Hey PCWorld fans, Adam here. If you’ve been eyeing one of the big-name high-performance portable SSD
drives but don’t want to pay the high prices--just build your own.
In this video I’m going to show you how.
This video is sponsored by SK hynix, the maker of fastest-in-class SSDs. SK hynix developed the
world’s first 128-layer NAND-based consumer SSD and is the world’s 2nd largest memory manufacturer.
But what really sets them apart is incredible performance at affordable prices, surprising power efficiency, and 5-year warranties.
In fact, SK hynix makes PCWorld’s top picks for best all-around SSD and best NVMe SSD.
Grab the Gold P31 or S31 on Amazon and give your PC a big upgrade!
Yes, you can skip those big brand prices by building your own portable SSD using off the shelf parts, getting the same
performance, and typically a lower price as well. You’ll first want to pick out a USB SSD enclosure
which can be found on Newegg, Amazon and other electronics stores from around $10 to $50.
Before you shop though, you’ll want to know what kind of enclosure to buy. Much of that depends
on what kind of SSD you want to put inside of it. There’s 2.5-inch SATA SSDs like this SK hynix S31.
These offer very good speeds, which can reach about 560MBps reads, but fall
short of the even faster M.2 PCIe or NVMe SSDs. If you want to build your own USB portable drive
to rival the high-end, big-brand portable SSDs you’ll want to buy a PCIe or NVMe SSD enclosure.
While both types are equally as easy to make, and the 2.5-inch
SATA SSD is usually more than enough, I'm going to focus on an NVMe drive in this video.
For my example I’ll be building a drive using an Asus ROG Strix Arion
enclosure—mostly because it has RGB for maximum flair! With an SK hynix Gold P31 NVMe SSD inside,
it can reach the maximum bandwidth out of the USB 3.2 Gen 2 interfaces. That’s basically
around 1GBps. Like all USB drives, its backwards compatible with USB 3.0 and USB 2.0, and this
enclosure comes with both USB-C and USB type A cables. To build it, first reduce any static electricity
by touching a metal object such as a furniture leg. To install the M.2 SSD,
use the included pick tool and insert it into the small pin hole near the USB port to pop the cover
open. Put the cover aside and try not to touch the sticky thermal pads on the lid. The thermal pads
help wick heat from the high performance SSD into the aluminum body and help maintain performance.
Unscrew the silver retention screw inside of the enclosure. If it’s too tight,
use the handle of the pick tool to loosen it. Now take the M.2 SSD and insert it at a 15 degree
angle into the slot in the enclosure. The side with the stickers is usually the top of the drive
and the side that gets inserted is the one with the exposed contacts with the notch in it.
The semi-circle notch is the side that the retention screw will hold down.
Insert the drive gently but firmly until the gold contacts are not visible. Now take the
retention screw and seat it in the notch of the semi-circle of the M.2 drive. Tilt the drive down
and screw the retention screw in place snugly. Take the cover of the enclosure and line it up
along the edge away from the USB port and tilt it into place. If the lid won’t go on, you may
want to make sure you have the drive in the notch of the retention screw and not simply under it.
With the lid on, slip on the rubber bumper and grab the cable you want to use.
The cable with two USB-C connectors will allow the highest performance. This Gold P31 can reach
faster speeds than what USB offers, so we are limited by the enclosure here, not the drive.
Just remember that the drive and enclosure aren’t the only things that determine how fast you can
move files - the port you plug into matters as well. Generally, most laptops or desktop computers
that will accept USB-C will usually offer the most speed. The older but far more common USB-A
can vary from very slow to very fast. One final step you may need to do before
it’s recognized by Windows is to provision it from within windows.
Press the Windows Key + X and select Disk Management. Disk Management should show you
the drives attached to your computer, one of which will say Unallocated for your new drive.
And yes, make absolutely sure you are not selecting the primary drive of the PC you are using or
another drive you don’t intent to format. Right mouse click on the drive that says
Unallocated and select New Simple Volume. Select Next and then choose the volume size you want.
Windows should default to the full drive capacity. Click Next and then Next to assign the drive path.
The last window should be Format Partition. Click Next and then Finish and Windows will
partition and format your new drive for you. Boom, you’re RGB Portable SSD is now ready
for use - and this one has RGB for even more nerd cred! Well that’s it for this tutorial,
but be sure to subscribe to PCWorld for even more awesome pc hardware videos.