Many of the users have some version of the most popular SBC. They use it for various applications, however, all of them have a huge performance bottleneck that has to do with the storage they use. In particular, we do talk about systems designed to emulate consoles of yesteryear. That is why we are going to explain why you should use an SSD in your Raspberry Pi 4.
The idea is simply to use a SATA SSD, either of the M.2 or 2.5-inch type, for this we will need the use of an external adapter or box connected through the USB 3.0 port of the interface. Let’s not forget that these interfaces have a bandwidth of 6 Gbps per second and 5 Gbps, compared to the 480 Mbps of USB 2.0 that older models have, so it can only be used in the fourth generation Raspberry Pi.
This is why you should use an SSD in your Raspberry Pi 4
We must assume that the speed of a MicroSD in a Pi 4 is 50 MB/s or 400 Mbps, which pales in comparison to the 5000 Mbps or 620 MB/s provided by the external USB 3.0 port. In it and due to limitations of the format, it is not worth connecting a conventional hard disk, since due to physical limitations it cannot saturate the entire bus. And what are the results? Well, they end up being a generational leap in terms of performance, especially when opening applications if we use a Raspberry Pi as a computer, so much so that times are reduced by more than an order of magnitude, that is, up to 10 times.
Furthermore, we recommend that you use the SSD of your Raspberry Pi as the Boot drive from which the operating system boots. The reason is that you will notice a change in the startup speed not only of the applications, but also of the operating system itself. If you don’t know how to do it, then just follow the tutorial we wrote about it.
We recommend its use if you work with large files, that is, its size in megabytes can be counted in three figures. Especially if you are using the SBC and its camera module to record video. Either to monitor your 3D printer or to keep an eye on your newborn baby.
What adapter can I use for it?
Any SATA to USB 3.0 adapter can be used for this, but keep in mind that we have two different types of connections. On the one hand, the ones that are used for conventional drive bays and then we have the ones that are used for M.2s. In performance, since both use the same technology to transmit data, both solutions give the same performance.
As a final recommendation, we would not use an M.2 PCIe to USB 3.0 adapter, not only because it is a stupid way to lose performance, but also because if they are DRAM-Less you will lose even more performance. , since the USB interface cannot directly access RAM like PCI Express can.
