Reddit mentions of ORICO 2.5 USB 3 External Hard Drive Enclosure, USB3.0 to SATA Portable Clear Hard Disk Case for 2.5 inch 7mm 9.5mm SATA HDD SSD, Support UASP SATA III, Max 4TB, Tool-Free Design - Clear

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.

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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

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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.

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Edit Edit: Added links to the guides I followed

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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! :)

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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.

Keep an eye on r/buildapcsales. The SSDs they post are generally good but you'd need to buy an external closure for a couple bucks. This drive combined with this enclosure are a good deal for less than $60.

I went with this Samsung 860 EVO 500gb SSD.

And this Orico adapter.

It works phenomenally. Cut all of my load times in half, and intra-instance load times are nonexistent.

Highly recommend it.

Depending on the model you could probably just open the enclosure and put the drive in a new enclosure like this

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

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.

I just use one I pulled out of my broken laptop. Bought an enclosure for it on Amazon, like this.

Just FYI, in case you find another device that doesn't need its storage anymore! Otherwise I'd just pick up a Seagate or WD 2TB HDD or similar.

Usually about $9, I think, so this is still a decent sale if you want to pick one up. Regular price:

• $8.99 @ Newegg: https://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA1DS4VX9067
  
• Amazon price history: https://camelcamelcamel.com/ORICO-External-Enclosure-Support-Tool-Free/product/B01LY97QE8
  
  Though yeah, it has hit this price before:
  
  
• 3 months ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/92wvik/drive_enclosure_orico_transparent_25_ssd/
  
• 1 year ago: https://www.reddit.com/r/buildapcsales/comments/6n4osx/hdd_enclosure_orico_transparent_25in_external_hdd/
  
  $15.99 is definitely not the "regular price" in practice, to no surprise.

This is what I bought.

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

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

No tools needed. Just pop the drive in the enclosure and plug it into the xbox.

Use this one for my drives. I chose this one after looking at every model on Amazon for the reviews and specs also. Enjoy

https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-External-Enclosure-Support-Tool-Free/dp/B01LY97QE8/

ORICO Tool-Free External Hard Drive Enclosure for 2.5 Inch SATA HDD and SSD - USB 3.0 Micro B [SSD UASP SATA III Optimized] - Clear https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01LY97QE8/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_i_9L.4Ab5GQTX2Q

Try something like this.

Made a huge difference for me. I bought a Crucial 1 TB SSD and put it in an external USB powered enclosure and it's been great.

Components I used:

Crucial SSD

USB enclosure

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.

Yep. Just use any of the 2.5in external drive enclosures you'd see on Amazon, for example:

ORICO 2.5 USB 3 External Hard Drive Enclosure Casing - $9.99

Sabrent 2.5-Inch SATA to USB 3.0 Tool-Free External Hard Drive Enclosure - $8.99

You can probably search for any 2.5" HDD enclosure on Amazon, but the one you have looks like it's the complete innards of the disk drive without the protective casing. Might be hard finding a third party enclosure that will offer protection of just that inner part without installing and having the thing move around inside and being exposed to the outer case itself.

USA
https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-External-Enclosure-Support-Tool-Free/dp/B01LY97QE8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1536090329&sr=8-1&keywords=2139U3

CANADA
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B01LY97QE8/ref=s9_acsd_top_hd_bw_b1LRlfv_c_x_w?pf_rd_m=A3DWYIK6Y9EEQB&pf_rd_s=merchandised-search-3&pf_rd_r=QF0WCTFJAPTT6D83F14W&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=05966f87-c8b9-5989-88a3-acec6b9a702f&pf_rd_i=1233054011

get a 2.5in internal SSD, plug it into an enclosure like below, connect via USB

https://smile.amazon.com/ORICO-External-Enclosure-Support-Tool-Free/dp/B01LY97QE8

I use this one, looks good works great! - Click Me

https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-External-Enclosure-Support-Tool-Free/dp/B01LY97QE8/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1542437690&sr=8-3&keywords=usb%2B3.0%2Benclosure%2Bclear&th=1

If you're okay with the physical size, you'd have an ADATA SU800 inserted into a USB enclosure like this or this (there's a whole bunch to choose from, actually).

you could remove the hard drive from the dead laptop and stick it in an external case, then plug it in the usb of your new laptop.

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google "how to replace hard drive from (insert make and model here) watch the youtube video of the removal process, then stop the video,

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then go to amazon for example and look for a external case, example following:

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https://www.amazon.com/ORICO-External-Enclosure-Support-Tool-Free/dp/B01LY97QE8/ref=sr_1_2_sspa?keywords=hard+drive+enclosures&qid=1563035572&s=electronics&sr=1-2-spons&psc=1

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you dont have to get that one, but make sure you match the drive, like if the drive was IDE or sata. and since by your words i think you might be in the uk, you can use whatever you have there besides amazon.