USB 3.0 SSD - Any disadvantages?

[MicroAlex]

Hey guys,

Need some advice from people who have knowledge in this area. Basically I want to put together my own portable USB 3.0 SSD drive and I want to know if there are any major drawbacks that could impact performance or longevity of the SSD.

I am looking at getting a case and putting my desired drive in it. I want a slick look, but mostly for the performance to be there. The SSD will be used as a scratch disk, media storage/rendering, software launching.
I have seen cases that are mostly 2.5 SATA 300 ready, SATA 600 are not as popular yet sadly, but for example Icy Box do make some.

• So, would TRIM work on this kind of a solution?
• Anything regarding ACHI?
• Any cases you can suggest that are preferably SATA 600 and slick aluminium looking?
• Am I missing something big here?

Lacie makes a portable SSD that looks nice, but I would like to use my own one and possibly save a couple of quid along the way.

Thanks in advance.

 

[YouWhat]

I dont think you would get trim working properly over a USB bus unless it is embedded in the usb to sata converter on the board that will plug into the drive.

The drive longevity would ultimately be impacted I think though with the use you described above, as it being written to a lot more than it would be as say for example a OS drive (as you would normally get it setup and move page file, user folders etc to a mechanical drive).

With USB 3 though, I would imagine that it would have the speed needed to get somewhere near the sata 3 read and write speeds, if not achieve them, but what you have to remember is that the data has to be converter as such from the sata bus to the usb bus so this in theory would slow the drive down a slight amount, also transfering larger files across the buses would also impact speed.

 

[MicroAlex]

Thanks for the reply mate.

Yeah I have put in to consideration them factors.
Sad to hear that TRIM might be not working with this type of a solution.

Here is an example of what I was looking at:
Lacie SSD - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lacie-90003...id=1403523937&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=9000342

Icy Box - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Icy-Box-IB-...F8&qid=1403524639&sr=8-3&keywords=icy+box+ssd

Icy Box - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Icy-Box-IB-...F8&qid=1403524639&sr=8-4&keywords=icy+box+ssd


Lacie looks like a nice solution, but the reported speeds are not that high from what I have seen online. I wonder is it a limitation of the SSD itself or is it running a slow SATA chip?

The first Icy Box is only SATA 300 from what I understand, but obviously I can pick my own drive. Same goes for the last Icy Box, but it is SATA 600 if the specs are to be believed.

So I wonder, which solution would provide me the fastest performance and the best reliability in this use scenario.