Ho Ho Folks
I want to add extra storage on my PC as I am about to run out from all the games i been downloading. I want to do that without opening the PC up and tinkering under the hood. I'm thinking of getting a SSD & M2 drives and plug em through USB and use them as hard drives. Is this a stupid idea?
Do you want to run games from that external disk or use it to archive stuff from your PC to get some more free space? Does your PC has a USB 3.0 or 3.1 port?
Is this a stupid idea?
Yes because USB is slow and also flaky depending on controller.
It's very easy to install hard disks, search youtube and you can follow step by step.
There is no point spending money on a ssd which will run through USB.
USB 3 will bottleneck the speed. You might as well use a external hdd.
2tb portable hdd have recently been as low as $65.
NAS?
it's not a good idea to install games/programs etc on a removable external drive.
Downloaded pre install files are fine.
Stick a ssd in it.
No sense being over precious about opening the box, you need to do that occasionally to get the dust etc out anyway.
Hard to give advice since we don't know what the OP is going to use the extra storage for. If it's for archiving / moving stuff to free space on his main disk, a cheap USB 2 external drive will do. Installing and running games from it, than I would say an internal disk, preferably SSD. Although an external USB 3.1 disk might also be fast enough if OP has USB 3.1.
external HDD or
a DAS controlled by (paid) software (which is what I have)
Move games you're not playing to an external HDD.
If you're thinking of upgrading a HDD (particularly on a pre-built) - open up the machine and see what sata and power plugs you have
Its not hard to install internal drives. Some googling should help you out.
I think USB port will be a bottleneck for speed, especially for SSDs.