of those for personal use lol.

​

Are you using the external drives with a laptop or desktop?

Specs: Raspberry Pi Zero W running Raspbian. I have a generic case that I found at Microcenter that came with a heat sync. Samba is installed for windows file sharing. Pi VPN is also installed for access from anywhere. Two hard drive enclosures form amazon with a few hard drives I had lying around: 1TB (left) and a 320GB (right). The fan is an Arctic Breeze Mobile and I also have a USB to Ethernet adapter. Everything is connected to a 7 hub Anker powered USB hub. The fan is probably overkill but whatever, it looks cool.

​

Guides I followed to get it all up and running:

How To Geek: How to Turn a Raspberry Pi into a Low-Power Network Storage Device

Combining the two different hard drives to appear as one

Setting up OpenVPN with PiVPN

​

Edit: Added Amazon links - I didn't buy everything from amazon but this is easiest. Some things aren't the exact ones shown but close enough.

​

Edit Edit: Added links to the guides I followed

​

Edit\^3: Thank you all for the support and my first Gold! I didn't think this would get as much support as it has gotten! :)

​

Last Edit hopefully: I apologize I called it a "Cloud" Server. It has stirred up some debate on whether or not it is. I called it a "cloud" server because I can access it from anywhere.

Photographer here, so I may not be working with as much data as everyone else here--although I'm am still dealing with 500-3000 raw files a week--and I agree with /u/tonydaazntiger319, it'd be better to get into the habit of backing up onto physical drives. Last year I moved from using external WD drives to a proper HDD backup and so far it's worked brilliantly.

I use a [Dual Hard Drive Dock] (https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Dual-Bay-Function-Tool-Free-FD2002/dp/B00N1KXE9K/ref=sr_1_1?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1499287048&sr=1-1&keywords=dual+hard+drive+dock) and each year I buy two [3TB Seagate HDD's] (https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-BarraCuda-3-5-Inch-Internal-ST3000DM008/dp/B01IEKG4NE/ref=sr_1_2?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1499287170&sr=1-2&keywords=3tb) titled "2017". I have one drive off-site at a friends house and each week I grab it and bring it to my place and use Carbon Copy Cloner to create an identical copy.

I need to start looking into a cloud backup solution (any recommendations would be greatly appreciated, now that amazon isn't offering their unlimited prime backup) so that I have three copies but I never delete files off of my computer until they are backed up on both drives. Works great for me and is pretty cheap when you consider the cost of lost data. Hope that helps:)

Jeez, I can't imagine how cramped a 12bay midtower would be to work on. Not a midtower, but this is what I use: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B008O2HOI2 [CM Storm Stryker - Full Tower SGC-5000W-KWN1] Works great. I ended up putting https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B00DGZ42SM Rosewill 4 x 3.5-Inch Hot-swap cage to help w/the hotswap portion. Works great. Good luck with whatever you decide!

Consider purchasing an external drive and do a back up NOW. They are relatively inexpensive, and space keeps getting cheaper so it is likely you can store all your legacy data in a backup on a single drive (or more than one backup on more than one drive) so the data is safe. SATA to USB is still very much alive. I recommended this and this today to someone else on reddit. This fixes the data part of this discussion, I hope.

As far as Win 10 goes, when operating on legacy and lower end equipment, Win 10 does a pretty good job. It does not follow the typical microsoft trajectory of BLOAT until the machine can actually handle it. I have found that Win 10 will sort of scale back on lower end equipment and works rather well. Further, with the Internet, drivers that are not recognized by windows as appropriate (and fully functional) should be easy to find. To this end, though, I would suggest not relying on legacy equipment forevermore; have an upgrade or replacement plan in mind.

I guess I don't truly understand what info you are looking for. Any feedback to guide the discussion?

Is the drive spinning up at all when you turn it on?

If it does spin up, and it's not making loud clanking noises, you can probably handle the recovery on your own.

I always recommend testdisk/photorec since I get the best results with it (and it's free), but it's all command line and not the most friendly user interface so you may want to try something else if you aren't super techy.

There are many to choose from - but other than photorec, you'll probably have to pay for one of the high end ones to get any real results. EaseUS, Recuva, and DiskWarrior (if you're on Mac) are my go-to options.

You may also need a new drive enclosure if your operating systems disk utility doesn't see the drive at all since it could just be the controller on the enclosure you've got. (This would definitely void any warranty you've got with that hard drive if you're worried about that kind of thing).

Mount the drive into the enclosure, and then you can run the recovery software.

If however the drive doesn't spin up, or it's making those clanking noises, then unfortunately you'll need to have it handled by professionals who have a proper clean room to disassemble the drive inside of.

I've been fortunate enough that all of my issues have been something I was able to resolve on my own (I used to do corporate IT work) and I haven't needed to use a service, however I know multiple people who have had great experiences with DataSavers here in town.

Good luck!

Are you planning on keeping your current 1 TB 3.5" in the x51 along with the other two 2.5" drives? This will have you at capacity as there are only 3 SATA ports on the x51 motherboard, you won't be able to use the CD drive. The best answer I can give you on that is to find an adapter that'll slide into the 3.5" bay that allows for a 2.5" drive to be held in its place (something like this which actually supports two 2.5" drives in place of one 3.5" drive. Keep in mind I can't confirm if this works, just a suggestion!) Another choice would be that you could mount the 2.5" drives on the existing 3.5" HDD or somewhere else in the case. The problem you run into is that there isn't a lot of space and the case is hot, so keep that in mind before making any firm decisions.

You might can try to get a 330w PSU from eBay in your country or ordering straight from Dell. The part numbers you should search for are: Y90RR / 5X3NX / F0K0N / XM3C3 / 331-2429. Keep in mind the 330w PSU can be listed as an M18x laptop charger, but as long as you can confirm one of the part numbers above you should be good. I could be wrong, but I think you can sometimes buy from a different country's Amazon store and get it shipped internationally, so you might want to check into that as the US Amazon store has the 330w PSU listed.

The problem with CPU coolers in the x51 is that there is a cup that sits on top of the cooler which angles the air out of the case so your case doesn't get hot. I'm sure it'll function fine with a good enough cooler but you might not see much lower temps without it (in theory). This thread on the Dell website seems to have a lot of good information that might help you out.

I got a PNY 240GB SSD and just a basic External SSD enclosure, both from my local Best Buy. The enclosure was pretty cheap and i could have probably found it even cheaper on amazon or something but i didn’t want to wait for shipping.

Also: Microsoft says that the Xbox one requires the external drive to be 256GB or more to work, but it’s not true. Like i said, mines a 240GB and it works just fine. At Best Buy, the 240GB was $70 and the 480GB was $130, so it just depends on how much you want to pay.

Edit: I paid like $25 at Best Buy on my enclosure but here’s one on amazon for $10 link

I have the Wii Network Adapter, but I'm sure any of them will work just fine.

You'll only need a USB Hub if you plan on playing 8 player smash using 2 GameCube Adapters. Otherwise, you have enough USB Ports to handle all of this. Smash Bros. can handle a number of different controller configuration.


I bought this enclosure with a dust cover because I didn't want the harddrive getting too dusty. We know how entertainment centers and consoles are dust magnets. This thing works great! Has it's own power supply, so I only need the one USB for data. It's compatible with USB 2.0 and 3.0. It will take SATA III 3.5 inch desktop HDDs as well as 2.5 harddrives and SSD's.


There are a number of HDD to choose from, but I picked this one up because it was sub 50 when I bought it. Speed seems just fine and I haven't has any issues.

It definitely runs better and always has there's just a lot of crashing bugs with the May update.

My buildings render a lot better (everything is usually loaded in as soon as I'm in the plane), the console is pretty quite, and all my other games look amazing and load faster.

I play CODWWII, Assassins Creed Origins, and NBA 2K and it's a way better experience than my OG Xbox.

I upgraded bc my disc drive in my OG Xbox was busted and I had to tilt my xbox up to a 45 degree angle for the discs to be read lol.

EDIT: I also just ordered the SSD below bc I had the extra cash, it arrives today so I'll let you know if it makes difference with PUBG and my other games:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075RJS55D/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Something like this...

https://www.amazon.com/Unitek-Adapter-Converter-Optical-Support/dp/B00GLL41MA/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1549732557&sr=8-5&keywords=usb+sata

They have some without power but they are for 2.5" drives. You will need one that has power. Or you could by a dock like this https://www.amazon.com/10Gbps-Single-Bay-Dock-SATA-HDDs/dp/B00XLAZTWA/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1549732639&sr=1-2-spons&keywords=usb+sata+dock&psc=1 or a new enclosure like this

https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-Toolfree-External-Enclosure-Support/dp/B00GAML7OK/ref=sr_1_3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1549732670&sr=1-3&keywords=3.5+sata+enclosure

*the above links are examples, I am not saying these are the best quality or best price.

Anyone looking for a good clean enclosure and expanding Hard Drive space. Check out, Collective Minds 2.5" Hard Drive Enclosure with this Samsung 2.5" 2 TB Hard Drive.
It adds 3 extra USB 3.0 Ports and keeps everything looking sharp. Total would be about $139.98.

I would suggest joining Xbox Live (XBL) as we (normally) get 2 free games a month. If you search this sub, your be able to find a years sub for around $40.00.

Also consider buying EA Access. It $4.99/month or $29.99/year. You get a ton of games and 10 hour free trials (Just make sure to download The Hub application after subbing).

Thanks mods, welcome all new comings, and Merry Christmas everyone!

So I know this thread is about a month old, but I have a Shuttle SH67H3 and I think it’s a beast, so I figured I’d comment. There are different options and if I were building something I’d probably do things differently, but I had gotten a deal on this a while ago and so far it’s suited my needs very well.

So first things first. I use Emby, not Plex. Emby supports hardware transcoding (via FFMPEG using VAAPI) and this has made a huge difference. I know Plex is planning on adding HW transcode, not sure if it’s been implemented yet.

Specs:
Ivy Bridge i7-3770
16GB RAM

Now I didn’t something a little different for storage. I got a 5.25” to 3.5” adapter (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OJFASY/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1). I have 3 8tb drives in there with a 2.5 SSD mounted on between them, the adapter left me enough room to mount two drives to it. This uses all the SATA ports

Then, and this is more recent, I put an NVME SSD (Samsung 960 EVO) in the PCI 3.0 spot with a PCI adapter. The BIOS doesn’t support booting from the NVME, so I put the boot partition on the other SSD. What I’m probably going to do is move the boot partition to a usb thumb drive and install it internally on the usb headers. There’s spare usb headers and I got an adapter to convert these to a USB port.

For good measure, I also had a Sans Digital 8 disk JBOD enclosure that’s basically a SATA port multiplier. The external east ports not he shuttle doesn’t support data port multipliers, so in the other PCI 2.0 spot I got a esata card with two ports.

Most of the time people direct stream, but there are many occasions of them transcoding as well. With throttling on for transcoding, it takes around a minute to do a hour show. CPU runs about 14%. The transcoding temp directory is on one of the SSD’s, this helps speed up the process I’m sure as it reads from one disk and writes to another.

I do the same thing with my NZB’s, intermediate directory on one disk and extract to a different disk. I have gigabit and get sustained 107MB downloads, this is with direct write on, unzipping as it downloads, and also allowing repair on one download while continuing another.

I’ve had quite a few people watch at the same time. Like I said most people direct stream and transcoding is pretty quick so you’d probably have to have at least 11 people start watching something that requires transcoding at the exact same time in order to overload it. Maybe one day I’ll actually run a test.

Software:

Emby
NZBGet
Kodi (this is what I use to watch stuff in my living room)
Sonarr
Radarr
Lazy Librarian
Ombi
Organizr
Webmin (year I know)
Nginx

I bought this back in 2013 on a super sale (it was like $80) in preparation for moving my main computer over (currently 80gb SATA2 SSD for essentially the OS). Turns out I am lazy and never did it so this drive was literally empty in my case for 5 years lol.

I bought this this week to get it hooked up to the xbox. Took all of 5 minutes of painless setup and about and hour while I prepped dinner to transfer. I've already easily saved that time in loading screens.

It's worth it, I'm definitely happy. Be sure you get at least a 256GB SSD (xbox requirement).

Anymore I don't generally take data recovery work on from people I don't know personally (just too much that could go wrong liability wise - I don't want to be the one to lose any irreplaceable pictures of grandma permanently) but I can give you some quick things you might try depending on how comfortable you are with electronics in general.



You said the drive isn't being recognized - is it making any new noises compared to when it was working? If you hear a repeating clicking noise, I would NOT attempt anything further on my own with that drive and in fact would not be turning it on any more if I could help it.



If it's not making a clicking noise but is still coming on and just not being recognized, it might just be the external enclosure/connector that's not working. If you're comfortable removing the HDD from the current enclosure, you can try the bare drive in something like this:




https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Lay-Flat-Docking-EC-DFLT/dp/B00LS5NFQ2




If the drive still refuses to be recognized by the system, the next step is utilizing software utilities to check for a busted partition table. The knowledge level you'll want for both this step and moving on from here takes a significant jump up from steos previous so if you're a basic level user, I'd stop at this point and find a guy in person that might help.

It might be as simple as a repairing the partition table but if it were my drive, I'd be getting a new identical HDD and cloning it bitwise in an attempt to preserve the original if anything goes wrong and attempting the next recovery steps on the newly-cloned drive.


Hope this helps!

> Is there a way to quickly connect the HDD to my laptop,

You'll need something like an external enclosure or a SATA to USB adapter to be able to connect it to your laptop. The enclosure/docking station I listed is a bit overkill as it works with both 2.5" and 3.5" disk drives. You can save almost half the price if you get a dedicated 2.5" OR 3.5" dedicated enclosure.

> permanently delete the already deleted files, then disconnect it and put it back where he had it?

Assuming you can get the HDD connected to your laptop, the free version of CCeaner has the capability to permanently remove those "deleted" files that still reside on the drive. Here's a youtube video showing how it's done (sorry the guy is a little hard to understand, but I think you'll get the idea). Good luck and feel free to ask questions should you have any.

#1, Upgrade to Windows 10 right now. There is ZERO reason to be using Windows 8, It's all but deprecated at this point. It will detect your Windows 8 key and convert it to a 10 key. Download the iso, do an "In Place Upgrade" by mounting the iso (double click it) then run setup. Download HERE. Make sure you have a good 60GB of space for rollback if needed.

#2 Since Windows 7, drivers and libraries are cached. What you see as 4.5GB in use is not correct at all. There is likely less than 3GB actually in use, the rest will dynamically move out of RAM the MOMENT you need the RAM for something else.

#3 Don't use antivirus, there is no need these days. Windows Defender is fine. Install Malware Bytes if you need to do some cleaning, then uninstall it. (which will free up more memory)

#4 open up task manager, go to the startup tab, and see what you have that opens on startup. Disable crap you don't need.

#5 RAM is astonishingly cheap right now, but because of chinese tariffs, may be going up. You can grab another 16GB for $60. you have two slots free, Do it up. Looks like 1333Mhz DDR3. $60 for 2x8GB DDR3

Edit: #6 and if you don't have an SSD get one now, they are also astonishingly cheap. Get a Samsung, use the live data migration utility with a USB to SATA adapter. You can literally copy the entire OS to the SSD while the computer is running. Then just rip out your mechanical drive, and install the SSD in it's place. Done. Lighting fast computer. Samsung 860 Evo 500GB/ USB to SATA/ 2.5" to 3.5" adapter / Samsung Data Migration Utility

I ended up putting the old drive in this enclosure (which is pretty good for the price): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00JQTO8TU

I used a 256gb ssd, but have the original 500gb drive for additional storage since steam games can fill up a harddrive fast and not every game is intensive enough to really benefit from an ssd.
I also did a backup onto that same 500gb drive. So I can use it to recover my original alpha windows 8 install as well as hold extra games.

Basically, clone your 500gb drive to the ssd. Then update all windows updates for windows 8 and update all dell drivers as well as hivemind. Wipe out the 500gb drive once you know the ssd and everything is working fine and backup the ssd windows 8 install to it.

Update to windows 10 on the ssd and then use remaining storage on the 500gb drive for additional game storage. The windows 8 backup will save your ass if the windows 10 update goes bad.

Edit: Another avenue to take is to uninstall hivemind and the alpha console software before updating to windows 10, then installing those things fresh on windows 10 after a successful upgrade. The first time I upgraded to windows 10, I didn't update hivemind first and I got stuck in a boot loop. But I just recovered back to 8 and the second time updated hivemind before updating to window 10.

Your best option will probably be to get some sort of adapter that will let you hook the laptop drive up to your PC (or new laptop) via USB. There are hard drive docks that support both desktop and laptop sized HDs that are very easy to use, such as this:

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Duplicator-Function-EC-HDD2/dp/B00IKC14OG

Or, there are cheaper options such as this adapter:

http://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-30504-Serial-Adapter/dp/B000UO6C5S

Once you hook your old drive up with something like that, you can just copy your files over like copying from any other folder on your PC to another. Good luck!

Okay, so I dug my adapter out and it is an older style adapter, not SATA 3, so it won't work with the HDD I took out of my Pro when I upgraded to a 2TB drive. Sorry!

However, I did a bit of digging, and this cable on Amazon has reviews from people who say they bought it specifically to work with an external HDD on their PS4 and had no issues.

BUT, I would recommend simply buying an enclosure. This enclosure is actually cheaper than the cable I linked above, and your HDD will look neater and stay cleaner if it's inside a case instead of having a bare drive connected to the PS4's USB ports.

This is the exact enclosure I am using right now with the PS4 Pro's 1TB drive. It costs a bit more, but I like that it includes a place to plug in an AC Adapter in case the HDD you're using needs more power than the PS4's USB ports can provide.

I'm sorry I have outdated cables and couldn't test that for you after all, but I hope you find something that will work for you. Good luck!

Ok so I think your going about this the wrong way.

I’m try to keep it as simple as possible.

Most people use a NAS along with a Plex server because a NAS just can’t do it on its own. They don’t have the proper hardware to perform as good as a computer. You will not be happy!

If you want simple the I would buy a Nvidia Shield and set it up at your server.

I would also buy an external storage device for your hard drives. You can use a nas but you can also use something like this.

The shield might be a little intimidating to you when you set it up but trust me it’s your best plug and play solution available.

I've been using this Mediasonic enclosure for the last few months and it works great, with USB 3.0 transfer rates are pretty decent. I have 4 reds in there and the cooling fan rarely turns on or gets hot. I am supporting both LAN and remote streaming and it works great.

Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5" SATA HDD Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_0wbvDbDZRJHCN

Id advise against using a USB-only cable. They're usually designed for 2.5" drives as they require and are engineered to need less power. It may work fine, but I'm a "Better safe than sorry" type of tech.

I'd recommend you get a 3.5" enclosure with a dedicated power, like this one: https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-Toolfree-External-Enclosure-Support/dp/B00GAML7OK/

I've installed both an 840 and 850 EVOs in my MBP, a 2009, with no issues.

You shouldn't need any other power cabels, it's built into the SATA ribbon cable.

The install is very easy. Just take the bottom case off the laptop, remote 2 screws over the black bit holding the gard drive in place and then remove the drive. Next, you'll need a Torx 6 to remove 4 pegs from the drive, which you put in the threaded holes on the SSD. Reverse the steps above and you'll be good to go.

Check out iFixit for the best walk throughs around.
13" 2011 MBP
15" 2011 MBP

Only other thing you'll need is a way to connect your old drive to the laptop to clone it to the SSD. I normally recommend an enclosure like this so you can later wipe the drive and use it as a Time Machine backup drive.

For the closing software, I've used Carbon Copy Cloner, the free trial will allow you to do everything you need.

Hope this helps

> I want to upgrade my SSD to 512 GB with NVME. But I heard a lot of converter that would actually affected to system caused not to boot up from sleep. Any good converter from NVME M.2 to PCIE?

If you have a little extra money to spend on it, the OWC Aura doesn't even need a converter, it's a native Apple connector SSD. If you want to save money with an M.2, I hear good things about the Sintech NGFF M.2 nVME SSD Adapter but I have no personal experience with any of them; hopefully someone else can chime in here. If you do find out, let me know. I'd love to make the upgrade myself.

> Should I put on a case or just a skin on my Macbook to prevent scratches?

It's all subjective. Sources say even the vinyl coverings like DBrand (especially on the bottom case like over the keyboard) cause the MacBooks to run even hotter, and a case would be even worse, so it should be avoided. I don't know if it's true or not, but it seems logically sound. (And I personally don't use either one.)

> How to prevent "Staingate"

You can slow it down using a nice microfiber cloth to clean the screen, and no chemicals like Windex or other glass cleaner. And not cleaning it too often. The whole issue is just the anti-reflective coating peeling off the screen.

> How to charge Macbook properly?

Just like any Li-ion battery; repeated deep dischargings, and never discharging is what's bad for the battery. If you're near a plug, go ahead and plug it in. But if you're just leaving it on a desk in one place, take it off the charger once a week or so and use it. If you ever want to store it for a long period of time without using it, storing it full and storing it empty both hurt the battery. What you want to do is discharge to about 50% and then turn it off and store it.

> Any idea to make a signature Apple lighting logo on the back of Macbook?

You can get vinyl stickers to make it glow all sorts of colors or patterns. I personally have a pink one that I used to have on my 15" 2011, and is now on my 13" 2015. (They're reusable.) You could probably even find someone who would make them with a custom graphic.

Honestly, IDE drives are so out of date you're not going to find any larger products like that which supports it. The best you can hope for is an adapter that does a single IDE drive like this: https://www.amazon.com/C2G-Cables-30504-Serial-Adapter/dp/B000UO6C5S/

Honestly, if it were me, I'd move that data to another drive, and then trash them and get something like this for sata drives: https://www.amazon.com/Inateck-Dual-Bay-Function-Tool-Free-FD2002/dp/B00N1KXE9K/

Yes, the UI will benefit as well. If you are looking for load time improvement absolutely snag an SSD.

I just snagged this guy

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/samsung-t5-500gb-external-usb-type-c-portable-solid-state-drive-alluring-blue/6026201.p?skuId=6026201

You may be able to go cheaper or smaller. The Xbox One supposedly only works with drives 256GB and up, but people have reported 250GB drives working just fine.

Your other option would be to get an internal SSD like this one

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-500GB-SSD-WDS500G2B0A/dp/B073SBZ8YH?keywords=ssd&qid=1537845235&sr=8-1-spons&ref=mp_s_a_1_1_sspa&psc=1

And nabbing an enclosure like this

https://www.amazon.com/AmazonBasics-2-5-inches-SATA-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B01N5RLG2C?crid=2V660C4JJT86R&keywords=2.5+hard+drive+enclosure&qid=1537845347&sprefix=2.5&sr=8-4&ref=mp_s_a_1_4

Could save you a couple bucks

The drive I had laying around was one of these.

https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-250GB-SSD-WDS250G2B0A/dp/B073SB2MXW/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1522940690&sr=8-7&keywords=256gb+ssd+drive

So I bought one of these to make it an external drive.

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=sr_1_3?s=pc&ie=UTF8&qid=1522940862&sr=1-3&keywords=ssd+enclosure


There are faster drives but if you are on a budget that is a pretty good deal. I have been using it and had several crashes and I am back in game in like 20-30 seconds compared to 2+ minutes before. Also, during normal game loading I used to only have 10 seconds to run around on the loading island and now I have 50-60 seconds. Buildings load as soon as I land now too. So not sure how much faster a more expensive drive could make it but this one works great.

I used the free OpenMediaVault as the OS and built my server in an old cheap computer to start. I am tech savvy so I built my own second server and put it at a family members house as my offsite backup, but it sounds like that wouldn't be a good option for you.

With you wanting as much as 30TB of data on the server, an off site backup is a must and I would highly recommend some sort of RAID or redundancy. I decided to do mine on the cheap and use ZFS Raid1/RAID 5(only one disk of redundancy between 3 disks) and the offsite backup as a secondary.

When your talking about that much data you have to seriously look at whether or not your ISP imposes a monthly data cap. For my Comcast I can only use 1TB of data a month without incurring a bunch of extra cost. So regular offsite backups of a 30TB library would push me way over the edge, even if I backed up incrementally. And Restoring from any failures would push it over the edge again. If you have a data cap like I do I would recommend using an enclosure like this for backups. Plug it in and back up your stuff, then bring it to work or a friends and leave it until you want to run another backup. Restore process is quick since it isn't using the internet and it protects your data from a natural disaster at home.

Mac Mini (2018 model), named NOSTROMO

• 3.2 GHz Hexa-Core Core i7 CPU
  
• 32 GB of RAM
  
• 256 GB PCIe boot volume
  
• 2 TB external rotating drive for Time Machine Backups, connected via Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C
  
• Dual 8 TB Western Digital Elements USB 3.0 drives for content, VOL1 and VOL2. VOL1 is replicated to VOL2, both are connected via Thunderbolt 3 / USB-C. These handy adapter cables allow you to connect a traditional USB 3.0 device into a Thunderbolt 3 port.
  
• Single 4 TB SeaGate Plus USB 3.0 drive which contains the majority of my media content, VOL5. It is a "floater" drive which I always carry in my backpack to have the majority of my content with me at all times.
  
• Running Mac OS 10.14.6 Server
  
• Dual 27” Apple Thunderbolt Displays connected to the Mac Mini, daisy-chained off a single Thunderbolt 3 port using a Thunderbolt 3 to Thunderbolt 2 adapter.
  
• This Mac Mini is what I use to host all of my iTunes content to the three Apple TVs in my home
  
  
  

  Mac Mini (2010 model), named SPUNKMEYER
  

  
  

• 2.4 GHz Core 2 Duo CPU
  
• 16 GB of RAM
  
• 100 GB SSD boot volume
  
• 500 GB traditional drive for Time Machine Backups
  
• Running Mac OS 10.13.6 Server
  
  
  

  MacBook Pro Retina 15” (2015 model), named SULACO
  

  
  

• 2.2 GHz Quad-Core Core i7 CPU
  
• 16 GB of RAM
  
• 256 GB SSD
  
• Running Mac OS 10.14.6 Client
  
• Time Machine Backups are being taken both on the 2018 Mac Mini as well as the 2010 Mac Mini
  
  
  

  Mac Mini (2012 model), named FERRO
  

  
  

• This Mac is located at Mom & Dad’s about 1,000 miles away. It is a complete offsite backup of all of my content, it is also used for Time Machine backups of my mother’s Mac Mini and my niece’s MacBook Pro. I have both Remote Desktop and SSH access via the magic of port forwarding. Whenever I add a new movie, I place it is my Shared Dropbox folder, then about 30 minutes later it is available on the backup Mac Mini. I then move it over to VOL3, and all of my content is always in sync.
  
• 2.5 GHz Dual-Core Core i5 CPU
  
• 16 GB of RAM
  
• 120 GB SSD boot volume
  
• 500 GB traditional drive for Time Machine Backups
  
• Single 8 TB Western Digital Elements USB 3.0 drive for storing and hosting content, VOL3. It is a complete duplicate of VOL1/VOL2.
  
• Running Mac OS 10.14.6 Server
  
  
  

  Mac Mini (2012 model), named AURIGA
  

  
  

• This Mac is located at my sister's house about 1,000 miles away. It is a complete offsite backup of all of my movies and TV shows, it is also used for Time Machine backups of my sister's MacBook Pro and my other niece’s MacBook. I have both Remote Desktop and SSH access via the magic of port forwarding. Whenever I add a new movie, I place it is my Shared Dropbox folder, then about 30 minutes later it is available on the backup Mac Mini. I then move it over to VOL4, and all of my content is always in sync.
  
• 2.5 GHz Dual-Core Core i5 CPU
  
• 16 GB of RAM
  
• 256 GB SSD boot volume
  
• 500 GB traditional drive for Time Machine Backups
  
• Single 4 TB Seagate Backup Plus USB 3.0 drive (VOL4) for storing and hosting content, VOL4. As it is only a 4 TB volumes, it contains only the moves and television shows which are on VOL1, VOL2, and VOL3.
  
• Running Mac OS 10.14.6 Server
  
  
  Both the 2012 Minis and the 2010 Mini are completely headless. Unfortunately, this means that accessing them via remote desktop gives you a measly 800x600 resolution. I use this handy little gadget on both of them to replicate a 1920x1080 display being connected. So, when I connect via Screen Sharing I get a nice big display.
  
  
  

  MacBook Pro (2018 model), named APLC02XV5W1JGH5
  

  
  

• 2.2 GHz Six-Core Intel Core i7 CPU
  
• 16 GB of RAM
  
• 500 GB SSD
  
• Running Mac OS 10.14.5 Client
  
• This is my work-provided laptop, mostly used for remote access. It is pretty locked down, I am not a local administrator so I cannot even rename it to fit my naming scheme
  
  
  

  iPad Pro 10.5", named APONE
  

  
  

• 2.38 GHz Apple A10X CPU
  
• 4 GB of RAM
  
• 256 GB of storage
  
• Running iOS 13.0 Public Beta
  
  
  

  iPhone X, named RIPLEY
  

  
  

• 2.4 GHz Apple A11 Bionic CPU
  
• 3 GB of RAM
  
• 256 GB of storage
  
• Running iOS 12.4
  
  
  LG Blu-Ray reader/writer in connected to NOSTROMO via USB 3.0, used for ripping Blu-Rays and DVDs
  
  Sabrent USB 3.0 Dual-Bay Hard Drive Dock, also connected to NOSTROMO via USB 3.0
  
  The microphone is a Yeti Blue with a Nady Pop Filter, coupled with a Logitech HD C310, used for Google Hangouts and FaceTime calls with the fam, and the occasional podcast. It is mounted on a RODE PSA1 Swivel Mount Studio Microphone Boom Arm and a RADIUS II Microphone Shock Mount.
  
  The mousepad is an XTracPads Ripper XXL mousepad
  
  The chair is a Raynor Ergohuman ME7ERG desk chair
  
  I use Dropbox to expertly keep my content in sync. Due to the amount of content I keep in there, it is well worth the $100 per year for a Dropbox Pro subscription.
  
  
  Additionally throughout the house, I have...
  3 Eeros for my Mesh Wireless Network WiFi System
  2 Apple TVs (4K), named ASH and CALL
  1 Apple TV (4th Generation), named BISHOP
  1 Apple HomePod, named DIETRICH
  1 Nest Hello Video Doorbell, named HELLO
  1 Nest Learning Thermostat, named NEST (yeah, original af, I know)
  2 WyzeCam Pans, named WYZE-Kitchen and WYZE-LivingRoom
  4 WeMo Smart Plugs, named WEMO-Foyer, WEMO-SpareBedroom, WEMO-MasterBedroom, and WEMO-LivingRoom
  1 Amazon Echo Plus, named ECHO-LivingRoom
  2 Amazon Echoes (First-Generation), named ECHO-MasterBedroom and ECHO-Kitchen
  2 Amazon Echo Dots, named DOT-Office, and DOT-SpareBedroom
  4 Google Home Minis
  1 Brother HL-L2395DW Wireless Laser Printer, named LV426
  1 PlayStation 3 Slim 120 GB, named HICKS
  
  I have a total of 31 IP reservations according to my Eero app. This makes it a lot easier to manage my network, set up port forwarding, etc.

Ah, I see! Just FYI, the USB option on that page you linked might take a few hours -- I always advise my customers who tackle this process themselves to take a breather; if it's evening where you are, go to bed and start fresh in the morning so you don't miss any steps. Hope it works out for you!

Here's a few other options for you, just in case it helps:

1. You can use a friend's or family member's computer to make an Ubuntu boot USB - just download the ISO file from ubuntu.com and a boot-disk-maker from pendrivelinux.com -- this will let you boot your laptop from the USB instead of the hard disk. Your hard drive should be readable as a secondary disk, and you can copy off your files from that environment.
   
   
2. If your hard drive is removable (3.5" 2.5" or M.2 stick, and not soldered on to the motherboard), then you can also remove it from most PC laptops very easily and drop it into a cheap USB case -- it will show up like any USB removable drive on a working computer.
   example: https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-USB3-0-External-Enclosure-Supported/dp/B01M08LCXW
   (note: if it's an M.2 SATA or PCI-E stick, you have to be very specific as to what form-factor the stick actually is. Most cases fit just one or two formats, and there are like EIGHT, and they're all called M.2 because the manufacturers probably like causing chaos or something)
   
   
3. In the worst-case scenario that Windows will simply NOT reinstall from recovery, you do NOT have a bricked laptop -- you can freely install Windows 10 from the publicly-available Media Download tool and if your PC is an OEM, it may re-license itself, because the "key" is actually in the motherboard's firmware. If the PC originally came with Windows 8 or whatever, then this won't work.
   
   
4. And finally, if Windows is a continuing problem, Linux is free, and nearly always works right out of the box.

Mediasonic has some low-cost RAID/JBOD boxes. Amazon link

edit: Or you could get a SATA port expander and a drive cage if you've got room in your PC case.

edit2: How to combine multiple hard drives into one volume on Windows 10

But at some point you've got to look at the cost of a new 8TB WD Eaystore on sale for $160, versus spending any more money on making those 1TB drives useable. The best bang for the buck is a new 8TB external, second best is scrounging up some free PC hardware and hacking together a low-cost-no-cost PC.

I got an iStarUSA S35 with a trayless drive cage, it will probably run about 170'ish. I like it a lot, but you'll have to go another route on the PSU as it takes a Flex PSU. Not a huge deal, they are on Amazon, NewEgg, etc

The tray less model I got... https://www.amazon.com/iStarUSA-S-35-DE4BL-3-5-Inch-Trayless-mini-ITX/dp/B00EC32KEA/ref=sr_1_24?keywords=istarusa+s-35&qid=1564973279&s=gateway&sr=8-24

A trayed version is also on Amazon as well, but I have no experience with it. You could save a little coin and go this route:

https://www.amazon.com/iStarUSA-S-35EX-Compact-3x5-25-inch-Mini-ITX/dp/B017S6RIU8/ref=sr_1_18?keywords=istarusa+s-35&qid=1564973279&s=gateway&sr=8-18

Then buy this...

https://www.amazon.com/Rosewill-5-25-Inch-3-5-Inch-Hot-swap-SATAIII/dp/B00DGZ42SM/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=rosewill+drive+cage&qid=1564973142&s=gateway&sr=8-2

My friend uses that drive cage in a generic tower case so he has hot swap, and he likes it.

I did that with my wifes 2011 MBP too.

​

The 2015 I picked up I got a good deal on I think but it only has a 128GB ssd in it, which is super small and I take a lot of photos with my iphone and Nikon d3200, so I need more space than this.

​

I saw a guide that suggested a samsung 960 evo m.2 NVME drive with an adapter.

​

https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2017-ST-NGFF2013-C/dp/B01CWWAENG/ref=pd_ybh_a_7?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RSQYBBQ008Y2QG3XMKNN

​

https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-960-EVO-Internal-MZ-V6E500BW/dp/B01M20VBU7/ref=pd_ybh_a_1?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=RSQYBBQ008Y2QG3XMKNN

​

so for $160 I could get 512GB of space which compared to OWC is super cheap and worth the attempt I think

​

Thats looks to be the right part, i got something similar as well but different brand for my 2011 pro (http://amzn.com/B004PR6DAA). If it interest you for about the same price, get a Crucial M500 240GB Solid State Drive instead it dramatically improves the performance of the laptop. I have it and love it, anyone i know that has an older ish macbook pro has it. http://amzn.com/B00BQ8RM1A, this as well http://amzn.com/B00G57BN1M

For sure! Mine is petty old, so I don't think it's sold anymore, but if I were to get another this guy looks alright.

External drive enclosures like this, that let you swap drives quickly, are pretty handy if you're only concerned with sata.

There's probably better choices out there, but it'll get you started. :)

I just added this to my tower, it seemed like the best trade off of 2x5.25 bays for 3x3.5 HDDs, has a fan and removable/washable filter. Fitment was perfect, also comes with a bracket for 4x2.5 drives if you wanted. If you need hotswap ability though I'd look at something like what you have, or I thought of buying this one.

Hello! I've run out of space on my current laptop 256gb ssd, and I was wondering how viable it is to just have all my games on a separate hard drive? I'm looking at a WD Blue 1TB 7200 RPM 3.5'' + HDD enclosure and I was planning on just downloading the steam games to a steam library on the hard drive. I can't really afford any of the more expensive solutions like upgrading the storage on my ssd, so I was looking at other solutions. Would this work? What are the downsides to this? Are there better solutions? I currently plan on playing anything from smaller less intensive titles like hollow knight all the way to things like dark souls iii. Thank you!

Here is the best way I've discovered to do this:

With a inexpensive drive duplicator (around $35 U.S.), you can put the source drive (HDD) in in the source bay and the new, bare, drive (SSD) in the "target" drive slot.

Then, with the press of a button (you don't need to be connected to a PC to do this) all of the contents from the source drive gets duplicated onto the target drive. Plug the new SSD in the computer and power it up. Easy!

The problem? The target drive must be the same size or larger than the source drive. It would not work in your case. The process is a byte-by-byte duplication.

It's good to have the duplicator around, because you can later buy internal hard drives and use the duplicator as a docking station. Plug it into your PC, and suddenly you have one or two more storage drives.

So, my suggestion would be to buy an SSD the same size or larger than the spinning drive and get the cheap duplicator/docking station. A bit more money, yes, but a useful purchase.

Otherwise, you have to find a software solution to the problem, and software solutions (as you've discovered) are tricky.

HERE is an example of the dock.

Hope that helps.

I have always used Western Digital drives. At the moment, you can get a 1TB Velociraptor for about $200, but that's kind of overkill, especially if you will be using a USB dock. You may be better off with a Black drive, which is fairly cheap at the moment. Various sizes available here
Honestly, the read and write limit may be more on the dock side of things, than the hard drive. You may want to upgrade that, as well. (This one is only $40)
For your self-powered device, there's one here that is only $70 for 1TB.
I'm sure you already know this, but any USB-powered device is going to take a serious toll on your battery life.

So short-list:
Docking Station
Hard Drive
External

Hope this helped.

Go for This HDD. Its a little more expensive, but its got much better reliability (According to this study) and is 7200RPM (faster loading times, basically). Its got a 3 year warranty too. There is a version with a 5 year warranty (Ultrastar instead of Deskstar), but its not worth it for the price. You'll also need an enclosure too. Something like this will get the job done. Others are great too, just make sure that are for 3.5 inch drives (not 2.5 inch) and are USB 3.0 compatible.

It absolutely helps but it has to be a Solid State Drive, not just an external hard drive. I bought this Samsung one back in April and it is actually $12 cheaper than when I bought it. Since that was months ago, someone might have a more current example of which is currently the best on market. I've been very happy with it though.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07864WMK8/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o08_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If you need recommendations, These are the exact ones I purchased, but basically just look for good price and decent ratings on amazon. Make sure to get a good usb 3.0 enclosure too, if you didn’t know that already, ssd’s won’t come with a way to connect to USB already in the box.

enclosure

ssd

Edit: looks like I was off by $3. The total is about $43 (before tax, prime shipping).

I'm a lazy POS, I haven't bought anything yet.

I'm close to pulling the trigger on...
https://www.amazon.com/Mediasonic-HFR2-SU3S2-PRORAID-Drive-Enclosure/dp/B003YFHEAC

BUT... I am still researching building a rig from scratch, which I don't want to do... but everyone says to go that route. Honestly, I am only looking for a 3-4 year solution. After that, I will be established enough that I need a full separate computer.

I'm not converting and 99.99% of the time there will only be one stream playing. That is why I am leaning to DAS instead of NAS. I have a ShieldTV which has pretty good horsepower.

Got an ssd for my PC and figured I’d test it out on the Xbox before putting in it there.


My ssd didn’t make it to my PC lol not only does it help with PUBG, but load times in a lot of games benefit.

Samsung 860 EVO 1TB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E1T0B/AM) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078DPCY3T/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_ipCXflemgfEW4

With this enclosure

Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized For SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apip_VSK1vlJ4IRvgp

Piece of cake to set up. Put the drive in the enclosure (very easy), plug into usb, add games.

Edit- played PUBG on internal hard drive for test and live, vs ssd for both and the benefit is noticeable.

I would pay attention to what you buy however. A lot of the newer SATA-USB adapters are made for USB 3.0 and are listed as being "optimized" for SSD drives and only have a single USB 3.0 connector. What this means is that if you don't plug the adapter into a USB 3.0 port (usually blue, but they are sometimes not marked as such) then your hard drive won't be able to draw the necessary power to spin the drives and read/write data.

The older models (like the one I use) got around this by using two USB 2.0 cables, one for power and date and one for strictly power. If you're not sure if you have USB 3.0 capable ports, I would make sure you look for something like this that has a separate power supply, just to be safe. If you think plugging in SATA drives is something you'll be doing fairly often, I would consider even splurging for a docking station (similar to this one) to make life easier for you.

My wife has a standard HP laptop. Less than a year old, but it was less than $400.

The thing started being really slow, like have to wait 5 minutes for it to boot slow.

So, I decide to buy an SSD. However, because she's hardheaded, she didn't want any less than the storage she had already (1TB).

I bought an AData 1TB SSD for like $95. Her laptop also only had 1 drive slot, so I also bought this external USB3.0 case for less than $10.

Cloned the drive pretty quickly with Macrium Reflect Free, put the SSD inside, and now it's really fast.

i know this isnt particularly on topic but i have two of these in my home server and i love them. just wire up the power and data to the cage and you can easily add/change drives without any issue. the drive slots also support 2.5 inch as well.

Keep in mind that as an external HD you might not be getting your money’s worth. The SSD might be far faster than the dock or even USB port is capable of, effectively dumbing down the drive to a performance more on par with a basic HD.

If you want the best performance put your fastest drive into the PS4 and a regular desktop drive as an external.

As for your original question, you can use pretty much any drive as an external drive for the PS4. You just need a dock for it. Example

There is software for cloning drives. Crucial has a special version of Acronis True Image that is free, and there is EaseUS ToDo BackUp which is free for personal use.

However you'll need an external enclosure to connect them both at the same time. Something like an $8 ORICO enclosure is good.


Here is a guide to the procedure, and make sure your backups are up to date. https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/ssd-upgrade-tutorial

Yeah that's pretty much it. Just make sure it's USB 3.0.

For reference I bought this SSD https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071KGRXRG?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

And put it into this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XWRRMYX?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share

Note: You can just get an external SSD and be good. I only went the route I did cause it was cheap for a lot of storage. Still works like a champ.

Oh, that's easier, it's a simple SATA power and SATA data connection. Any enclosure with a SATA connection should work just fine, although I'd recommend using one with a USB 3.0 output and the HDD can read and write much faster than the 480Mbps limitation of USB 2.0. Something like this would work great and it's super cheap-

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1519971772&sr=8-1&keywords=2.5in+hard+drive+enclosure

The SATA connections have a sideways 'L' shaped connector for both the separate power and data connections and will only plug-in one way.

This is what I have and it works great. Pretty good price right now too.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/HP-S700-PRO-256GB-SATA-III-Internal-SSD-Solid-State-Drive-2AP98AA-ABL/876640446

Just throw it in a cheap external enclosure and you're good to go.

Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized For SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_icI.AbP1MP1SX

I use one of these for multiple drives and all is required is the included cable. I’m sure there are plenty others. I’ve used this for SSDs on Xbox and on PC as well as using one for regular 2.5” drives.

I know there are some SSDs that are a little fatter than others but I think there’s more than enough room for them to fit in an enclosure like this.


https://www.bestbuy.com/site/insignia-2-5-serial-ata-hard-drive-enclosure-black/5820005.p?skuId=5820005

If you prefer Amazon, here’s one that would work as well.


Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_N0RHDbZBRMR6C

Your friend’s suggestion is smart and its the way to go since your PC will run much faster.

For the HDD yes of course you can use it. Think of the HDD as a flash drive you plug it in and use it as a storage while still keeping the files already in there. I’d recommend deleting the windows folder in the HDD if you had OS installed on it to free up space and install a fresh OS on the SSD.

Edit: You can buy something like this to use your HDD as an external storage if you want to use it as a portable flash drive. Or you can just have it connected to the motherboard of your PC (if its not a laptop) and use it as a 2nd drive besides the SSD.

Hey, I'm on an upgraded Dell Poweredge T20, too! I ended up picking up a couple of these to house all of my media drives. I installed Mediasonic's eSATA card, so I could get the full speed from the drives. It's a beautiful solution to a (kind of) cramped case. I'm up to 39.2TB of usable space (4.12TB free).

I also did the SSD boot drive upgrade.

I also upgraded the CPU, but I went with a Xeon E3-1240. I do lots of sharing.

I'm still running the stock 4GB ECC ram that it came with, and I've been blown away with the performance. I'm running every Plex related webapp you could imagine (Sickrage, PlexPy, etc) and I usually peak my ram usage around 85-95%. I do want to upgrade the ram very soon so I have room to grow, but I'm still so happy with how far that 4GB has gone.

Oh and I'm running Server 2012 R2. Great OS.

I went nuclear and ordered a full fledged SSD (480 gigs), partially because I plan to build a gaming pc sometime in the future and justified the cost by saying I'll use it with my pc. Here's the one I got-

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00M8ABFX6/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And here's the enclosure-

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00JQTO8TU/ref=yo_ii_img?ie=UTF8&psc=1

That's what I'd got and it's worked good, but the part 2 to all this is that you can get a SSHD for cheaper and it's likely to work just as well. That's what my good friend did and he tells me he has 0 pop in issues now. Someone in the r/xboxone subreddit did some SSD vs SSHD tests and found the differences minimal, so the SSHD is what I've been recommending to others. Here's the one he bought-

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B01IEKG484/ref=mp_s_a_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1522166973&sr=8-2&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=Seagate%2Bfirecuda%2Bsshd&dpPl=1&dpID=51Q5JsfaKQL&ref=plSrch&th=1&psc=1

So, less money for more storage and basically the same performance. He doesn't know what enclosure he got, he got whatever generic one the store had for cheap.

Edit- just because some people have had some confusion about it, these aren't dedicated "external hard drives." They are real hard drives that are turned into external hard drives with the use of the enclosures (saves you money, with the added bonus that they can also be used in your pc should you ever need it). Here's a video that goes over it a bit more.

https://youtu.be/SHmI414ExRs

When you think about it, though, PC gamers have to upgrade hardware to get the latest and most up-to-date games all the time. The Xbox One has been out for 5 years so it does kind of make sense that to get the newest and best game to run well, some kind of hardware update is required. This mindset made shelling out $60 for this SSD and this enclosure waaaay easier. And let me tell you, it was absolutely worth it. And not only will it make load times in PUBG faster, it will speed up every other game that I play as well.

Get this external storage instead, because seagate has higher failure rates as proven in the past.

Idealy you would want an Internal HDD, but for some reason your friend has everything on USB.

If you would like to use internal HDDs (and get wayyyy faster transfer speeds) but have no space left you can buy this or this or any other one you would like and then you just plug it into an eSATA port or USB. If you have an internal SATA available you can buy this and have a nice place to plug it in, or just buy long eSATA to SATA cable and shove it through a slot.

Note: To protect your data you need to put more money into it, currently you have 0 data protection.

Here's what I did, worked for me:

Backup your files( lots of ways, cloud, external).

Order new external SSD (mine was Corsair 480gb)

Put new SSD in external enclosure and plug into USB:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1500516994&sr=1-3&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_QL65&dpPl=1&dpID=31nOEoFxlKL&ref=plSrch

format SSD using disk utility and make bootable. create 12gb partition on the SSD drive at this point for OS and download macOS to this partition and whatever else you want to do to this drive.

Now, safely remove SSD from enclosure, swap the SSD into the MacBook and put original HDD into enclosure.

Install macOS from new internal SSD, plug in enclosure and copy files over you want using migration assistant.

Now, you can keep your files backed up on your new external drive or format it, if you please.

Also, if you are taking all this time, I recommend at least 8gb of ram and you will get optimal speeds.

Hope this helps.

Here's a video:

https://youtu.be/cfiGF_pjqvM

\> sudo dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/disk0

I'd like to try this, but I'm not sure which of the /dev/* is the right one to run it against. I expected /dev/sda because USB seems to be /dev/sdb but there is no /dev/sda. That's from the Elementary OS Live USB. I will try looking when booted up from Mac recovery a bit later.

​

\> You can use an adapter like this to install a standard M.2 NVMe SSD.

This is very useful, thanks.

​

\> Note that both these operations will also erase the recovery environment. AFAIK you can only install macOS from a prepared USB drive after that.

I hadn't considered this. Good point. I have another MacBook (though newer one) available and I've created such a USB drive before so it's not a show-stopper.

Ok this is what I'll try for my late-2012 iMac:

1. Get a Samsung 850 Evo.
   
   
2. Get an enclosure with UASP support (I'm not even sure if my iMac supports this but I heard it's faster): https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B01LY97QE8/ref=wl_it_dp_o_pC_nS_ttl?_encoding=UTF8&colid=297FRJ4FO0N3D&coliid=I2EDGEXAN4RWZP&psc=1
   
   All in that'll cost me around $150 Canadian which is a pretty awesome upgrade if it works. I plan on putting all system files and apps on the 250gb SSD and my documents, photos, and other files on my existing slow drive.

Look for something like this. I can't vouch for this product as I haven't used it, but with a HDD (mechanical) you need a little bit of space for heat dissipation, and something with vibration dampening is nice for noise canceling but not necessary.

You could rig something out of the existing cage and some metal snips / creativity, but honestly it's probably wiser to go for an existing product. Search for 5.25" to 3.5" adapter or something along those lines.

I was able to get this adapter here and an nvme drive like the one you posted and I remember it working well; it was pretty straightforward. I had issues with hibernation, I think it’s a known issue that you just change the sleep settings to avoid. You’d have to google around for specifics but it was really easy to change. Overall though it was a great way to get more storage for way cheaper than the OWC or OEM drives.

Would you recommend something like this?

Amazon Thingy

EDIT - or something fancy like this is pretty neat, or is it gimmiky?

Absolutely! I bought a 500gb Crucial and a little USB enclosure for $70 total. Decreased loading times for everything by 50%-80%.

Me and 2 friends who also have an X1X set sail from the main menu and I had already customized the ship and started loading supplies before they even loaded into the tavern.

Best $70 I've ever spent on gaming. Well worth it.

Here's links to what I bought.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01LY97QE8

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0784SLQM6

It appears the price of the drive went up $10 since Sunday. There may be better deals out there so shop around, I think any SSD over 256gb will work.

I don’t know about that— quicksync hw transcoding does pretty well. No one has been able to pull numbers but my nuc7 (last gen) i7 which has only 2cores was able to transcode 10 streams at same time during my own test. Plus I run blueiris with 10 cameras running. It probably can handle more streams but i didn’t try more simultaneous tests since I don’t ever get that many simultaneous users! Hardware transcode is huge.

I used these Mediasonic ProBox HF2-SU3S2 4 Bay 3.5” SATA HDD Enclosure – USB 3.0 & eSATA Support SATA 3 6.0Gbps HDD transfer speed https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003X26VV4/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_.-JxCbGXEJE0M

I had a icydock and it had a firmware problem that caused issues ... I am never going to use them again. I have 3 media Sonics and they work pretty darn good.

Edit: they even have hardware raid built in. Never tried those versions, more expensive

Thanks for responding! Yea I just meant desktop files. Maybe I just misinterpreted, but I thought the comment in the video of the guy who said "the desktop files" meant files on saved on desktop. It's whatever lol

So this is all I need? Just put in my disk in the case and I'm good to go? Do I need any other cables? First time I've ever done this lol

SSD come in 2 flavors..

SATA 2.5 inch drives (these hook up just like a SATA HDD)

and M.2 Drives.. These are stick drives the plug directly into an M.2 Slot on the motherboard..

As I look at the Specs for your Laptop I am seeing that it uses a 2.5" (inch) 9.5mm SATA drive..

So any of the SSD's that are 2.5 should work just fine..

I have done 2 recent conversions of Laptop Hard Drives to SSD's

Software I used: https://www.macrium.com/reflectfree

I used my own desktop to do this, BUT you do NOT need to do this IF you get an external drive case to hook to your laptop..

The bonus is after you image over your Hard Drive to the SSD you can then put your old Hard Drive in the external drive case and use that drive to backup your SSD and to use as secondary storage when needed..

Find any SSD you like: [I would go with a minimum of a 240/250GB drive]

This can be dependent on how much of your current 750GB drive you currently have in use.. You do not want to FILL a 250GB drive you want to have room for more files / Temp files / Files from browsing ect.. AND you should always have around 20% free drive space to keep things(SSD) working well..

So depending on how much of your 750GB you are using..

here is a Nice Samsung 850 EVO 250GB $89.99
https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-75E250B-AM/dp/B00OAJ412U/ref=pd_sim_147_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=91SZRV2F6WR6X5WPG1Q9

The 500GB is $139

The enclosure I usually get is not in stock at Amazon [but this one looks good]:

https://www.amazon.com/Enclosure-IAUGO-External-Tool-free-Transfer/dp/B071RRX5PK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511571851&sr=8-1&keywords=USB+3.0+HDD+SATA+External+Hard+Drive+Disk+Enclosure+Case+for+9.5mm+7mm+2.5"+SATA+HDD

Or this one: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=psdc_160354011_t1_B071RRX5PK

So what you would do is order your SSD of choice..

Order the External Hard Drive Enclosure of choice..

Download and install Macrium Reflect 7 FREE (I used version 6 - but should be just the same)

Get your stuff and put the SSD into the Drive Enclosure and hook it to the USB port on your laptop..

Use the Software to Image the Hard Drive in your Laptop to the External SSD.. (Sounds simple but it is a little complicated if you have more on the Hard Drive then the SSD can handle)

Once you have a proper Image of the HDD you then turn off the laptop / Remove Battery Flip it over and If you look at the Manual for your Laptop is shows you how to remove the Hard Drive..

http://dlcdnet.asus.com/pub/ASUS/nb/N56JR/E_eManual_VER6951.pdf

Page 64

Remove the old Hard Drive and replace with the SSD

Put it all back together and turn the laptop on and hopefully it boots back into windows - Just much Faster =)

I recommend getting the original from IODD, Zalman is reselling a slightly different version: https://www.amazon.com/Iodd-Iodd2531-Black-Virtual-Enclosures/dp/B00TDJ4BJU/

The IODD are much better from what I've heard. Apparently the Zalman versions also had sooner Firmware EOL. IODD also has a neat firmware recovery button that apparently Zalman doesn't have.

Tagging /u/HittingSmoke /u/bobowork and /u/Achileas7

Pro Tip: Connect the drive to the part with the display and connector before putting it in, I assumed it would automatically be in the right position and took way too long to troubleshoot lol.

If the HD is in working order, I would recommend cloning the HD to the SSD, so that Windows, all programs, and all data will remain as-is. If you re-install the OS on the SSD, you will have to re-install all programs and then move the data.

To clone you need both drives attached to the same computer at the same time. Since you have an AIO, it most likely only has 1 drive bay (but you should open it up and check), meaning only 1 SATA drive can be attached at once. So we need a SATA to USB adapter of some sort. Like this cable:

https://www.amazon.com/Cable-Adapter-Support-Inches-External/dp/B07Y25PRWG/

or this external enclosure:

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S

The cable being for temporary usage, while the enclosure could later be used to convert your HD to an external backup drive (if the HD is 2.5" form factor, it may be 3.5", specs aren't clear to me, all SATA SSDs are 2.5", laptop HDs are 2.5", desktop HDs are often 3.5", AIO could use either)

Put the SSD in the enclosure or attach it with the cable. Boot to cloning software of choice (Acronis, Macrium, Easeus, Clonezilla, etc).
Clone HD to SSD. Shutdown, replace HD with SSD. Reboot. Everything will be as it was, just faster to access on an SSD.

You can also accomplish this using disk images. But you would still need an external drive of some sort. Save the image of the HD onto the external drive. Make a boot disk/usb with whatever imaging software you use. Swap HD with SSD, boot to the imaging software, and restore the image to the SSD. Boot to SSD and done.

If your HD is 3.5", you are also going to need this:

https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-Adapter-Mounting-Bracket-Interface/dp/B01LZWX6PD

To adapt the 2.5" SSD to fit exactly into the 3.5" bay.

https://www.amazon.com/Crucial-MX500-250GB-NAND-Internal/dp/B0764WCXCV

https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S

I was right in front of my destination so I guess I could have just waited a moment. Oh well lol.

I’d absolutely recommend getting this instead of the X. Performance wise, this will provide the game you want. Graphics wise, the X is still appealing, but the SSD route is great for other reasons.

20 TB is going to take some time to transfer like this. I'm guessing there's no way to run an Ethernet cable between the two servers and set up a direct connection?

If time is an issue and you can't directly attach them, than your quickest mode of transfer would be an external raid enclosure,
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YFHEAC/

Then you could throw some 6 TB drives in raid 0 and go to town.

If time isn't an issue, and people really care about money, then anything like an easy store from Best buy will go the trick.

Lets break it down. Most people are getting external ssd's. Why because it adds on to the memory without removing existing storage. USB 3.0 provides enough throughput for an ssd. But heres the deal, ssds connect through sata ports. So to protect and connect an ssd to an xbox, you need a sata 3 to usb 3.0 connector.

Super important, depending on your xbox, the internal connection could be sata 2. If you have an og xbox it is sata 2 inside. one x and xbox one s have sata 3. Therefore a ssd will do nothing for speed increase if you do an internal one on an original xbox one. You need to connect via usb 3.0 externally to see performance gains.

So buy a decent solid state with at least 240gb, the actual minimum spec. And spend 10 bucks on a sata 3 to usb enclosure. https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=sr_1_4/135-4131140-8815732?ie=UTF8&qid=1525800622&sr=8-4&keywords=usb+3+external+hard+drive+enclosure

I'm honestly quite surprised you have no CD drive in your computer. Is it custom-built? (The Asus Z170I is a motherboard, not a computer, which is why I ask.)

If you happen to have a floppy drive on your computer (unlikely) and the drivers are small enough to fit on a floppy disc, you could perhaps copy them onto such a disc and use that.

Otherwise, your best bet will probably be to install a CD drive, at least temporarily. Another option is taking the hard drive out, connecting it to another computer (via a USB enclosure such as this one - or if you choose another one, make sure it's for 3.5" SATA disks), copying the LAN driver installation files onto the disk, then connecting it back up to the original computer and installing it from there.

Crossing my fingers for you.

[edit: Removing extraneous word.]

Yup! Should be pretty easy with one of these guys.

Also, why not just replace the battery? It's pretty easy.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/MacBook+Pro+13-Inch+Unibody+Mid+2012+Battery+Replacement/10365

I haven't bought one in a while but the best recommended item on Amazon is the Mediasonic HFR2-SU3S2 PRORAID 4 Bay 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - Here

You can check out boxes from brands like Icybox, Rosewill, Mediasonic, SansDigital to name a few.

1 ) Do not worry about Hard Drive space. You mentioned that "Shes a genealogist and saves lots of documents and photos.". Hard Drives are unreliable, especially in laptops. A simple bump can cause the hard drive to fail and would leave her devastated.

Ideally she should have this on cloud storage or an SSD (Solid State Drive which is tremendously faster and more reliable than a Hard Disk Drive. For about $100 you can get a quality 1TB SSD (a thousand gigs). Even less for a still decent one. These can be installed inside the computer, or in an external enclosure and used just like a Flash Drive / External Hard Drive. Using it externally keeps the computer free of clutter, and lets her take the files to any computer. Installing it in most laptops is not difficult. Buying a laptop with more GBs will otherwise result in you paying hundreds more.

2) Look for a quality LCD screen. An IPS LCD will be an excellent choice and will be very easy for her to read. Higher resolutions (at least 1080p) will ensure that text is sharp. A 15.6" laptop is a great size for elderly people. 14" is more portable however. Make sure the screen is durable, hinge failure is surprisingly durable - it shouldn't wiggle too easily, pressing the back of the screen shouldn't cause the image to distort.

3) Make sure the keyboard and mouse are ones she's comfortable using. These are not viable to change and can make any laptop extremely infuriating.

Thanks OP! No hassle on the phone. Gave them the SKU and said to price match with newegg. Got my order confirmation a few minutes later - $269 + tax + $130 gift card.

*edit - I want to use this as an external drive with my imac that has 256gb flash on board. This is my first external SSD/USB drive, is there anything I should look for in an enclosure? Can anyone recommend a good external enclosure for this? Here is a cheap one on amazon - seems like it should work. Is there something else I should look out for?

These seem to use M.2 SSDs instead of SATA SSDs.

M.2 is a new standard that basically allows flash storage to have direct access to PCIe lanes(improving transfer rates to several times faster than SATA, which already is the speed bottleneck for higher-end SSDs such as Samsung's 850 series). Unfortunately, it has the issue of being limited to a motherboard connection, limiting the number of ports(most laptops with M.2 only have one M.2 port) and its physical dimensions, which ultimately limit their capacity to lower than SATA SSDs. Intel's been working on a U.2 connector that allows using cables at M.2 speeds and allows for SSDs with capacities you'd only be able to fit in a SATA bay before. Unfortunately, it hasn't gained any significant traction in the laptop market because of its increased height and has only gotten a significant market hold in the enterprise storage market as of now.

This doesn't mean you can't use another SATA SSD you can get at the prices listed above as their HDDs tend to be SATA devices. 128GB isn't enough storage for more than Windows(which can take about 64GB depending on installed features such as a factory reset image) and a Smart Response cache, which is an Intel technology that attempts to increase apparent HDD speeds by dynamically keeping a small part of the HDD's contents (specifically, the contents accessed more often) into the SSD.

Keeping a lot of data in a small SSD is bad for its lifetime, though. SSDs support a limited number of writes before they fail, and that figure is currently somewhere from 350~1000 for each sector(small fixed block of data used for IO operations, usually between 512 bytes and 4 KB). Manufacturers have introduced ways to get around such limitations, such as allocating additional space in the SSD to be used to replace sectors that failed, or support for TRIM(which marks the blocks as deleted instead of physically overwriting them), but the most important method is wear leveling - essentially managing unused space so as to make sure its sectors get an equal amount of use in order to prevent overused sectors from failing prematurely - which is why you don't want to fill the SSD more than about 75%. a 128GB SSD will still happily support at least 50 TB written to it over its lifetime, though(about 28GB/day every day for 5 years), assuming these measures are taken.

a 500GB or larger SSD will let you store your data directly into the SSD without needing to swap it in and out constantly.

You could get this laptop(6700HQ/960M/8GB RAM) for $750, a 1 TB SSD for $230, and use the laptop's 1TB SSHD as an external HDD with a $10 enclosure, which sums up to $990.
The laptop also comes with a M.2 port and an additional DDR3L slot for further expansion, and some good upgrades over its lifetime would be getting another 8GB RAM to take advantage of dual channel memory(currently at $40) and a M.2 SSD once they get affordable enough to justify their additional performance.

Ignore the guy who says it's not fast. It IS fast to use external SSD. Nearly as fast as internal and you will NOT notice a difference in day-to-day use. External SSD is a fantastic solution.

All you need is an external enclosure that supports UASP. You CAN buy an external SSD with its own enclosure, sure. That works too. Just make sure it's USB 3.

For example, this: https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-USB3-0-External-Enclosure-Supported/dp/B01M08LCXW/ref=sr_1_1_sspa?ie=UTF8&qid=1550755412&sr=8-1-spons&keywords=ORICO+uasp&psc=1

Coupled with any decent 2.5" SSD will work. So a Samsung, Crucial or Intel SSD put into that enclosure will work. And as I said, you'll get speeds of 400 to 475 mb/sec no problem. You can't tell it's not internal. Period. Don't listen to anyone who hasn't done it on multiple Macs.

I have a 2014 mini with a cheap USB 3 ORICO external enclosure that supports UASP. Inside, I threw in an Intel 545p. Fast. Works great. Use it for boot and apps.

You could go mini-itx if you want small form factor. The only problem is that you only have 6 sata connectors on a mini board. I went with 4 x 5tb hdd's for raid 10 (10tb storage) and 2 x 512gb ssd (raid 1 or 0 depending on what you want). The case is a bit expensive but it has 6 drive bays so you'll be to organize your drives so you don't restrict air flow (you may want some 2.5" adapters so you can put your ssd's there as well). Another problem with m-itx is that it only supports up to 16gb ram, it should be enough for you, but you that's the maximum so take that into consideration. Overall this is a pretty awesome build that should meet all of your criteria.

PCPartPicker part list / Price breakdown by merchant

Type|Item|Price

----|:----|:----
CPU | Intel Core i7-4790K 4.0GHz Quad-Core Processor | Purchased For $0.00
CPU Cooler | CRYORIG H7 49.0 CFM CPU Cooler | $34.50 @ Newegg
Motherboard | Gigabyte GA-Z97N-WIFI Mini ITX LGA1150 Motherboard | $139.99 @ Micro Center
Memory | G.Skill Ares Series 16GB (2 x 8GB) DDR3-2133 Memory | $59.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Mushkin ECO2 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $129.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Mushkin ECO2 512GB 2.5" Solid State Drive | $129.99 @ Newegg
Storage | Toshiba 5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $144.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Toshiba 5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $144.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Toshiba 5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $144.99 @ Amazon
Storage | Toshiba 5TB 3.5" 7200RPM Internal Hard Drive | $144.99 @ Amazon
Case | Fractal Design Node 304 Mini ITX Tower Case | $68.99 @ SuperBiiz
Power Supply | EVGA SuperNOVA GS 550W 80+ Gold Certified Fully-Modular ATX Power Supply | $65.98 @ Newegg
| Prices include shipping, taxes, rebates, and discounts |
| Total (before mail-in rebates) | $1224.39
| Mail-in rebates | -$15.00
| Total | $1209.39
| Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-12-06 23:46 EST-0500 |

If you want something sleek and not just an external sitting on or next to your Xbox you could always looks into a Collective Minds Media Hub: http://www.amazon.com/Collective-Minds-Drive-Enclosure-Front-Ports/dp/B00T76ZGDO

It's $40 and will fit pretty much any 2.5" drive, plus you get an extra 3 USB 3.0 ports. Pair that with this 1TB 7200RPM HGST hard drive ( http://m.newegg.com/Product/index?itemnumber=9SIA2W02KN0922 ) and you've got a nice looking external storage for $100. If you want more storage and don't mind to sacrifice a couple seconds off loading times you could probably find a bigger hard drive at 5400RPM. I use the media hub with a 2TB drive and love it.

That's perfect. Then this is what I recommend:

1. Max out your RAM. Crucial has an 8 GB RAM set here: http://www.crucial.com/usa/en/macbook-pro-2*5ghz-intel-core-i5-%2813-inch-ddr3%29-mid-2012/CT3301475
   
   
2. Get an SSD to replace your conventional hard drive. You'd mentioned you were looking at 512 GB on a new MacBook Pro, so here's a Samsung SSD at the same capacity: https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-850-PRO-2-5-Inch-MZ-7KE512BW/dp/B00LF10KTO
   
   
3. Install macOS cleanly onto the SSD. El Capitan and above should accept third-party SSDs without too much trouble, though you may have to run some commands in Terminal to turn on SSD Trim (necessary for good and long operation of your SSD). I recommend not just transferring all data back, but just your documents--reinstall applications manually.
   
   
4. (Optional): Get an external drive enclosure for your existing internal laptop hard drive. This will allow you to easily transfer back data: https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00LS31KQG/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1474460464&sr=8-1&pi=SX200_QL40&keywords=2.5+inch+hard+drive+enclosure&dpPl=1&dpID=41JtsWFGS6L&ref=plSrch
   
   Overall this would be about $260 plus shipping, which is a significant savings over the $2000+ you'd pay for a new machine. I think the main things you're encountering with machine sluggishness are 1) a slow laptop hard drive and 2) low RAM capacity, which means your machine relies on swapping between RAM and the disk, which you notice as slowness. The above should help alleviate the issue and put your machine into warp drive.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00FCLG65U
This gets read/write speeds of over 400 which is awesome!

And a Samsung 840 250gb SSD to go with it should do the job nicely... If I can set my mind at rest about the TRIM issue this is the perfect solution! I have a £60 amazon voucher too so I can get all this for £30 :D

SSD will help with rendering, but it will not improve frame rate. Only thing you can really do on your end to help with frame rate is setting the game to framerate priority in the settings if you're on an xbox one X

Heres the ssd i recommend:

SSD: https://www.amazon.com/Silicon-Power-Performance-Internal-SP256GBSS3A55S25/dp/B075RJS55D/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?crid=2FMF2QKKNWFH4&keywords=silicon+power+ssd&qid=1552778147&s=gateway&sprefix=silicon+oower+ss&sr=8-4

Enclosure: https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=mp_s_a_1_4?keywords=ssd+enclosure&qid=1552778620&s=gateway&sr=8-4

Also, after installing pubg on the ssd, MAKE SURE to delete pubg off your xbox's internal drive.

Hi foocux,

I updated my 2015 13” MBPr with a Samsung evo 970 (I got the 1TB version)
To do this you will need an adapter which will adapt the standard nvme PCI SSDs to the port on the logic board of your MBPr.

Since I am from Germany I can only give you the link to the german version of Amazon. But you should be able to get this adapter on the internet.

https://www.amazon.de/Sintech-M-2-PCIe-2280-SSD-Karte-MZ-JPU128T-SD6PQ4M-128G/dp/B01CWWAENG

Here are the steps I did to upgrade my MBPr.

1. Make a bootable backup with Carbon Copy Cloner (https://bombich.com/) on an external disk
   
2. Shutdown MacBook and replace the Apple SSD with Samsung Evo 970 and the adapter
   
3. Boot from backup disk I did create in step 1
   
4. while booted from backup disk clone the backup to the new Samsung Evo SSD
   
5. Reboot the Macbook from the new disk
   
6. enjoy the doubled (in my case) capacity
   
   Good luck!

Yes, a faster SSD could be an upgrade for you. That being said, OWC drives in particular are not the greatest:

• https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/help-extreme-temperature-problem-after-owc-ssd-installation.1278687/
  
• https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-mercury-extreme-pro-ssd-problem.1057025/
  
• https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/owc-1tb-sdd-failed-for-third-time.2011947/
  
  They are a good brand for RAM (not the best there either), but their SSDs aren't great at all. As you may already know, your MacBook Pro needs a special form factor for its SSD, ordinary NVMe M.2 SSDs won't physically fit in without an adapter. However, there is a great adapter for NVMe M.2 SSDs:
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2015-MacBook/dp/B01CWWAENG/
  
  Use it in conjunction with a Samsung 970 EVO / PRO (not the EVO Plus, as it's known to have issues in conjunction with macOS):
  
  
• https://www.amazon.com/Samsung-970-EVO-1TB-MZ-V7E1T0BW/dp/B07BN217QG/
  
  Follow the steps outlined in this video once you have both (applies to your MacBook Pro mid-2014 as well):
  
  
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU6yatTvyyk

I tend to use a standard internal 3 TB 7200 RPM HDD (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IEKG4NE/) in an enclosure (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LS5NFQ2/). This isn't the most portable set-up but it's cheap and works rather well if you can find a place to plug power for the enclosure.

Alternatively, I'm looking to get an SSD and a non-powered enclosure for portable backing up. So something like this:
(https://www.amazon.com/Tool-free-Inateck-External-Enclosure-FE2004/dp/B00JQTO8TU/) and any SSD. Within your budget, you probably won't find one for 500 GB though this is close enough: (https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-240GB-SDSSDA-240G-G26-Newest-Version/dp/B01F9G46Q8/).

If you want to go further down in size, you can opt for an M.2 SSD and enclosure set-up.

Hope this helps!

I probably could have written that better instead of making assumptions. If I were to be in the mood for entertainment and a kindle was my only source I'd more than likely have porn for that, outside of entertainment of course I'd have books for when I needed them. I don't read books for entertainment now, if I'm reading a book it's going to be I.T based.

You don't need a few laptops just get an external enclosure like the one I have and stockpile hard drives and write on the drive label what's on it. Or you can setup a NAS or just build a computer with a case that could hold 16 hard drives and load them up.

The fusion drive is probably the root of your problem, I bet you're saturating it causing it to perform like a slow HDD. I'd get a USB 3 sled and an inexpensive SATA 6 SSD from Amazon and run your VMs from there. It'll take the IO off of your Fusion drive. As a bonus, your VMs should perform really really well.

​

This is the sled that I use: https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S

​

SSDs are pretty inexpensive right now as well: https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-240GB-Solid-State-SDSSDA-240G-G26/dp/B01F9G43WU

Id probalby just get a usb3 enclosure(there cheap, like less than 20usd on amazon, id get something like this https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-Tool-free-Enclosure-Optimized-EC-UASP/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1541267854&sr=8-3&keywords=usb+3+enclosure+2.5) Its a bit slower than thunderbolt, but much cheaper. You can boot from it just fine, and much faster than any hdd.

Then id get a 2.5 ssd like this one. https://www.amazon.com/Blue-NAND-1TB-SSD-WDS100T2B0A/dp/B073SBQMCX/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1541267901&sr=8-4&keywords=1tb+wd+blue&dpID=41nJrjRecIL&preST=_SX300_QL70_&dpSrc=srch

Put the ssd in the enclosure, clone the os over to the ssd(look at a program like superduper to do this), and boot from the external ssd(can select the boot device with option at bootup) and it will be much faster.

If you want to use one these types of external enclosures:
https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Sabrent-2-5-Inch-Enclosure-EC-UK30/dp/B00LS31KQG/
or an Xbox One fitted solution: https://www.amazon.com/Collective-Minds-Drive-Enclosure-Front-Ports/dp/B00T76ZGDO/

Then this drive is basically your only option at the 4TB size: https://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Barracuda-2-5-Inch-Internal-ST4000LM024/dp/B01LZMUNGR/
No one else seems to be making 2.5" 4TB hard drives, not HGST, Toshiba, Western Digital and etc.

So any 4TB drive at the 2.5 inch size is going to be probably going to Seagate.

I did find a WD My Passport Ultra in the 4TB size on Newegg: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1K65850201 (no idea if that's any good for you, you're going to have to check with the WD rep)

External enclosure = a shell that holds the hard drive, these do not come with a drive.
External hard drive = a shell + a hard drive.


---

If you can do 3.5 inch drives at 4 TB you will have far more choices as to what brand and model of drive you have to work with.
You can use either a drive of your choice and an external enclosure or an external hard drive. But of course there may be demerits that I mentioned in my previous comment if you intend to take the drive with you on the go.

Or if 1TB or 2TB is enough for you, you can find many more drives from different manufacturers at the 2.5" size.

Note: I only checked Amazon and Newegg big box stores and less known sites may have older drives in the 4TB size

SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 250GB 2.5... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07864WMK8?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Case (comes with cable): UGREEN External Hard Drive... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06XWRRMYX?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

Case lights up when powered.

I plugged mine into the usb slot in the back of my PS4 Pro (I think normal has one too). Works like a charm. Game loads before the primary theme finishes, and in-game menus and planets/zones load substantially quicker (but not instantly, still some wait).

Worth the ~$60 when you think of the cumulative hours saved on even just sifting through menus.

NOTE: I have noticed a bug that crops up now from loading “warp” too quickly. The “takeoff” animation will run without my ship following (just camera), causing the game to take a few beats on a black screen before loading the “warp” part of the load screen. It’s not a big deal, just wait a few moments and everything goes back to being its normal, speedy self :)

I'm basically looking for something like this but one that doesn't block off the sata power and data cables. This would be for purely aesthetic reasons. I want to display the drive at the bottom of this case but I don't want it to look like a standard HDD. Is this a question that would be better to ask in /r/pcmods?

Let me preface this by saying that I have a home server that I use for all my storage needs.

File Structures:

• TV Shows > Show Name > Season > Episodes
  
• Movies > Just movie files
  
• Pictures > Personal organization stuff
  
• User Files > Username > Files
  
• Other Video > Video Type (IE YouTube) > Video Series (IE LTT) > Year published > Video Files
  
  File Sharing:
  
  
• Videos: Plex
  
• Everything else: Mapped drives. I have 4 main ones, Movies, TV, Scan, Files. I don't really need anything but the files and scan share, but meh.
  
  Backups:
  
  
• Super duper important files: Google Drive
  
• Everything else: Redundant JBoD pool.
  
• Offisite backup: I used to have a few of these at a buddies' house, and vice verse.
  

I would use this drive.

WD Red 4TB NAS Hard Disk Drive - 5400 RPM Class SATA 6 GB/S 64 MB Cache 3.5-Inch - WD40EFRX https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00EHBERSE/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_61rUAbG9ZNQ5H

Save up and get a good enclosure like this one. It has 4 bags, supports both USB 3.0 and eSATA. It will grow with you and supports hardware RAID.

Mediasonic HFR2-SU3S2 PRORAID 4 Bay 3.5" SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 & eSATA https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003YFHEAC/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_f3rUAb7DBKKEQ

So I work out of a space that I lease. It's just a 900square foot room in Los Angeles.

That's where I store most of my camera equipment and work items. I host clients in there and edit for them sometimes on the spot.

There I have Four of these RAID Enclosure's, with Four of these(Might not be Red drives but that's irrelevant). Those plug into a Windows PC (through USB) that runs Windows 10, and through homegroup I can connect to it from any other computer. That computer has two jobs. Store files that can be accessed by other computers on the network, and also to continuously upload that data to Backblaze a service that provides backups of unlimted size for $5 a month per computer.

My main PC at work has a bunch of hard drives that I use for projects (and a few games (; sometimes I like to have fun). I also use an Asus laptop to edit when I'm not in the office.

At home I use an aging server PC (cuts down on power usage) that has the exact same setup as mentioned above, but also has a few internal drives for personal media like movies and music.

I can get further into detail about how I store my data if you'd like.

This is what I use. It's pretty wonderful.

Edit: Beat me to it! It's a fantastic product.

fair enough

As for your question, I very nearly got an SSD last payday but as I am on an X I decided I didn't need it and got a 4K tv instead.

It will be cheaper for you to get an External case for an internal SSD and buying an internal SSD to fit in it.

A case like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/?coliid=I2XJWC89JAYSO2&colid=26Y94U6JP79W9&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

With an SSD like this - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0784SLQM6/?coliid=I7WS62APTUVY7&colid=26Y94U6JP79W9&psc=1&ref_=lv_ov_lig_dp_it

This is a 500GB internal SSD, you can probably get a smaller one if you wanted for cheaper.

No, it's like a normal USB drive but it will be empty, you could just buy any normal hark disk you use and put inside it and connect to the PS4 using USB like a normal drive

[Upgraded Version Support UASP] Sabrent Ultra Slim USB 3.0 to 2.5-Inch SATA External Aluminum Hard Drive Enclosure [Black] (EC-UK30) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LS31KQG/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_iHmRybKQSSWHX

The good thing about this is that you could tailor it to your needs, if you want faster load times, use faster drives in it, if you wanna save money, use cheaper drives. I use this with my Xbox, and probably will do the same for my PS4

You could also buy a 3.5 inch drive enclosure and add 6-8TB drives to it! Never ever delete games again! The PS4 internal drive is limited to 2.5inch, but these are not, like this one.

Nekteck 3.5/2.5-inch USB Type C 3.0 External HDD Hard Drive Disk Enclosure Case with USB C Interface for 3.5" 2.5Ó SATA SSD, HDD [Support UASP and 8TB Drives] Tool-Free Design - Black https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01MUMTCLI/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_xLmRybVPYH8AX

Oh yeah, batching works fine too, its just cost vs time equafion. I have few dupe needs, so I spent under $300 and I have 3 clones going from time to time myself. Have fun cloning☺

edit:
Here's what I use by the way;it's just fine for my needs
http://www.amazon.com/Seagate-Expansion-Desktop-External-STBV5000100/dp/B00JT0EGPW

http://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-eSATA-Components-SI-PEX40065/dp/B00AZ9T4F8

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Duplicator-Function-EC-HDD2/dp/B00IKC14OG

and lastly the ssd's external / internal

http://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-2-5-Inch-Shockproof-Enclosure-EC-UK3B/dp/B0126RO1YK

http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-512GB-2-5-Inch-Internal-MZ-7KE512BW/dp/B00LF10KTO

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000HJ99DI

Cheers.

If you're looking for total storage space, go mechanical, but go 7200RPM at the very least. If you're just looking to "play around" with Linux, this should be more than enough, and will also be extremely cheap. A WD Blue drive goes for $49, and and a tool-free enclosure goes for $23.

I don't think that's the bracket you're looking for. The one you linked converts an external 5.25" bay (for, say, an optical drive) to a single external 3.5" bay (for a card reader or floppy drive). You want to convert a 5.25" bay to two 2.5" bays. Because of the greater size difference, there's a lot of options open to you. You could just get something like this, though you'd need to find a 5.25" bay plate to cover the hole. There are also options like this that include a faceplate (and actually will mount 4 2.5" drives), or this if you want to be able to hotswap drives, or even this if you want to retain the ability to have an optical drive.

Assuming that you are cloning to replace the drive, right?

Get an USB 3 enclosure, boot/run the software you trust & don't have to install it, run verification. But you need to boot to confirm cloning was success it doesn't take that longer to remove the software. Depending on the drive mfg you can even leave the software on it = your call and process here.

They are dirt cheap, you can slap your logo/biz card sticker on it, fast enough and you can hand over the old drive in it for the customer to reference should they ask.

Yes, plenty of times, it is an IODD Hard Drive enclosure, highly recommend as you can load as many isos as you want and choose which one to boot from. Great for tech. However I have also tried a regular bookable USB drive on here as well.

Silicon Power 256GB SSD 3D NAND With R/W Up To 550/450MB/s A55 SLC Cache Performance Boost SATA III 2.5" 7mm (0.28") Internal Solid State Drive (SP256GBSS3A55S25) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075RJS55D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_B806AbHMAB1AP

Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized For SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

This is the exact setup I just bought for my 1TB Xbox One. PUBG is amazing as well as I found a massive improvment in Tera Online. I also just needed more space.

A good screwdriver kit. iFixit Pro or the like; 4 in 1 standard Phillips/flathead screwdriver; Cat5/6 crimpers and ends; cable tester; flashlight; Adapters (HDMI to VGA, etc); universal laptop charger.

One of these is really nice too: https://www.amazon.com/Iodd-Iodd2531-Black-Virtual-Enclosures/dp/B00TDJ4BJU

You can load Windows and such from it easily. I kept a bunch of OSes and a driver install tool on mine.

If its 3TB, I'm guessing its a 3.5" drive? I'm not certain, but I doubt the Pi's USB ports are capable of putting out enough to power on that kind of drive. I just looked at the power brick that came with a 2TB external drive I have, and it says it outputs 1.5A, so I'm guessing the drive uses something close to that.

Here is a cheap enclosure that I think would work for you: https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-Toolfree-External-Enclosure-Support/dp/B00GAML7OK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1496184955&sr=8-2&keywords=external+sata+to+usb+enclosure I know its annoying to have to use 2 outlets, I tried to find the best solution for it and ended up just using a 128GB thumb drive, which was big enough for my needs.

I'm positive I have an SSD (here is the model).

I bought a case and cable that support UASP (here is the case).

I do still have OSX installed on the internal HDD. I was giving it a few days to make sure everything runs smoothly before formatting it. The Mac Mini runs considerably faster off the external SSD than it did with the internal HDD.

To re-iterate, I don't notice any day-to-day difference between my external SSD and my family's internal SSD in a Mac Mini. I do feel by boot time is a bit slower, though.

Had to buy the enclosure separately but it includes the cable. I got mine from ebay but this one seems like the most popular one in this sub.

Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized For SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_TwD8AbK2JWZKA

I must have over 100 USB sticks now, everything from 512MB up to 1TB. Like you I used a lot of them for bootable ISOs. Had 6-8 of them on a large keyring too, just for emergencies.
Can I make a recommendation, though? Two actually. First is the IODD2531. It's an external USB HDD caddy, but you can drop ISOs on it and you can select them individually from the unit and it'll emulate an optical drive. I've installed everything from Server 2019 on big-box HP and Dell servers, to Windows 98se after some tinkering. You need to supply your own drive, but mine has a 256GB SSD and I've never looked back.
The other is something I've not tried and only found recently called Easy2Boot. I like playing retro games which means retro machines need building, and this comes recommended by lots in the community. Similar idea to the IODD, but USB based.


Edit: For clarity, the IODD box is the OEM version of the Zalman VE350. When I was looking into getting one, I found the Zalman was a similar price, but the stock IODD firmware more flexible. You can flash between the two at will, though.

I actually use a physical device. Mostly just because it's super useful for other things in the IT field, but it works perfectly and quickly for cloning to a new physical drive.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N1KXE9K/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Yes But some people risk it but to be honest the portable is 80 that's 90 I say it's worth the 10 extra bucks to get the one you showed us and people may tell you but you can use the old case for your ps4 hard drive to make it external that may be true but you can also get that for 12 bucks more as you can see here http://amzn.com/B00OJ3UJ2S

Amazon has a wonderful case-thing with cables, and Samsung sells a nice compact 2.5" SSD that can go as low as 250GB, and as high as 4TB. I bought the 250GB one with the case-thing and only paid about $72 total. Both can be bought through Amazon, and are both under Prime shipping if you have it, so your SSD will be here and ready in no time at all. I highly recommend it if you are a heavy Destiny player.

Here is a link to the Samsung SSD: Samsung 860 EVO 250GB 2.5 Inch SATA III Internal SSD (MZ-76E250B/AM) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07864WMK8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_d16PBbSQX6SEE

Here is a link to the Amazon case: AmazonBasics 2.5-inches SATA Hard Drive Enclosure - USB 3.0 https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01N5RLG2C/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_L16PBbHF62J8E

an enclosure might help out more, I have little experience but covering the entire drive will always be more beneficial. This might help you with what you are looking for, for cheap.

edit: This is a usb 3.0 enclosure

I've always wanted to get one of these hard drive enclosures that supports mounting an ISO so you can choose what to boot all from one device, like this one. They all seem kind of cheap though, but this one has good reviews and it's an attractive price.

You get a sintech nvme adapter for that

https://www.amazon.com/Sintech-Adapter-Upgrade-2013-2017-ST-NGFF2013-C/dp/B01CWWAENG

Check the pictures. Note that u need high sierra installed for nvme drive support (u dont need the os, just the firmware update performed along with the install)

Samsung ssds are the best i think, oem apple drive use their controller as well

And oh yes you get 1500+MB/s with them ( i get 2500 MB/s write 2145 MB/s peak) on my 15” retina 2015. Using samsung 970 pro nvme and a sintech nvme to apple connector.
( you write 28GB in half a minute )


Also there is magic in the adapter, its just that apple uses proprietary connector and the adapter just passively electronically connect it to a female ngff m.2 connector ( which is compatible with pc part)

I just ordered this 4TB ($114.99 USD) and a $20 external enclosure:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B013JPKUU2/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

And the enclosure:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GAML7OK/ref=od_aui_detailpages00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I skipped the best buy deal because i wanted a 7200rpm drive as my external (best buy deal is for a 5400rpm). Not a need, just a want. I may buy the best buy deal for my home (non gaming) external storage. $80 is cheap for 4TB!

Like u/wahwahwaaaaah noted, enclosures for SSDs are pretty cheap. Amazon has a few for less than $10, one of which I purchased and am very happy with. They connect via USB to any of the USB slots on the Xbox.

Here's the one I have: Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized ... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=cm_sw_r_sms_c_api_r7tQAb8WS0XW6

A 500 gig one should be big enough already, if you're just gonna put the games on there that you are actively playing.

And if you still have the original HDD in your PS4, then you will see a large increase in loading speed, plus lots of free space, as almost half of the 500 gig internal drive is used by the OS.

BTW, this is the caddy I bought to house the ssd:

https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B00FCLG65U/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&language=en_GB&psc=1

It's an amazon.de link, but I'm sure you can find the same caddy on other countries amazon sites if you search on the product.

That all depends on how much spare you're wanting. If you want to get an enclosure hard-drive you could buy one of these and put thousands of GB together, and have a couple hard drives going to your Xbox One (this also depends on how big your Xbox One library is)

or you could just buy a my book drive I currently use one of these myself on my Xbox One and love it.

I personally think 4TB hard drive is more than plenty for the first few years of Xbox One gaming.

Another thing to take into consideration would be do you plan on doing mostly exclusives and a few games for Xbox One? then 2TB would be perfect. But if you plan on having all of your games on an Xbox One I'd highly suggest getting a 4TB hdd. I myself have almost 20 Xbox One games worth nearly 1TB in storage and its very handy to have.

I have that box and actually don't recommend it for the OPs use. Get this one instead
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B003X26VV4/ref=psdcmw_160354011_t1_B003YFHEAC

The difference is that this one does not support raid. It might sound like a good idea to have raid running in the box, but in order to do it so you don't risk corrupting your array you need to use NAS rated drives (i.e. wd red drives). If any of your drives aren't you risk corrupting your array and losing all your data. Instead what I'd suggest is to use the box I linked then run snapraid in OMV ( there's a plugin for it). You don't get real time protection, but for most people it should be good enough.

Also look into using a rock64 instead. It has gigabit LAN and usb 3.0 which should make it much faster.

Here is one that my squad and I have zero issues with. Works like a charm.

Silicon Power 256GB SSD 3D NAND A55 SLC Cache Performance Boost SATA III 2.5" 7mm (0.28") Internal Solid State Drive (SP256GBSS3A55S25) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B075RJS55D/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_gs0SCbBVK5W2M


And here is the case

Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-Free External Hard Drive Enclosure [Optimized for SSD, Support UASP SATA III] Black (EC-UASP) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OJ3UJ2S/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_i_Cs0SCb5R6QZQ8

All you need us a USB to SATA adapter or dock. Just be sure it's one that supports 3.5" drives and has it's own power supply. The power from USB can run a 2.5" drive fine, but you need external power for the desktop size.

Something like this will work just fine: https://www.amazon.com/Sabrent-External-Lay-Flat-Docking-EC-DFLT/dp/B00LS5NFQ2/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=SATA+dock&qid=1558141508&s=gateway&sr=8-6

There's no need to be concerned about the age of the drive. SATA is pretty universal and all newer standards are backwards compatible with past versions.

> 2007 Intel iMac 7,1

ah, yeah, that is not an easy hard drive swap.

Looks like your computer should have a 3.5 inch drive, whereas SSDs are 2.5 inch.. thus you will need a carrier of some sort, such as one of these.

If they just swapped out the drive only, then when you try to boot your computer it will sit there and flash a "?" or whatever it is these days, since no OS will be installed anywhere. Pretty sure your computer is too old to get a wireless OS delivery, so you will want to have an install USB handy.

I think an 8 gb usb drive should be plenty. There are guides online to show you how to prep the drive (test to make sure it is bootable before swapping the drive!).

This is what I picked up from Amazon, works amazing! Just plug it in, transfer D2 over, bye bye loading times!

Samsung 860 Evo 500GB 2.5... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0781Z7Y3S?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

ORICO 2.5 USB 3 External Hard... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LY97QE8?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf


My brother did the same thing expect he got this SSD.

Silicon Power 512GB SSD 3D NAND A55 SLC Cache Performance Boost SATA III 2.5" 7mm (0.28") Internal Solid State Drive (SP512GBSS3A55S25) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07997QV4Z/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_aMvYBbPRF3NPX

I literally bought the first one off Amazon (this one). Think it was $9. Only thing I'd note about the enclosure is make sure it supports UASP, which will make best use of the SSD.

Yes you can only use DESKTOP style hard drives without there being a ton of leftover space in the accessory. If you have a portable one and like it then why get the enclosure?

Honestly get one of these.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00T76ZGDO?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o06_s00
This is a much better one seeing as if you want to add a ssd or sshd there are more available hard drives out there that are laptop sized. Not only that but it fits the aesthetics of the xbox one itself. Seriously the nyko data bank is gigantic. My friend has one and wishes that he would've waited until the one that I got came out. most people can't tell that I added it onto my xbox.

I saw someone else recommend the Navepoint rails, so that's probably where I'll end up once I'm ready to rack it. Many thanks for the tip!

Rosewill also sells a 4-bay hotswap module that you can reconfigure into this case as this guy did, so I went ahead and ordered one of those as well.

The best solution is to snag one of these adapters or this one to mount the SSD in the 3.5 in. slot.

But to answer your immediate question... Yes, the SSD will be absolutely fine. I've had them literally taped to the inside of my case before with zero performance issues. They don't move, don't vibrate, and don't care how they're oriented or mounted.

only have windows running at the moment also saw something like this https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00N1KXE9K/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_2?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=A3GKWI06GSC9E3

but was hoping for a software solution but i can get that if it will work fine.

I have the NZXT source 210 good case, but add fans to the drive cages. I also got a 3x5.25 bay to 4 x 3.5 adapter to bring my drive count up to 13 (8 Disk in the cages + free hanging Boot SSD + 4 in the bay adapter). Get the rosewill bay adapter not the silverstone one doesn't fit well, not sure if i can post links

EDIT: links added

Yes, you want an internal drive, which you can plug in externally. To be able to connect it via USB, you need something like this.
You could also use it internally without the enclosure though.

If you wanna use it internally I'd recommend getting the 500GB for 39 bucks more (if you play more than just 3 games [if not, 250GB is perfectly fine, especially when using it externally as you can just move your games between your HDD and SSD whenever you want]).

You will not need to buy another Windows license, as the one you have is tied to the BIOS of the laptop. But, it's a good idea to link it to a MS account just in case.

To clone the HDD to the SSD you can use Macrium Reflect which is free. It's a simple straight forward process. You will need a USB to SATA adapter, or an enclosure, to do this.

Cloning is fine and seems to be the route you want to take as you mention you do not want to re-install all your programs, settings, etc. The only drawback is it's not a fresh/clean install.

> as easy as popping a few screws loose and everything is right there

It's ridiculously easy. Usually 3 to 5 screws to remove a plastic cover and another 2 screws holding the drive in place.

Buying a Samsung SSD makes it even easier because they have a program called Samsung Data Migration. You just need to either order one of the SSDs that comes with a USB-SATA interface, or buy a cheap one.

• Connect the SSD to the adapter and plug it into a USB port on the laptop.
  
• Run Samsung Data Migration with the original hard drive as the source and the SSD as the target.
  
• Turn off the laptop.
  
• Take out the original drive.
  
• Install the SSD
  
  Done. That's all there is to it. If you want to get fancy, or honestly just be smarter about it, get this instead of the adapter cable. When you're all done, you can reformat the HDD that came with the computer and use it as an external drive.

I'm currently using 3 of these in my home file server. Works great with no issues. Allows for storage density like /u/Dstanding mentioned as well as all drives are easy swapped in/out as needed.

I guess ask them again, or just take the advice already given. If you really only want to get your files off the drive then a cable is all you need. An enclosure is useful if you want to keep using the drive as a portable external HDD. In that case, something like [this] is what you'll need (i.e. a 2,5" HDD enclosure).

Also, as far as I know, getting files off a MAc HDD can only be done by connecting it to another Mac -- you'll have to do your research here for more details.

So then, when you have your data saved and want to keep the HDD as a portable drive, you can format it and use it in an enclosure.

Yes absolutely.

However you may be better off getting a 2.5" size drive. The 3.5" drives take more power to run, and the external enclosure will require an external power source. A 2.5" drive can be run off the power from the USB alone. So if you want something portable, get a 2.5" drive for sure, or if it's just going to sit on a desk or in a closet you can get a drive like the one you linked and get an enclosure for it.

3.5" HDD enclosure

2.5" HDD enclosure

Thanks for your input i feel much better about using this machine now. I checked but it seems i only have one slot for SSD. I went with the following adapter a few others i found had success with.

​

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01CWWAENG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1