SSD for the Sabrent EC-SNVE Enclosure

[Steve_17]

Hello, 

 

I was thinking of buying an SSD enclosure for a full system image backup, but I am unsure which SSD to pair it with. The enclosure is a USB 3.2 10GB Sabrent EC-SNVE. I am guessing the latest and greatest SSDs will probably be overkill and I probably won't use it much except to periodically update my full system image. I am most concerned with reliability, but an SSD that is reasonably priced would be nice, too. Thanks.

 

[NobleGamer]

First of all that enclosure has a theoretical max of 10 gbps (gigaBITS), not GBps (GigaBYTES). So divide that by 8, and the max throughput is 1250 GBps which is how SSDs speeds are measured. I wouldn't expect to get the full 10 gbps, but some enclosure review roundup I read claimed its one of the faster 10gbps enclosures, so it'll more likely to get closer to it than others. Most nvme drives, even many budget ones have max read/write faster than 1250 GBps.

 

So then it really comes down to endurance, which is measured in TBW. So take the TBW, of a drive and divide it by how big your system image backup is, and that's the number of backups the drive could do. Factor in how often you run backups, and that's how long the drive should theoretically last.

 

I don't know of a website that allows for SSD searches by TBW, but decent drives should provide TBW up front or at least provide it on the manufacturer website.

[Steve_17]

11 hours ago, NobleGamer said:

First of all that enclosure has a theoretical max of 10 gbps (gigaBITS), not GBps (GigaBYTES). So divide that by 8, and the max throughput is 1250 GBps which is how SSDs speeds are measured. I wouldn't expect to get the full 10 gbps, but some enclosure review roundup I read claimed its one of the faster 10gbps enclosures, so it'll more likely to get closer to it than others. Most nvme drives, even many budget ones have max read/write faster than 1250 GBps.

 

So then it really comes down to endurance, which is measured in TBW. So take the TBW, of a drive and divide it by how big your system image backup is, and that's the number of backups the drive could do. Factor in how often you run backups, and that's how long the drive should theoretically last.

 

I don't know of a website that allows for SSD searches by TBW, but decent drives should provide TBW up front or at least provide it on the manufacturer website.

Oops. Thanks for correcting me. Sometimes I get a little turned around on the definitions. For example, when it comes to USB 3.1 Gen 2 it defines 10Gbps as 1250MBps = 10,000 Mbps. (I need to pay more attention to the big or little "B", LOL!) And when we look at SSDs, I see on Amazaon a WD_Black 1 TB SN850X NVMe with speeds of up to 7,300MB/s. Comparing the two, it looks like this SSD would be way faster than my needs. 

I appreciate the suggestion on how I can narrow down my search using TBW.  Since we all want reliability and endurance, is there an SSD brand that is your go-to? 

[NewMaxx]

11 hours ago, Steve_17 said:

And when we look at SSDs, I see on Amazaon a WD_Black 1 TB SN850X NVMe with speeds of up to 7,300MB/s. Comparing the two, it looks like this SSD would be way faster than my needs. 

I appreciate the suggestion on how I can narrow down my search using TBW.  Since we all want reliability and endurance, is there an SSD brand that is your go-to? 

Not the person you are replying to with questions, but you can't go by the "on the box" sequential "up to" speed specifications. 7,300 MB/s is with high queue depth and also in the SLC cache. The 1 GB/s or so you can get with a 10Gbps enclosure would match up better with steady state (TLC) speed and preferably at QD1 (typical file transfers). The 1TB SN850X is probably around there, but it has a large cache so you may have to consider that, keeping in mind the cache size changes with free space.

 

Also, TBW means very little for the most part in the consumer space. "Reliability" is very difficult to measure here. I would put the SN850X on the higher end of that, though.

[NobleGamer]

12 hours ago, Steve_17 said:

I appreciate the suggestion on how I can narrow down my search using TBW.  Since we all want reliability and endurance, is there an SSD brand that is your go-to? 

I personally have experience with Samsung and SK Hynix, though I was considering Silicon Power for a 2TB until Samsung had a flash sale. Keep in mind though that TBW can vary greatly by model and its just what the maker may accept a warranty claim/RMA for if the drive fails.

 

1 hour ago, NewMaxx said:

Also, TBW means very little for the most part in the consumer space. "Reliability" is very difficult to measure here.

Well OP said they are using it "for a full system image backup", and so I thought the easiest way to quantify reliability in that case is how many backups does a manufacturer claim to support within their warranty period, and that can be derived from TBW or aside from warranty claims there's MTBF.

[NewMaxx]

1 hour ago, NobleGamer said:

I personally have experience with Samsung and SK Hynix, though I was considering Silicon Power for a 2TB until Samsung had a flash sale. Keep in mind though that TBW can vary greatly by model and its just what the maker may accept a warranty claim/RMA for if the drive fails.

 

Well OP said they are using it "for a full system image backup", and so I thought the easiest way to quantify reliability in that case is how many backups does a manufacturer claim to support within their warranty period, and that can be derived from TBW or aside from warranty claims there's MTBF.

MTBF is also a pretty meaningless specification. TBW is actually part of the warranty, amount written or time. If you do the math you get the drive writes per day (DWPD) value which is more valuable, usually in enterprise, but basically if the backups will fall short of the TBW within the time period then the TBW doesn't mean too much for warranty. It can help gauge general data retention or wear endurance but this is not related to reliability per se (MTBF is closer there, but it's statistical based on the bathtub curve). I say can because TBW is often arbitrary on consumer SSDs.

 

"Reliability" wise I would lean proprietary - Crucial P5 Plus, Hynix Platinum P41/Solidigm P44 Pro, Samsung 980/990 PRO (despite the issues), or WD SN850(X), although I suppose the SN770 would be adequate. To be fair I hadn't read your original reply, was just giving basic info on-the-fly based on his response to you, basically that he misunderstood the max spec.

[Steve_17]

I appreciate the discussion and learned a lot. Thank you both for taking time to reply!