External storage using old SSD

[The Bob]

I have an old kioxia ssd 512gb bg4 M.2 2280 80mm KBG40ZN512G L57448 NVME PCIE 3.0 , that I had laying around that came from my old laptop that I only had for a year or two. Anyway I would like to use it as an external storage device, can I and should I. And if so what do I need to due to wipe everything from it.

[RONOTHAN##]

1 minute ago, The Bob said:

can I

Yeah, you just need to get an adapter like this:

https://a.co/d/b9GlYHa

 

That's not the only one, there are a ton out there, that's just the first one that came up on Google.

 

3 minutes ago, The Bob said:

should I

Up to you. If you want a 500GB Flash drive, it's a good idea. There's no real downside to it, other than having to spend $20 on an adapter. 

 

4 minutes ago, The Bob said:

what do I need to due to wipe everything from it.

Put it in the adapter, plug it into an already booted computer, and format it like you would any other flash drive. There are some more fancy ways you can do it, like cleaning the drive with diskpart (cmd) or deleting all the partitions manually in the partition manager (gui), but just formatting the main partition should be enough for most people. 

[Alex Atkin UK]

13 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

Up to you. If you want a 500GB Flash drive, it's a good idea. There's no real downside to it, other than having to spend $20 on an adapter. 

 

Put it in the adapter, plug it into an already booted computer, and format it like you would any other flash drive. There are some more fancy ways you can do it, like cleaning the drive with diskpart (cmd) or deleting all the partitions manually in the partition manager (gui), but just formatting the main partition should be enough for most people. 

There's one little down side, SMART doesn't usually work over those adapters so you can't monitor the drive health.  So if its important data, keep a backup.  If it IS the backup, then its a smaller issue.  Its not like its ever guaranteed SMART will catch a failing drive anyway.

 

For the record I use an external 2TB SSD on my Mac Mini M1 to reduce wear on the soldered-in SSD.

 

So its the usual rule of thumb, if its important information, keep as many backups as humanly possible.

[kokosnh]

You just have to buy one that have S.M.A.R.T. and TRIM passthrough