Best External Portable SSD for Raspberry Pi 4

Lelecpurch on 14/11/2021 - 14:24

Hey all

I remember seeing a comment on one of the Samsung T5 or T7 deals where someone mentioned why one is better for the Raspberry Pi than the other. Tried searching through recent posts but can't figure out which deal had that comment or who the commenter was. I am hoping that person is going to come across my forum post :)

Or maybe someone else can help me out to decide which external portable SSD drive is best for Raspberry Pi 4. I've read some people complaining on other forums how the RPi is not able to provide constant power to some external SSD disk drives and while watching movies there is a lot of lag/freeze. I am looking at hooking this disk up to my RPi 4 for movies and music.

Thanks in advance.

Computing Portable SSD Raspberry Pi Foundation Samsung Single Board Computer

Comments

  • Hybroid on 14/11/2021 - 14:34
    +3

    Any standard 2.5" SATA SSD should be fine. The issues you're talking about are likely due to the enclosures and not the drives themselves. Get a stock drive and USB cable.

    Example: https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0176/3274/articles/How-to-…

    You can also get an mSATA SSD expansion board if you want a cleaner setup but you'll be spending significantly more on the board as well as drives for this.

    Example: https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/H3b200f855b6445e38ab5ee424f67165e…

  • scrimshaw on 14/11/2021 - 14:35
    +3

    A RPI4B is able to supply a total of 1.2 amps to its 4 USB ports if the RPi4B is powered from a PSU that can supply the recommended 3 amps. I'm guessing some users on the internet are not aware of this and are using old, crappy USB power bricks that came with mobile phones a few years back and don't actually supply the required 3 amps.

    In this instance the performance is affected or the drive only works intermittently if they're drawing too much power.

    edit: according to Page 22 of the Samsung T5 User manual https://www.samsung.com/semiconductor/global.semi.static/Sam…
    It is rated 5 volts at 0.8 amps. The Pi4 with 3amp power supply should have no trouble running a T5 SSD

    • elecpurch on 14/11/2021 - 14:56

      Thanks heaps for linking me to the exact page of that Samsung user manual :)

  • Public21 on 14/11/2021 - 16:09
    +1

    If you want to go the cheaper way, this Kingspec works with a RPi4:
    https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32847629347.html?spm=a2g0s.9…

    I have a 120gb Kingspec running my Home Assistant set-up. I can't vouch for how long it will last, but I've had it since about March this year and it runs fine.

    Also as @Hybroid says, it is more the enclosure, not the SSD. I have an Orico enclosure with a Samsung SSD and it won't talk to the RPi. The Ugreen enclosures seem to get thumbs up with RPi owners.

    • iamherenow on 15/11/2021 - 07:09

      Did you have problems with using an SD card? I'm running home assistant, and wondering if I should eventually upgrade to ssd.

      • Public21 on 15/11/2021 - 20:12

        No I didn’t have a problem, but had read and heard that SD cards are not designed for continuous write/reads and would be more likely to fail in a high activity environment.

      • n2h on 01/12/2021 - 15:19

        You have to install log2ram to write all the log into ram, not the sd card. You also have to turn the swap file off. Don't worry if your pi has more than 2Gb ram. Doing 2 steps above makes your SD card last forever

        Turn swap file off
        free -h
        sudo systemctl disable dphys-swapfile.service

        • iamherenow on 01/12/2021 - 15:47

          Thanks for advice. I actually ordered an ssd which arrived in the mail today… so I guess I'll use it! Now just need to figure out how to replicate the SSD onto that, and make it boot from that.

  • RecklessMonkeys on 14/11/2021 - 17:27
    +1

    I think you're referring to this comment :
    https://www.ozbargain.com.au/node/659800#comment-11261879

    • elecpurch on 14/11/2021 - 18:08

      Thank you. DRAM-less is the term i was referring to but couldn't for the life of me recall that term :)

  • Andriy on 14/11/2021 - 21:39

    Why these eBay ssd drives are so cheap compared to well-known brands? Has anybody tried or has some information?
    https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/373738554724?hash=item57048dc564…

  • Andriy on 15/11/2021 - 17:05

    Thanks All!

  • n2h on 01/12/2021 - 15:24

    You need a usb powered hub with a power adapter 5V-2.4A or more if you want to plug 2 usb hard drive at the same time

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