This $23 gadget is all you want to reuse an outdated NVMe SSD

One of many largest upgrades I’ve made to my PC in recent times has been including M.2 NVMe SSDs. NVMe SSDs are a lot quicker than SATA SSDs, which makes booting into Windows and launching video games a lot faster. Though the costs of NVMe SSDs have fluctuated these days, I used to be in a position to purchase sufficient throughout a Prime Day sale final yr to fill all of the NVMe slots on my PC’s motherboard comparatively affordably.

Nevertheless, I just lately disassembled an old PC build and ended up with a spare 2TB NVMe SSD. I did not need to promote it as a result of it is a priceless backup in case one among my different NVMe SSDs fails unexpectedly — which has happily by no means occurred. So I used to be left with 2TB of high-speed SSD storage that I could not use on my present PC, since all of the slots had been full.

Happily, I found an reasonably priced repair — a handy system known as an NVMe SSD enclosure. I bought one from UGREEN on Amazon for $23, which permits me to attach my NVMe SSD to my PC through a USB-C port. This gadget has enabled me to rework my outdated NVMe SSD into quick exterior storage, giving it a second life.

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A dependable solution to handle your NVMe SSD

I used it for reformatting my SSD, turning it into an exterior storage system

I have been utilizing the UGREEN NVMe SSD Enclosure I bought for just a few months now with my PC, and I have been impressed with its reliability. I can handle recordsdata on it, set up video games, and use it if it had been related internally to my PC. Nevertheless, it’s restricted to 10Gbps of pace as a result of limitations of USB 3.1 Gen 2, so you might not have the ability to make the most of the total pace capabilities of your SSD. Nonetheless, I am simply utilizing mine for added storage and older video games, so it has been excellent, and it is higher than the SSD sitting round doing nothing.

The enclosure is easy to arrange and took me lower than a minute. Simply slide the duvet off of it, and inside, you may discover an NVMe SSD slot the place you’ll be able to insert your SSD. Merely slot it in as you’d in your motherboard and rotate the rubber plug on the finish to maintain it in place. From there, place the thermal pad that comes with it on high of the SSD, which can assist with warmth dissipation.

Then, merely join the enclosure to your PC utilizing the included USB-C cable, and your NVMe SSD ought to seem and be obtainable to be used in Home windows. I had outdated recordsdata on mine from my outdated Home windows set up, so I used to be in a position to again up something I wanted and reformat the drive. With out this enclosure, I’d have needed to open up my PC and swap it in to do that, which might have been a trouble. This system saved me a ton of time and lets me use my outdated SSD each time I would like — really a win-win.

If you happen to’re considering one among these, ensure that to purchase one which matches the dimensions of your SSD. I’ve a 2TB Samsung 980 Professional SSD, which has a 2280 measurement code. Often, the commonest measurement for NVMe SSDs in desktops is 2280. Nevertheless, when you’ve got a smaller M.2 SSD (like one from a laptop computer), it might have a special measurement code, resembling 2242 or 2230. The UGREEN mannequin I am highlighting on this story is appropriate with 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280 NVMe SSDs.

If you wish to repurpose an outdated NVMe SSD or rapidly handle recordsdata on one with out putting in it inside your PC, an SSD enclosure is a useful gadget to have. It is quick and dependable, and at $23 for the UGREEN enclosure I purchased, it does not break the financial institution both.

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