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I've never done this, so my concern might be a total non-issue. But how do you prevent the external SSD accidentally becoming unplugged when you're doing this

I've never done this, so my concern might be a total non-issue. But how do you prevent the external SSD accidentally becoming unplugged when you're doing this with a laptop? And what would actually happen if that did occur?

aloer 6y ago
I’m using a Samsung t5 via usb c on my MacBook and I’d confidently say it’s impossible to accidentally unplug. Not sure if they made the plug like that on purpose or not but it’s definitely harder to remove than most other usb c plugs. Even after more than a year of use What I’ve also seen some companies do is simply duct tape the ssd to the laptop lid so they can walk around freely to meeting rooms etc. At home I don’t need that
- reasonabl_human 6y ago
  Are you using it as an external boot drive or just as additional storage? I’ve seen people use it for storage but the parent comment is the first I’ve heard of potentially using this as it’s own OS.. Perhaps useful for dual-booting between personal and work installations, considering MacBooks are sealed with one drive?
  - aloer 6y ago
    Yeah exactly. I had to get my work MacBook repaired a few times last year and since I’m working from home I just mirrored the internal ssd to the t5 and booted from it on my private Mac. This way I kept all the company settings and programs working in a way that a time machine restore couldn’t do. Works just the way you would expect from an internal ssd and switching takes less than two minutes if necessary
    - ArchOversight 6y ago
      My companies MDM software would freak out if I did that. So much of it is tied to the specific serial number of the machine, as well as various baked in management of push notifications for profile updates and the like being tied to the device itself through Apple.
      - aloer 6y ago
        Yeah I could only do that because it’s essentially a BYOD setup. Both MacBooks are mine and there is no company MDM involved. Just some software installed & configured by others that would be quite annoying to restore via time machine
- fpoling 6y ago
  The duct tape even does not look ugly when you work as it is hidden behind the lid.
adrian_b 6y ago
It would be annoying, so you should better avoid that. Currently this is the weak point of using external bootable SSD's. Because of that, I prefer the SSD's where the Thunderbolt/USB cable is captive at the SSD end, as then there are less connections that can be unplugged accidentally. What I would like is to have in the laptop a CFexpress memory card slot. The CFexpress memory cards have a PCIe electrical interface, but they are mechanically identical with the older Sony XQD cards, i.e. they are solid, rugged, not flimsy like the SDXC memory cards, and they allow a very large number of insertion/extraction cycles. If the laptops would have such card slots and if SSD's would be available at a reasonable price in this format, then there would not remain any reason to use non-removable SSD's. The current CFexpress specification is based on PCIe 3.0, but future versions can be updated to PCIe 4.0, like the internal M.2 SSD slots of the latest laptops.
- NathanielK 6y ago
  Not quite the same, but there's a product being developed to adapt M.2 2242 NVMe drives to Expresscard, the other hotpluggable PCIe standard. Most expresscard implementations are only a since lane of PCIe v2, though some of the new "P" series thinkpads support v3. Being a single lane limits it compared CFexpress, but it's still a bump over AHCI drives. Thinkpads up to 2013 also had a tool-less removable disk drive that allows for hot swapping 2.5" SATA drives in seconds while keeping them safe inside. This has been abandoned with the obsolescence of optical drives though. > The CFexpress memory cards have a PCIe electrical interface, but they are mechanically identical with the older Sony XQD cards, i.e. they are solid, rugged, not flimsy like the SDXC memory cards I agree, though with SDExpress becoming standard soon there is a much realler possibility of future laptops having pcie microsd slots, which might be good enough if you can find a durable model. [1] https://thinkmods.store/products/expresscard-to-nvme-adapter https://thinkmods.store/products/expresscard-to-nvme-adapter
- WesolyKubeczek 6y ago
  > If the laptops would have such card slots and if SSD's would be available at a reasonable price in this format, then there would not remain any reason to use non-removable SSD's. A gentle reminder that you live in a world where SSDs on some laptops are not removable at all, as are batteries. And I’m leaving out minutiae like RAM. I’m just not seeing it as possible, how would you plan the obsolescence of such devices?
s_dev 6y ago
It has happened to me -- you lose your work if it plugs out but the drive is nearly always recoverable. Think of it as a power outage.
sschueller 6y ago
You could get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/PCIe-NVMe-Mobile-External-Drive/dp/B082LQ7NDF https://www.amazon.com/PCIe-NVMe-Mobile-External-Drive/dp/B0...
bee_rider 6y ago
I do this with a desktop, so the plug thing is a non-issue really, but velcro is always an option if you don't care about aesthetics.

aloer 6y ago

I’m using a Samsung t5 via usb c on my MacBook and I’d confidently say it’s impossible to accidentally unplug. Not sure if they made the plug like that on purpose or not but it’s definitely harder to remove than most other usb c plugs. Even after more than a year of use What I’ve also seen some companies do is simply duct tape the ssd to the laptop lid so they can walk around freely to meeting rooms etc. At home I don’t need that

reasonabl_human 6y ago
Are you using it as an external boot drive or just as additional storage? I’ve seen people use it for storage but the parent comment is the first I’ve heard of potentially using this as it’s own OS.. Perhaps useful for dual-booting between personal and work installations, considering MacBooks are sealed with one drive?
- aloer 6y ago
  Yeah exactly. I had to get my work MacBook repaired a few times last year and since I’m working from home I just mirrored the internal ssd to the t5 and booted from it on my private Mac. This way I kept all the company settings and programs working in a way that a time machine restore couldn’t do. Works just the way you would expect from an internal ssd and switching takes less than two minutes if necessary
  - ArchOversight 6y ago
    My companies MDM software would freak out if I did that. So much of it is tied to the specific serial number of the machine, as well as various baked in management of push notifications for profile updates and the like being tied to the device itself through Apple.
    - aloer 6y ago
      Yeah I could only do that because it’s essentially a BYOD setup. Both MacBooks are mine and there is no company MDM involved. Just some software installed & configured by others that would be quite annoying to restore via time machine
fpoling 6y ago
The duct tape even does not look ugly when you work as it is hidden behind the lid.

adrian_b 6y ago

It would be annoying, so you should better avoid that. Currently this is the weak point of using external bootable SSD's. Because of that, I prefer the SSD's where the Thunderbolt/USB cable is captive at the SSD end, as then there are less connections that can be unplugged accidentally. What I would like is to have in the laptop a CFexpress memory card slot. The CFexpress memory cards have a PCIe electrical interface, but they are mechanically identical with the older Sony XQD cards, i.e. they are solid, rugged, not flimsy like the SDXC memory cards, and they allow a very large number of insertion/extraction cycles. If the laptops would have such card slots and if SSD's would be available at a reasonable price in this format, then there would not remain any reason to use non-removable SSD's. The current CFexpress specification is based on PCIe 3.0, but future versions can be updated to PCIe 4.0, like the internal M.2 SSD slots of the latest laptops.

NathanielK 6y ago
Not quite the same, but there's a product being developed to adapt M.2 2242 NVMe drives to Expresscard, the other hotpluggable PCIe standard. Most expresscard implementations are only a since lane of PCIe v2, though some of the new "P" series thinkpads support v3. Being a single lane limits it compared CFexpress, but it's still a bump over AHCI drives. Thinkpads up to 2013 also had a tool-less removable disk drive that allows for hot swapping 2.5" SATA drives in seconds while keeping them safe inside. This has been abandoned with the obsolescence of optical drives though. > The CFexpress memory cards have a PCIe electrical interface, but they are mechanically identical with the older Sony XQD cards, i.e. they are solid, rugged, not flimsy like the SDXC memory cards I agree, though with SDExpress becoming standard soon there is a much realler possibility of future laptops having pcie microsd slots, which might be good enough if you can find a durable model. [1] https://thinkmods.store/products/expresscard-to-nvme-adapter https://thinkmods.store/products/expresscard-to-nvme-adapter
WesolyKubeczek 6y ago
> If the laptops would have such card slots and if SSD's would be available at a reasonable price in this format, then there would not remain any reason to use non-removable SSD's. A gentle reminder that you live in a world where SSDs on some laptops are not removable at all, as are batteries. And I’m leaving out minutiae like RAM. I’m just not seeing it as possible, how would you plan the obsolescence of such devices?

s_dev 6y ago

It has happened to me -- you lose your work if it plugs out but the drive is nearly always recoverable. Think of it as a power outage.

sschueller 6y ago

You could get something like this: https://www.amazon.com/PCIe-NVMe-Mobile-External-Drive/dp/B082LQ7NDF https://www.amazon.com/PCIe-NVMe-Mobile-External-Drive/dp/B0...

bee_rider 6y ago

I do this with a desktop, so the plug thing is a non-issue really, but velcro is always an option if you don't care about aesthetics.