16
submitted 18 hours ago by Majestic@lemmy.ml to c/linux@lemmy.ml

Title. I need a USB 3 to SATA adapter to use a spare 2.5" SSD with a machine that doesn't have any spare SATA ports and no place to put it at this point.

I've read that most of these adapters have issues with supporting TRIM on Linux. I need one that supports TRIM.

So any recommendations for something that will survive reboots which I'm planning to use for semi-permanent game storage?

An enclosure style is fine.

(Note: I too can search Amazon. When looking into the reviews from Linux users most of the adapters that claim to work with Linux have people clarifying TRIM doesn't work.)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] over_clox@lemmy.world 5 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

I don't know about TRIM compatibility specifically, but I must suggest you don't get one of those combo SATA/PATA adapters. Although I don't know about TRIM compatibility, I do know for a fact that those combo adapters do not support SMART stats for mechanical hard drives. So I assume combo adapters won't support TRIM either.

[-] brickfrog@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 15 hours ago* (last edited 15 hours ago)

That's good info! I've been looking around for a PATA to USB adapter with SMART support and haven't had a ton of luck narrowing one down. Thinking offhand I may need to cobble together a PATA-to-SATA adapter connected to a SATA-to-USB adapter to actually get some SMART info moving from a PATA drive via USB. It's not the only way to do this but it would be a lot easier if it can be done via USB :/

Also some fun info since you mentioned PATA adapters - The Maxtor OneTouch II is a terrible ATA enclosure, especially on Linux. For whatever reason the built-in chipset does some sort of disconnect right at the end of long operations like formatting, partitioning, etc. so you're never entirely sure if the command worked correctly. I guess it was designed with Windows in mind, or maybe its Linux compatibility isn't 100% there. And of course no SMART info gets passed through.

this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026
16 points (94.4% liked)

Linux

63789 readers
532 users here now

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Linux is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991 by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged in a Linux distribution (or distro for short).

Distributions include the Linux kernel and supporting system software and libraries, many of which are provided by the GNU Project. Many Linux distributions use the word "Linux" in their name, but the Free Software Foundation uses the name GNU/Linux to emphasize the importance of GNU software, causing some controversy.

Rules

Related Communities

Community icon by Alpár-Etele Méder, licensed under CC BY 3.0

founded 6 years ago
MODERATORS