An enclosure for a M.2 NVME ssd

[Răzvan Botea]

Hello,

 

So basically I want to buy an nvme ssd (USB3.1 gen 2) drive enclosure, there are some articles about this on the internet but I'm having some issues: either I can't buy them anywhere near in Europe, or I can't find any review/info about the performance of them.

 

So that's why I want to hear about if you ever used one and recommend me one (or at least provide some figures so I know it's something I'd pay for).

 

I want to use it like a portable storage device since my 64GB usb drive won't cut it anymore (it has great performance @ 225MB/s 175MB/s read/write but it's rather small).

 

The items I've had my eyes on for the last couple of days are (the choices are based on the fact that I can readily buy them in the country where I live):

• Enclosure: https://www.lindy.co.uk/usb-c4/usb-3-1-nvme-m-2-ssd-enclosure-p12087
• SSD: https://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/products/memory-storage/solid-state-drives/consumer-ssds/6-series/ssd-660p-series/660p-series-512-gb-m-2-80mm-3d2.html

The choice of the SSD came down to the fact that I want a cheap 512GB one that tops out at around 1GB/s read & write. I don't mind the fact that it's QLC based and it has a lowly 100TB endurance rating since I'll be rarely using it.

Also my devices, all have a USB3.1 gen2 (C type) interface so .

[NewMaxx]

The USB naming standard is a mess, but currently 10 Gbps is either USB3.2 Gen 1x2 or USB3.2 Gen 2x1 with the primary difference being encoding. The former uses the older 8b/10b encoding while the latter uses 128b/132b which translates to higher maximum throughput; this does not seem to be a factor for you.

[Răzvan Botea]

7 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

The USB naming standard is a mess, but currently 10 Gbps is either USB3.2 Gen 1x2 or USB3.2 Gen 2x1 with the primary difference being encoding. The former uses the older 8b/10b encoding while the latter uses 128b/132b which translates to higher maximum throughput; this does not seem to be a factor for you. Generally enclosures will use the JMicron JMS583 or ASMedia ASM2362 which rely on the older mode, so pretty much anything will work.

Thanks for the technical stuff. You are right, it's not a big factor for me, as long as it can reach 1GB/s (or 900-950mb/s as I've seen on some models) it's fine.

[NewMaxx]

Yes, speed of the former will be: (10)(8/10) or 8 Gbps after encoding, then (8)(.9) or 7.2 Gbps after overhead, which is approximately 920 MB/s with queue depth.

[Răzvan Botea]

2 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

Yes, speed of the former will be: (10)(8/10) or 8 Gbps after encoding, then (8)(.9) or 7.2 Gbps after overhead, which is approximately 920 MB/s with queue depth.

Do you know the names of the newer chipsets? I can look for an enclosure with the faster one (at least I can try and see if I can find it somewhere reasonably close to purchase)

[NewMaxx]

The Realtek RTL9210 is one that uses the 2x1 transfer mode. There's also ones that use 2x2 (20 Gbps) based on (surprisingly) the ASM2362 as well but they're more rare and require faster ports obviously; however, they would match 2x1 in an appropriate port. There's also TB3 based on Alpine Ridge but they only work on Thunderbolt ports (no USB fallback).

 

Keep in mind whether your hit that speed limit or not at low queue depth - that is, like a file transfer - is dependent on the drive. And QLC drives for example will get slower after a sufficiently large transfer depending on how full they are, e.g. 6GB at >75% full for the 512GB 660p. I actually advise avoiding QLC drives at that low of a capacity.

[Răzvan Botea]

14 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

The Realtek RTL9210 is one that uses the 2x1 transfer mode. There's also ones that use 2x2 (20 Gbps) based on (surprisingly) the ASM2362 as well but they're more rare and require faster ports obviously; however, they would match 2x1 in an appropriate port. There's also TB3 based on Alpine Ridge but they only work on Thunderbolt ports (no USB fallback).

 

Keep in mind whether your hit that speed limit or not at low queue depth - that is, like a file transfer - is dependent on the drive. And QLC drives for example will get slower after a sufficiently large transfer depending on how full they are, e.g. 6GB at >75% full for the 512GB 660p. I actually advise avoiding QLC drives at that low of a capacity.

Ok, thanks. I'll look into more cheap ssd's that are not based on QLC tech. As long as the price is somewhat the same, I'm fine, if they are considerably more expensive, I'll stick to the QLC once, since I said I won't be using it that often.

 

On a side note, the 2x2 ones aren't a choice for me right now since all my devices use the 10Gbps connection. TB3 is not an option either since my desktop doesn't have TB3 ports (but my laptop has two of them).

[NewMaxx]

2x2 will fallback to 2x1 is what I meant, although probably not worth any price premium. If you are hoping to make use of the 900 MB/s speed or whatever with regular file transfers, my point is that you'd probably want TLC at that small of a capacity (512GB). Probably the best all-around drive for it would be the WD SN550 which is often on sale here but not sure about your location. You can check my guides (Google "newmaxx") for alternatives though.

[Răzvan Botea]

15 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

2x2 will fallback to 2x1 is what I meant, although probably not worth any price premium. If you are hoping to make use of the 900 MB/s speed or whatever with regular file transfers, my point is that you'd probably want TLC at that small of a capacity (512GB). Probably the best all-around drive for it would be the WD SN550 which is often on sale here but not sure about your location. You can check my guides (Google "newmaxx") for alternatives though.

Found it on amazon.DE but at that price I don't think it's worth it. Heck, it's a bit more expensive than what I'm using on my desktop (Gigabyte AORUS 512GB, the PCIE 3.0 one). Rarely using it as a portable storage device doesn't seem to justify the price in my particular use case.

 

The one I mentioned is 80 euros from a local shop, 30 euros less than that WD (because of amazon shipping).

 

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B07YFF3JCN/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=WD+SN550&qid=1581972123&sr=8-2

[NewMaxx]

Run through anything in my "Budget NVMe" category basically - minus the QLC drives (660p/665p/P1) if possible.

[Răzvan Botea]

9 minutes ago, NewMaxx said:

Run through anything in my "Budget NVMe" category basically - minus the QLC drives (660p/665p/P1) if possible.

Yeah, I found some of them on my local shops, thanks man.

 

PS: holy hot cakes, you've been one of the most helpful internet people I know, where can I honor you ?

[NewMaxx]

I mostly run over at Reddit for the time being, you can find information in my Guides thread and subreddit etc about me. It's possible I'll be doing something more serious soon so I guess keep your eyes open!