Creating an 'SSD' from 4 Port USB Hub and Flash Drives

September 25, 2013

I was looking at this Project on 'Instructables' where a guy got this old useless HDD, opened it up and 'gutted' it, making it a unique 'case'.

Inside this unusual case, was fitted a 4 port USB Hub with the USB cable coming out on the HDD case to connect to USB 2.0 Port of a PC.

What was interesting is Windows XP Pro can combine several USB Flash Drives into one 'Dynamic' Drive with a single Drive Letter.

See http://cdn.makezine.com/make/flashmem.pdf *whicj ripped off that guys Instructables project.

All 3 drives responded, so there was one more thing to do. Rather than having to deal with 3 separate

drive letters, I navigated Windows to combine them into a single letter. To accomplish this, start at the

Disk Management page, and convert each drive into a “Dynamic Disk.” This isn’t hard, but it’s tedious

and confusing.

There are some neat compact 4 port Hubs available and some very compact USB Flash Drives as can be seen in this image I put together:-

NB: This is artistic impression to show concept. In reality those compact flash drives would have to be inserted the other way up (or the Hub flipped over)!

Buying such 64GB USB Flash Drives in MOQ of 100 can be quite affordable US$2 per Drive (have asked for Quote to confirm such). I am very skeptical of prices for 64GB being that low, 4Gb maybe?

CDR King sells 16GB Flash Drives for Php500!
Perhaps US$10 for 64GB Flash Drive direct from China for MOQ: 100 or less, could be possible?

So a 4 Port USB Hub with 4 x 64GB Flash Drives could be put together for under US$50.

But what is the price of a 250GB SSD?

At least US$80 it would seem

FOB Price: US $42 - 163 / Piece

Port: shenzhen

Minimum Order Quantity: 10 Piece/Pieces

Hd SSD for samsung 120gb 160g 250gb

FOB Price: US $64 - 80 / Piece
Minimum Order Quantity: 1 Piece/Pieces

Edited September 25, 2013 by David_LivinginTalisay

September 25, 2013

The low speed of SD cards and flash drives, even class 10, would make such a system hell to work with.

KonC

September 25, 2013

Yeah, after all the work you would end up with a drive no faster than a fast mechanical hard drive, and possibly more expensive.

September 25, 2013

USB flash drives use the USB mass storage standard, supported natively by modern operating systems such as Linux, OS X, Windows, and other Unix-like systems, as well as many BIOS boot ROMs. USB drives with USB 2.0 support can store more data and transfer faster than much larger optical disc drives like CD-RW or DVD-RW drives and can be read by many other systems such as the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, DVD players and in a number of handheld devices such as smartphones and tablet computers

Clearly USB2.0 is faster than USB1.0, and USB3.0 is faster again!

It also depends on the intended use and application.

For example PC's can Boot from USB and in practical terms is not much slower than booting up from HDD, depending on OS. Certainly booting from USB Flash Drive is quicker than Booting from CDROM/DVD.

Some LINUX OS, like Puppy Linux for example, can run entirely in RAM once booted.

A LINUX 'swap File' on the HDD/Flash Drive can be allocated storage space.

It also depends on the Speed of the USB Port.

I believe the maximum throughput of USB 1.0 is 12Mbits/second,

USB 2.0 is over 400 MBits/second,

and USB 3.0 transfers at up to 5 Gbit/second.

USB 2.0 has a cutting edge data rate of 480Mbps, and it is rated 40 times faster than the now archaic, USB 1.1, which peaked at 12Mbps. Flash drives are catching up with most now hovering around the 30-40 MB/s mark.

5 Apps to Check the Speed of Your USB Flash Drive (Windows)

http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/5-lightweight-tools-to-check-the-speed-of-your-usb-flash-drive-windows/

A USB flash drive is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integratedUniversal Serial Bus (USB) interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than 30 grams (1.1 oz).^[1] As of January 2013, drives of up to 512 gigabytes (GB) are available.^[2] A one-terabyte (TB) drive was unveiled at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show and will be available during 2013.^[3] Storage capacities as large as 2 TB are planned, with steady improvements in size and price per capacity expected.^[4] Some allow up to 100,000 write/erase cycles, depending on the exact type of memory chip used, and a 10-year shelf storage time.^[5]^[6]^[7]

File transfer speeds

USB flash drives usually specify their read and write speeds in megabytes per second (MB/s); read speed is usually faster. These speeds are for optimal conditions; real-world speeds are usually slower. In particular, circumstances that often lead to speeds much lower than advertised are transfer (particularly writing) of many small files rather than a few very large ones, and mixed reading and writing to the same device. In a typical well-conducted review^[36] of a number of high-performance USB 3.0 drives, a drive that could read large files at 68MB/s and write at 46MB/s, could only manage 14MB/s and 0.3MB/s with many small files. When combining streaming reads and writes the speed of another drive, that could read at 92MB/s and read at 70MB/s, was 8MB/s. These differences differ radically from one drive to another; some drives could write small files at over 10% of the speed for large ones. The examples given are chosen to illustrate extremes.

As of 2011, newer flash memory designs have much higher estimated lifetimes. Several manufacturers are now offering warranties of 5 years or more. Such warranties should make the device more attractive for more applications. By reducing the probability of the device's premature failure, flash memory devices can now be considered for use where a magnetic disk would normally have been required. Flash drives have also experienced an exponential growth in their storage capacity over time (following the Moore's Lawgrowth curve). As of 2011, single packaged devices with capacities of 64GB are readily available, and devices with 8 GB capacity are very economical. Storage capacities in this range have traditionally been considered to offer adequate space, because they allow enough space for both the operating system software and some free space for the user's data.
Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Windows 8 ReadyBoost
In Windows Vista, Windows 7, and Windows 8, the ReadyBoost feature allows flash drives (from 4 GB in the case of Windows Vista) to augment operating system memory.^[40]

September 25, 2013

http://techchannel.radioshack.com/differences-between-usb-flash-drive-ssd-2155.html

"While SSDs cost a lot more than USB flash drives, they are also more reliable. Both types of drives use NAND flash memory to store data, but not the same kind. USB flash drives use multi-level cell memory, which is much cheaper to produce than the single-level cell memory used in SSDs. The MLC memory used in USB flash drives can store 2 bits of data for every cell, resulting in larger possible storage capacities. In fact, some hybrid SSD drives use MLC memory to increase their storage capacities up to 1GB. While SLC memory does not allow for such large storage capacities, it endures much better than MLC memory. Generally speaking, you can only read or write data to a MLC memory cell about 5,000 times. SLC increases the number of possible read/write cycles to about 50,000. The controller boards found in SSDs support wear leveling, which helps to spread read/write operations across more of the cells in the memory chips to make the drives last longer. Controllers in SSD drives also enable advanced hard drive features, such as native-command queuing that optimizes read/write requests and SMART, which enables the computer BIOS to monitor the drive in real time for potential anomalies of problems. There are many other technical reasons why SSDs perform better and are more durable than USB flash drives. However, the bottom line is that SSDs are faster and more reliable than USB flash drives."

September 25, 2013

http://techchannel.radioshack.com/differences-between-usb-flash-drive-ssd-2155.html

"While SSDs cost a lot more than USB flash drives, they are also more reliable. Both types of drives use NAND flash memory to store data, but not the same kind. USB flash drives use multi-level cell memory, which is much cheaper to produce than the single-level cell memory used in SSDs. The MLC memory used in USB flash drives can store 2 bits of data for every cell, resulting in larger possible storage capacities. In fact, some hybrid SSD drives use MLC memory to increase their storage capacities up to 1GB. While SLC memory does not allow for such large storage capacities, it endures much better than MLC memory. Generally speaking, you can only read or write data to a MLC memory cell about 5,000 times. SLC increases the number of possible read/write cycles to about 50,000. The controller boards found in SSDs support wear leveling, which helps to spread read/write operations across more of the cells in the memory chips to make the drives last longer. Controllers in SSD drives also enable advanced hard drive features, such as native-command queuing that optimizes read/write requests and SMART, which enables the computer BIOS to monitor the drive in real time for potential anomalies of problems. There are many other technical reasons why SSDs perform better and are more durable than USB flash drives. However, the bottom line is that SSDs are faster and more reliable than USB flash drives."

Thanks for that information and it explains why an SSD cost more than Multiple Flash Drives to create a Bigger Flash Drive.

Yeh, they are developing bigger Flash Drives, but they come at a premium price, until they become 'main stream'.

CNY109 for a SanDisk 32GB USB Flash Drive @ JD.com

rBEQWVFb3jUIAAAAAAIEpGG7Pf0AADY9ADRCcwAA

东芝（TOSHIBA）高速SDHC存储卡 32GB

UHS/Class10 30M/s ￥119.00 (Php830)

Not much more for Micro SDHC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital

One of the reasons for higher prices of SDHC than Flash MMC memory is the 'Royalties' that have/should be paid to the SD Card Association

Comparison of technical features of MMC and SD card variants

Type MMC RS-MMC MMCplus SecureMMC SDIO SD miniSD microSD

Max clock rate 20 MHz 20 MHz 52 MHz 20 MHz? 50 MHz 208 MHz 208 MHz 208 MHz

Max xfr rate 20 Mbit/s 20 Mbit/s 416 Mbit/s 20 Mbit/s? 200 Mbit/s 832 Mbit/s 832 Mbit/s 832 Mbit/s Max SPI xfr 20 Mbit/s 20 Mbit/s 52 Mbit/s 20 Mbit/s 50 Mbit/s 25 Mbit/s 50 Mbit/s 50 Mbit/s

Compare Price with CDR King in Philippines (not a great deal higher):-

TDK 32GB SDHC Card Class 10

Php 980.00

New Arrival

Edited September 25, 2013 by David_LivinginTalisay

September 25, 2013

You can buy a new 60 gig SSD for like $75 .. why bother? also i had a USB 4 port hub exactly like the one in the photo catch fire, so beware.

September 27, 2013

If you want a HDD, and a decent SIZE (1TB) plus the convenience of WIRELESS connectivity,
and have US$200 to spend, this could be useful to consider:-

Seagate Wireless Plus STCK1000100 1TB WiFi Mobile Storage Device
Item#: S130-7501 | Model#: STCK1000100

List Price: $224.99 Instant Savings: - $25.00 (11%) Price: $19999

Shipping: In Stock (Details) Retail Store: Check Store availability

Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB WiFi Mobile Drive Product Details

Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB Mobile Storage
Choose the Seagate Wireless Plus Mobile Storage to experience hassle-free access to your media and files. Designed with its own WiFi connectivity, this portable storage device enables you to access your files and media without the hassles of cable-clutters. Featuring the free Seagate Media app for iOS and Android®, it guarantees a smooth navigation of contents anywhere you go. Plus, with its huge 1TB storage capacity, saving tons of files and documents is a breeze. Utilize its USB 3.0 adapter so you can load files with ultra-fast data speed rate. This fantastic storage device allows up to eight tablets and smartphones to access and store content all at the same time. Grab this Seagate Mobile Storage now and experience the difference!

What It Is And Why You Need It:

Seagate Wireless Mobile Storage; guarantees a hassle-free accessing of files and media anytime, anywhere
1TB storage capacity; allows you to save huge amounts of media files
Seagate Media app for iOS and Android®; ensures seamless navigation of contents anytime, anywhere
USB 3.0 adapter; enables you to load files with extreme faster speed rates

Specifications

Performance

Drive Type: External

Capacity: 1TB

Interface Type USB 3.0

Configuration/Organization

Form Factor External Unit

Hard Drives Additional Specs

Device Type Wireless Access Point

NAS server

Capacity 1 TB

Edited September 27, 2013 by David_LivinginTalisay

September 27, 2013

Thanks for that information and it explains why an SSD cost more than Multiple Flash Drives to create a Bigger Flash Drive.

Yeh, they are developing bigger Flash Drives, but they come at a premium price, until they become 'main stream'.

CNY109 for a SanDisk 32GB USB Flash Drive @ JD.com

东芝（TOSHIBA）高速SDHC存储卡 32GB

UHS/Class10 30M/s ￥119.00 (Php830)

Not much more for Micro SDHC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secure_Digital

One of the reasons for higher prices of SDHC than Flash MMC memory is the 'Royalties' that have/should be paid to the SD Card Association

Comparison of technical features of MMC and SD card variants

Type MMC RS-MMC MMCplus SecureMMC SDIO SD miniSD microSD

Max clock rate 20 MHz 20 MHz 52 MHz 20 MHz? 50 MHz 208 MHz 208 MHz 208 MHz

Max xfr rate 20 Mbit/s 20 Mbit/s 416 Mbit/s 20 Mbit/s? 200 Mbit/s 832 Mbit/s 832 Mbit/s 832 Mbit/s Max SPI xfr 20 Mbit/s 20 Mbit/s 52 Mbit/s 20 Mbit/s 50 Mbit/s 25 Mbit/s 50 Mbit/s 50 Mbit/s

Compare Price with CDR King in Philippines (not a great deal higher):-

TDK 32GB SDHC Card Class 10

Php 980.00

New Arrival

CDR King offer such Micro SDHC Card Reader in tiny compact form.

CRD-020-DA(DC-CR-19) BISON MICRO SD CARD READER Php 20.00

Suggested Accessories

USB (Universal Serial bus) 2.0 Specification
True plug and play and hot swap capabilities
High speed data/file access and transfer rate up to 480Mbps
Draws power directly from USB port
Compact and Lightweight
Supports Micro SD
No external power required

Specifications:

Dimension: 13mm x 7mm x 27mm (L x H x W)
Gross Weight: 10g
No Adaptors needed
USB Type
Non-Toxic and non-Corrosive
Made in High quality plastic
Small design for mobility
Draws power directly from USB port

System Requirements:

Compatible with Windows 95/98/NT/ME/2000/XP/Vista/win7/win8
Mac OS 9.2 and later version

Note: Tested only in Windows Operating System

Package Content:

1 x Bison Micro SD Card Reader

September 27, 2013

Some time back, a mate of mine in California, sent me a 512 Gig flash drive. It is pretty nice, having a flash (USB) drive that will hold as much data as an external drive. I'm the only kid on the block with one here. I have not even seen one larger than 32 Gig, around town.

September 27, 2013

This is the most compact USB reader for micro-SD I know of.

September 27, 2013

These fast memories are in my cam (for RAID1 or 2X capacity):

but are more expensive than a similar capacity SSD...

September 27, 2013

If you want a HDD, and a decent SIZE (1TB) plus the convenience of WIRELESS connectivity,

and have US$200 to spend, this could be useful to consider:-

Hard Drive

External Hard Drives

S130-7501

Seagate Wireless Plus STCK1000100 1TB WiFi Mobile Storage Device
Item#: S130-7501 | Model#: STCK1000100

List Price: $224.99 Instant Savings: - $25.00 (11%) Price: $19999

Shipping: In Stock (Details) Retail Store: Check Store availability

Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB WiFi Mobile Drive Product Details

Seagate Wireless Plus 1TB Mobile Storage

Choose the Seagate Wireless Plus Mobile Storage to experience hassle-free access to your media and files. Designed with its own WiFi connectivity, this portable storage device enables you to access your files and media without the hassles of cable-clutters. Featuring the free Seagate Media app for iOS and Android®, it guarantees a smooth navigation of contents anywhere you go. Plus, with its huge 1TB storage capacity, saving tons of files and documents is a breeze. Utilize its USB 3.0 adapter so you can load files with ultra-fast data speed rate. This fantastic storage device allows up to eight tablets and smartphones to access and store content all at the same time. Grab this Seagate Mobile Storage now and experience the difference!

What It Is And Why You Need It:

Seagate Wireless Mobile Storage; guarantees a hassle-free accessing of files and media anytime, anywhere

1TB storage capacity; allows you to save huge amounts of media files

Seagate Media app for iOS and Android®; ensures seamless navigation of contents anytime, anywhere

USB 3.0 adapter; enables you to load files with extreme faster speed rates

Specifications

Performance

Drive Type: External

Capacity: 1TB

Interface Type USB 3.0

Configuration/Organization

Form Factor External Unit

Hard Drives Additional Specs

Device Type Wireless Access Point

NAS server

Capacity 1 TB

Like that... but looking for the 2TB version... or an enclosure (WiFi enabled) that will hold 2 (1TB) drives...

Edited September 27, 2013 by afmayer

September 28, 2013

Some time back, a mate of mine in California, sent me a 512 Gig flash drive. It is pretty nice, having a flash (USB) drive that will hold as much data as an external drive. I'm the only kid on the block with one here. I have not even seen one larger than 32 Gig, around town.

Not that far back (9 months?) as Wikipedia said such 512Gigabyte Drives became available as of January 2013.

A USB flash drive is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integratedUniversal Serial Bus (USB) interface. USB flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than an optical disc. Most weigh less than 30 grams (1.1 oz).^[1] As of January 2013, drives of up to 512 gigabytes (GB) are available.^[2] A one-terabyte (TB) drive was unveiled at the 2013 Consumer Electronics Show and will be available during 2013.^[3] Storage capacities as large as 2 TB are planned, with steady improvements in size and price per capacity expected.^[4] Some allow up to 100,000 write/erase cycles, depending on the exact type of memory chip used, and a 10-year shelf storage time.^[5]^[6]^[7]

http://techgage.com/print/kingston-datatraveler-hyperx-predator-512gb-flash-drive-review/

Kingston DT HyperX Predator 512GB Flash Drive Review

Date: February 13, 2013

Author(s): Rob Williams

For years, there’s been a constant battle in the flash drive market where companies have tried to build the smallest drive possible but boast the most amount of space. In this regard, it has to be said that Kingston is the current winner. Its DT HyperX Predator isn’t much larger than a regular performance thumb drive, but its storage starts out at 512GB.

Introduction

When we kicked-off our CES coverage last month, little did we realize that it was going to become our most successful to date. To help put things into perspective, to equal the amount of visitors seen as a direct result of our CES coverage last month, we’d have to combine the previous five year’s worth together. What on earth caused such a surge of traffic to happen? Believe it or not, a flash drive. Kingston’s DataTraveler HyperX Predator, to be exact.

It might seem a little bizarre that a simple flash drive could have garnered so much attention, but it had one little number working in its favor: 1TB. While Kingston’s Predator isn’t the “first” 1TB flash drive ever produced, it’s going to be the first that people can actually buy. I say “going to be”, because at the moment, only the 512GB model is available. The 1TB model will come sometime before the end of the first quarter.

Unlike most flash drive series, it’s not hard to tell what it is that sets Predator apart from the rest. It’s designed to offer those who require lots of portable storage the option, and the fact that the baseline density is a whopping 512GB proves that. These drives are monsters, plain and simple.

That goes for both the performance and price-tag, too. Equipped with speedy NAND flash and a USB 3.0 controller, the drives are spec’d at 240MB/s read and 160MB/s write. If a fast 512GB flash drive such as this sounds right up your alley, get ready to write a check out for $800. Yup – this drive is not for the feint of heart.

The Predator isn’t priced high on purpose, though, and I’m not even sure Kingston would consider it a “premium” product. Instead, high-density NAND flash as needed for a small drive like this simply doesn’t come cheap, and when the end goal is to create a drive that fits into people’s pockets, options are limited. So limited, in fact, that it simply wasn’t possible to use a single PCB in order to deliver the full 512GB of storage. Instead, the Predator is comprised of three PCBs which connect to the mainboard via a couple of bridges:

At the moment, the 512GB Predator uses Toshiba 19nm Toggle-based NAND, whereas the upcoming 1TB is likely to make the move to Micron. Both drives use a Phison USB 3.0 controller to deliver the performance people expect. We’ll see in our performance results if the drive lives up to our expectations, but for now, let’s take a tour of the hardware.

We don’t often feel compelled to publish a picture of product packaging (say that five times fast), but this is one of those exceptions. Instead of shipping the Predator in clamshell plastic or even a box, it comes in an aluminum tin with foam insert to keep things safe and sound. On the front, we can see the product logo and also its size and rated speeds. Let’s open it up.

The black foam insert doesn’t only look good, but it keeps both the drive and its couple of accessories as still as can be. If the package or internals get damaged during shipping, then it can be assumed that your courier went out of its way to make it happen.

The drive construction itself has two major things going for it. For starters, there’s no cap to lose. Instead, the drive can slide inward to expose the USB connector and then be slid back out to keep it safe. The other plus is that the entire body is very durable, as you’d want it to be on such an expensive model. The metal parts you see is thick aluminum, and while in some shots it’s easy to see what sort of finger-print magnet it is, I’d say that’s a fair trade-off for durability.

1. Introduction

2. Test System & Methodology; Iometer, HD Tune Pro & PCMark Vantage

3. CrystalDiskMark, ATTO, Real-World

4. Final Thoughts

Edited September 28, 2013 by David_LivinginTalisay

September 28, 2013

http://www.amazon.com/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i:aps,k:512gb%20flash%20drive

Kingston Digital HyperX Predator DataTraveler 512GB USB 3.0 Flash Drive (DTHXP30/512GB) by Kingston

~~$1,750.00~~ $599.99
Order in the next 18 hours and get it byMonday, Sep 30.
Only 6 left in stock - order soon.
More Buying Choices
$599.99 new (10 offers)
$534.59 used (1 offer)
Eligible for FREE Super Saver Shipping.
Product Features
... unsurpassed performance to play applications straight from the drive ...
Product Details
· 524288 MB
· 512 GB

U32 Shadow™ 1TB External 2.5-in USB 3.0 Mini Portable Hard Drive
by Oyen Digital

~~$109.95~~ $89.95
Order in the next 18 hours and get it byMonday, Sep 30.
Only 3 left in stock - order soon.
More Buying Choices
$89.95 new (5 offers)

Edited September 28, 2013 by David_LivinginTalisay

Creating an 'SSD' from 4 Port USB Hub and Flash Drives

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