Making A Small And Fast Computer Using a Raspberry Pi 4B

Converting the Raspberry Pi to use a SSD or a Hard disk via the USB V.3 connector, instead of the microSD card, allows for a big increase in the speed of the device. The conversion can be done very easily with an RPi 4B, since it already has the capability of booting from a USB-attached storage device, but can be easily done also to older RPi versions with a simple modification to their firmware, following the procedure on the RPi official web site.

The conversion consists in removing the microSD card from the RPi and use instead a hard disk. And for that, I bought on Amazon a nice Samsung 500GB external solid state disk for a very reasonable price. Since it connects through a USB v3 cable, it seems perfect for the job.

If you need a SSD like this, or a different one, you could use my affiliate link to buy one, so you will indirectly support this site and the eleneasy YouTube channel at no extra cost to you. You can also watch the video where I show you how to make the conversion.

And since I now have two devices, the RPi and the SSD, that need to stay connected and work together, I decided to 3D-print a nice box to save some desk space.

There are two parts: one for the actual box and one for its cover. They are both made out of a simple cube, but I made a few slits on the bottom of the box and on the cover to help with the air flow, so the components inside will not overheat, especially the RPi.

Here is the OpenSCAD code I used to design the object:

$fa=0.5;
$fs=0.5;


// BODY

difference()
{
	cube([100, 100, 65]);
	translate([2, 2, 2]) cube([96, 96, 64]);
	translate([1, 1, 63]) cube([98, 98, 3]);
	
	translate([5, 20, -1]) cube([88, 2, 4]);
	translate([5, 34.5, -1]) cube([88, 2, 4]);
	translate([5, 49, -1]) cube([88, 2, 4]);
	translate([5, 63.5, -1]) cube([88, 2, 4]);
	translate([5, 78, -1]) cube([88, 2, 4]);
	
	translate([2, 97, 20]) cube([15, 4, 20]);

	translate([35, 97, 10]) cube([56, 4, 20]);
	
	translate([97, 8 , 10]) cube([4, 70, 15]);
}




// COVER

translate([110, 0, 0]) difference()
{
	cube([98, 98, 2]);
	translate([10, 20, -1]) cube([78, 2, 4]);
	translate([10, 34.5, -1]) cube([78, 2, 4]);
	translate([10, 49, -1]) cube([78, 2, 4]);
	translate([10, 63.5, -1]) cube([78, 2, 4]);
	translate([10, 78, -1]) cube([78, 2, 4]);
}

Pleass refer to my YouTube video for the details of the project.