Cheap 1TB SSD for Raspberry Pi

They don't have SATA ports. You'd need a USB to SATA converter for this. Better to buy a large microSD card

hystavito wrote: ↑ Speed doesn't really matter, but reliable would be nice . Anyone have experiences with those cheapo SSDs, like the ones on Amazon?
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B082VZ2NSZ/ref ... BI3CY&th=1

Oh and SSD is kinda necessary in this case, running off just RPi USB power and being moved often, thrown into a bag etc. A couple friends saw a 1TB retro gaming image and wanted me to set it up for them.

I have the Torrorosusus brand and another similar ones. Not 1tb in size though.
For the price all of mine have been reliable and are fine. I've posted deals on these previously and as I always say, I wouldn't use one of these for mission critical stuff but to throw in a crappy laptop to speed it up, or for RPi projects, it's probably OK. I have one in an old desktop I hardly use and it is a night and day difference from before.
But if you really need reliable, I can't vouch for them being so...

kramer1 wrote: ↑ They don't have SATA ports. You'd need a USB to SATA converter for this. Better to buy a large microSD card

Yes it would be using a USB adapter, that's why I mentioned the power thing. Also why I mentioned it would be used specifically for a 1TB retro games image, so it needs that much space, a 1TB microSD would be way too expensive afaik.

hystavito wrote: ↑ Yes it would be using a USB adapter, that's why I mentioned the power thing. Also why I mentioned it would be used specifically for a 1TB retro games image, so it needs that much space, a 1TB microSD would be way too expensive afaik.

Just curious, how many systems are you putting on this? A 1TB is gonna hold like every retro game imaginable, but do you need that big a drive? I have a pile of arcade ROMs on a 128gb. Including Neo Geo. But I'm a bit picky, I didn't include every game ever.

BernardRyder wrote: ↑ Just curious, how many systems are you putting on this? A 1TB is gonna hold like every retro game imaginable, but do you need that big a drive? I have a pile of arcade ROMs on a 128gb. Including Neo Geo. But I'm a bit picky, I didn't include every game ever.

It's a pre-made image, it probably does have a lot of space used for media and such besides the roms, and maybe wasted space too. But it's designed for 1TB so that's what it needs. It includes a bunch of disc based games like PS1 and Dreamcast.

I am sure those SSDs will be reliable enough for what you are trying to accomplish.

I have a warning that booting from USB is flaky on Raspberry Pi, at least in my experience with the 3B+. It was a while ago but I think is was already Buster (the system). I set up boot from SSD via a SATA to USB adapter. It worked for a few weeks, then it just stopped booting. I had to use my backup SD card and never attempted to boot from SSD again. Also, I am not sure if you can boot directly from SSD if you write an image to it.

BernardRyder wrote: ↑ Just curious, how many systems are you putting on this? A 1TB is gonna hold like every retro game imaginable, but do you need that big a drive? I have a pile of arcade ROMs on a 128gb. Including Neo Geo. But I'm a bit picky, I didn't include every game ever.

mame builds along with the other stuff and include the scrapes and video file aka coin-ops style. Yeah can be huge huge builds. Its not just the roms its the "display candy"!

alpovs wrote: ↑ I am sure those SSDs will be reliable enough for what you are trying to accomplish.

I have a warning that booting from USB is flaky on Raspberry Pi, at least in my experience with the 3B+. It was a while ago but I think is was already Buster (the system). I set up boot from SSD via a SATA to USB adapter. It worked for a few weeks, then it just stopped booting. I had to use my backup SD card and never attempted to boot from SSD again. Also, I am not sure if you can boot directly from SSD if you write an image to it.

I already have it booting from an SSD so I can confirm it works, on RPi4 with updated firmware. Only certain USB adapters work which are reported by the community. That can change though, I recently got a popular one, Eluteng, and after confirming it works ordered another only weeks later. By the time I got the second they had apparently switched to a new revision, physically you could see it was slightly different, and it doesn't boot.

Actually I need to find a new Eluteng alternative because I like that it had a very short cable almost as if it was made for the Raspberry Pi. The only other I know that works is a specific model from Sabrent but it has a typical full length cable like you would expect on a USB adapter intended for PC use.

lead wrote: ↑ mame builds along with the other stuff and include the scrapes and video file aka coin-ops style. Yeah can be huge huge builds. Its not just the roms its the "display candy"!

The CHD files can take up a lot of space. I am not sure if there is enough power in a Pi to run CHD games.

I can have every console ROM (Atari, NES, SNES, Neo Geo, Activision etc) in 256 Gigs and that includes every Commodore 64 game

lead wrote: ↑
mame builds along with the other stuff and include the scrapes and video file aka coin-ops style. Yeah can be huge huge builds. Its not just the roms its the "display candy"!

Yes that's true, I had forgotten. I have Hyperspin on my arcade and for some of those tiny Mame ROMs, the themes are larger than the game.

Gee wrote: ↑ The CHD files can take up a lot of space. I am not sure if there is enough power in a Pi to run CHD games.

I can have every console ROM (Atari, NES, SNES, Neo Geo, Activision etc) in 256 Gigs and that includes every Commodore 64 game

I'm playing around with Project Lunar on my Sega Genesis Mini ATM, and that can use CHD files for Sega CDs. They seem to run fine, is that device more powerful than an RPi? Wikipedia lists the hardware as

an ARM-based SOC ZUIKI Z7213 and 512 MB of flash memory.

BernardRyder wrote: ↑ I'm playing around with Project Lunar on my Sega Genesis Mini ATM, and that can use CHD files for Sega CDs. They seem to run fine, is that device more powerful than an RPi? Wikipedia lists the hardware as

The Pi has a similar SOC and probably a little more powerful than the Zuiki Z7213, I guess the CHD files will run fine