I have never over years of usage used a powered USB hub with a 2.5″ SATA adapter but many enclosures won’t even boot without one. The lowest power options are going to be 2.5″ SATA drives WITHOUT an enclosure (using just an adapter instead with the drive laying in the open).

How much power is going to be available? Is your Pi going to be running off a battery where you want to use as little energy as possible? Do you have AC outlets around? Are you willing to add a powered USB hub to your setup? If your Pi is going to be sitting in a corner in the basement / a closet / some place like that then you can plan to have a powered USB hub and plentiful reliable power around. There are also lots of cases available specifically for the Pi that add an additional storage slot (such as M.2 SATA, the older m-SATA style, etc.) to the Pi that may work better with a tightly integrated build. Is this Pi going to be somewhere where you are okay with having an extra adapter/enclosure and SSD laying around? If you’re going to be using the Pi in something like a drone/vehicle then you may want to go with a USB thumbdrive style ultracompact SSD that plugs directly into a USB port and has no wires or adapters/enclosures. The easiest place to start is with your specific project requirements. There are a few different considerations and tradeoffs you need to weigh when you’re choosing a storage adapter/enclosure as well as the drive itself. Let’s get started! How to choose a Pi SSD storage solution

I’ve covered which adapters work and don’t work in my Native USB Booting Guide as well as my old “workaround” SD + SSD method guide and over the years people have submitted hundreds of comments about which adapters do and don’t work.įrom everything we’ve learned together in the comments and adapters I personally own/use I wanted to compile this information into a new “Best Storage Adapters for Raspberry Pi 4” list.

There are many that will not work properly and perform very poorly. To this day it can still be treacherous to buy a storage adapter for your Raspberry Pi 4.

Sandisk secureaccess 3.01