HACKER Q&A
📣 FrojoS

Use several identical PCs/Laptops but with a single, swapable SSD HD?


Carrying around a powerful laptop can still be annoying and limiting these days, so can be cloud synchronization. Apart from the cost, I wonder if it wouldn’t be more convenient to have identical machines at work, home and for travel but they all use the same removable (SSD) hard drive, which contains not just data but the whole setup incl OS, installed software and settings etc

So say I work at home, then go to the office. Instead of bringing the laptop, I just remove the hard drive, go to the office, plug it into and identical laptop there and continue working where I left off.

Has anyone tried this?

  👤 justinclift Accepted Answer ✓
I do something along those lines.

The laptop in question is an Acer Nitro 5 (older model), with an internal M.2 and SATA connector running OpenSUSE Leap 15.2.

The system is set to boot from the SATA connector. It has a SATA extension cable connected, with the end hanging out the side of the laptop for easy access. eg:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/15-7-Pin-SATA-HDD-Extension-Cable-D... <-- I don't know the seller at all

The laptop itself is setup and "ready to go" (eg external monitor, keyboard, mouse plugged in), and doesn't get moved. All it needs is the appropriate SATA drive to be connected then powered on.

Been using it this way, swapping over drives as needed (while powered off of course) for a few months now. Works perfectly.

This kind of setup would probably work ok for you if you're using Linux, as most distributions include the common hardware drivers. So even differences in hardware between the laptops (within reason) generally won't be a problem.

If you're using Windows though, no idea. Even with identical laptops in all locations it'll probably notice different serial numbers on devices. Not sure how that would play out.

👤 Hasz
M.2, SATA, etc are all specified for tens to low hundreds of mating cycles. Simply put, they are not designed to be moved frequently. You can use USB and pay the performance penalty, or use some other connector.

The easier thing to do is bundle settings and some files, store on a server, then download to whatever machine you're using.

👤 ThrowawayR2
Intel's Compute Card (https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/compute-card/compute...) was supposed to be something like what you describe, except that the CPU and RAM were included as well. Never took off because it was too expensive.
👤 umhan35
I have been doing this with a SSD between school and home. It worked perfectly if you have a similar hardware setup (which makes the drivers work on multiple machines). You just need to pull out a SATA cable out for desktop computers, but for laptops it is a hustle ( old Thinkpads like x220 you can easily replace hard drive).

One of the benefit is you don’t have to install dependencies once back to home to work on the same stuff.

👤 sovok_x
I tried something similar and it works to a degree.

There are two cons though: connector reliability on the disk and especially on the docking device degrades with time and you need to care about backups more as you can damage the drive during the transportation with mechanical hit or with static electricity.

👤 throwaway888abc
Hope it will materialize over time in Dex idea

https://www.samsung.com/us/explore/dex/

Till then, attached to laptop.