Using an SSD as a portable external drive?

Question

Is it possible to use an SSD as a larger-capacity flash drive? I know that some computer cases include external SATA ports, so would it be reasonable to assume that one could interface with the SSD using a SATA cable?

Solution 1

Turns out that having an external SATA port is entirely unnecessary, as the free market has devised a solution for those who wish to use internal drives as portable drives:

2.5" SATA to USB 2.0 External Hard Drive/SSD Enclosure

Solution 2

While I assume you're referring to a solid state hard drive, I'll point out that most thumb drives use solid state technology as well. Performance is usually slower for thumbdrives as they use slower controllers, but you can find some that use the same SandForce controller used in most solid state hard drives.

The advantages of a real solid state hard drive over a non-SandForce thumbdrive would most likely be speed and price per GB.

Compared to a SandForce based thumb drive, the SSD would be bigger, heavier, and require an external enclosure or adapter.

I'd say if you're looking for speed and weight, go with a SandForce based thumbdrive, though you'll pay a premium for them.

Comments

[rob]

I have a Seagate GoFlex USB3.0 upgrade cable that I bought for something like $4, and use that with a 60 GB SSD. It's fast, relatively cheap, and I don't have to worry about damaging the drive when I bump it around. But on the other hand, the capacity is pathetic compared to magnetic media.

[bertieb]

Welcome to Super User! Can you explain your answer? Simply listing prices for a few components is likely to become outdated quite quickly. Cheers

[U. Windl]

But not all USB connectors/cables are able to provide enough current to drive the SSDs. My 256GB SSD is rated 2A at 3.3V for example. So the enclosure might need external power.

[U. Windl]

Most USB thumb drives perform very poorly with concurrent requests (for example when you boot some live system from it). Also many high-capacity thumb drive have a write speed below 4 MB/s; an SSD is much faster.