Best way to expand storage on PC?

[Varpin]

Hello everyone,

I'm in need of more storage for my PC, but I don't have any SSD/HDD slots free anymore as I've used them all. What would be the best way to expand my storage? I'm thinking about getting an USB 3.0 or type C HDD dock (my mobo has an usc-c gen 2 port) or an external USB HDD. 

Also, I would use the storage mostly for games, pictures, and video files

 

thank you

[Slottr]

Duct tape and an SSD has never let me down

[VinZie]

Just now, Slottr said:

Duct tape and an SSD has never let me down

I think when he meant by any SSD/HDD slots meaning that his stat ports are all used... lol

[Mira Yurizaki]

2 minutes ago, Varpin said:

Hello everyone,

I'm in need of more storage for my PC, but I don't have any SSD/HDD slots free anymore as I've used them all. What would be the best way to expand my storage? I'm thinking about getting an USB 3.0 or type C HDD dock (my mobo has an usc-c gen 2 port) or an external USB HDD. 

Also, I would use the storage mostly for games, pictures, and video files

 

thank you

If you need this attached all the time, I would suggest getting an internal expansion card. External drives, while handy, are only good for 2.5" drives if you don't want to deal with an external power supply.

 

If you do go the external drive route, you could rearrange how you organize your data such that files you rarely access are on the external drive so they're not taking up space in the internal ones.

[mariushm]

* Get a big capacity hard drive and remove one or two older hard drives with low capacity

* If it's just an issue about actual "slots" in which to insert drives, then you could just leave the hard drive standing on the floor of the case on some book or something (so you won't be annoyed by vibrations being amplified by case) 

[Bishop Crane]

It really depends on if you want performance or not
USB drives are the slower option, but near infinitely expandable.
Just remember if you want it for games and the drive is permanently attached then disable the Quick Removal so you get the slightly better performance.

If you want something faster then you have two choices
If you have space to put drives in the case but no free ports on your motherboard then you can simply buy a SATA controller PCI card, a half decent 6GB/s one will set you back about £40 (50 USD)

If you don't have space in the case either, you can get an eSATA enclosure, these vary greatly in price depending on features, bays among other things, but you will also need either eSATA on your motherboard, or a PCI card to go with it.