Right now this is a request for ideas from readers – hopefully someone will have answers and I can then write about them here.
Having recently gotten to grips with and blogged about Rasberry Pi 4 and the speed benefits of using an SSD drive via a USB3 to SATA adaptor – all of which works a treat, I see very few options out there which will house the Pi4 ans SSD in one nice-looking and heat-dissipating box – I hope to be looking at one or more possibilities in the very near future.
Ideas anyone – see the comments section below – already suggestions coming in.. MORE PLEASE!!!




Yup, it’s already out there. There are a few YouTube videos out there showing it off; here’s one of them:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xO2BsC7Wjrg
Looks awesome. But at US$55+, it’s too rich for my raspberry-flavored blood.
Thanks for that Steve – I’ve just now enquired about getting one of these ASAP to put on test. Not cheap as you say but let’s see whether or not they are worth it…
Hi Steve – the Geekwork product looks ok at first glance price-wise but it seems you need a not-supplied card as well as the Pi4 to go with it? I’ve put out an enquiry. Thanks.
Something like this? https://www.amazon.com/Geekworm-Raspberry-Cooling-Honeycomb-Chassis/dp/B07W4VH9K6/
There are also some you can 3D print on Thingiverse, but you’d probably have to adapt them or design your own to fit your parts.
This also gets pricey once you add the cost of the X825 board.
Not sure if its what you are looking for but its cheap and there may be stl files to print it yourself https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h8YQNKxlvHM
Oh, I must have a go at this… I cant see any sign of files for this – the dual would be marvellous…
Not exactly on topic but I have been researching for rack mount solutions. But I think that either the horizontal or the vertical might work well as I can put a rack shelf on top of the mount that can hold the SSDs. Not totally elegant but it would also allow me to use powered SSDs when necessary. Or HDDs if I wanted.
https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4125055
In doing a little more research I think I am going to go with this one. IT is pricey for a single Pi. But with 8 slots I can get 4 Pis and 4 SSDs in a single cabinet for $70/4 or about $18 each.
I also like the idea that it has space for a POE switch at the bottom for powering the Pis.
https://www.amazon.com/Cloudlet-CASE-Raspberry-Computers-Compatible/product-reviews/B0844YSJWB/ref=cm_cr_dp_d_show_all_btm?ie=UTF8&reviewerType=all_reviews
While you all are sleeping… I have an old rack mount PC case with 6 hot swappable hard drive Sata enclosure. I was thinking that I could mount a Pi/SSD into each enclosure. The case has standard PC power as well as Sata connections on the back of it for the “passthrough” connections.
I could use the 5V from the PC power supply and in each bay connect it to the 5V pin on the Pi for power. Maybe there is room for a POE hat too?
I also found this on Amazon. It might work for a single PI/SSD setup if my thinking makes any sense.
https://www.amazon.com/ICY-DOCK-ExpressCage-MB742SP-B-External/dp/B07F22926M/ref=sr_1_87?dchild=1&keywords=hdd+rack&qid=1600966402&sr=8-87
Haven’t seen this one mentioned yet. I just found out about it myself.
https://www.seeedstudio.com/DeskPi-Pro-Set-top-Box-For-Raspberry-Pi-4-p-4704.html
Well, delete my previous response. I didn’t see Steve’s link to the same case.
Sorry to be a pest
The new argon case perhaps
https://www.argon40.com/argon-one-m-2-case-for-raspberry-pi-4.html
https://www.seeedstudio.com/DeskPi-Pro-Set-top-Box-For-Raspberry-Pi-4-p-4704.html
There’s a couple more on the Seeed store
Hello Pete
quick one in krankenhouse,
https://www.electronics-lab.com/introducing-rock-pi-sata-hats/
regards Brian
Thanks for that, Brian – not sure why it has to use both USB3 connectors?
Hello Pete
I “THINK” they originally started with a dual sata hat, then
made a Quad dual sata.(easier to do so for a dual sata hat you use 1 usb 3.0)
You hopefully followed to
https://wiki.radxa.com/Dual_Quad_SATA_HAT where they give more info, software setup on Raspberrypi 1 line curl , firmware update info,kit information and further raspi software
regards Brian
I finally found everything that I wanted to make my case. It was quite a bit of trial and error. I ended up using a dual-bay hard drive insert that I found on Amazon for $20 USD. Along with that I purchased a couple of cables that made it even more enjoyable and functional. I have recently semi-retired and just finished rebuilding my web site. It now contains most of my personal projects. Including this one. In the future I hope to do some videos showing some of the things that I work on that are passions to me. If you are interested in the case the info can be found on my site at http://www.iotobox.com