Internal SSD for external drive questions

[Just A Name]

HI folks,

I'm considering to buy either a 2 TB external SSD or a 2 TB M.2 with an enclosure for media storage and maybe game storage as well. The more I research, the more questions I have, so I hope some of my questions can be answered here.

 

1. Should I buy an external SSD or a M.2 with an enclosure? If external, are current new WD/Sandisk and Samsung products up to the tasks?

2. If M.2, is the USB 3.2 Gen 1 be the bottleneck for the drive and my future usage?

3. If M.2, do I really need to go for a PCIe 4 drive or a gen 3 drive will be just fine? (My speculation is since it'll be plugged into a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, it won't matter too much)

4. If M.2, what do I need to know about the enclosure? I've read some posts about the RTL9210B USB chipset and some says it's good but other says it's bad

 

TIA

[zinco]

5 minutes ago, Just A Name said:

Should I buy an external SSD or a M.2 with an enclosure? If external, are current new WD/Sandisk and Samsung products up to the tasks?

I'd go with external. Those products form reputable brands are good. M.2 with an enclosure will also be ok

6 minutes ago, Just A Name said:

2. If M.2, is the USB 3.2 Gen 1 be the bottleneck for the drive and my future usage?

future not in the meantime. your drive wont last forever either, so, i wouldnt worry about that i i were you.

 

6 minutes ago, Just A Name said:

3. If M.2, do I really need to go for a PCIe 4 drive or a gen 3 drive will be just fine? (My speculation is since it'll be plugged into a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, it won't matter too much)

 

it wont matter too much. none will bottleneck either (the ssd wont reach close to the USB 3.2 gen 1 speeds (not bottleneck, limitation of ssd) 

 

[Just A Name]

14 minutes ago, zinco said:

I'd go with external. Those products form reputable brands are good. M.2 with an enclosure will also be ok

From what I can find, their new products are DRAM-less, unlike the old versions of them. That kinda bugs me a bit.

 

15 minutes ago, zinco said:

25 minutes ago, Just A Name said:

2. If M.2, is the USB 3.2 Gen 1 be the bottleneck for the drive and my future usage?

future not in the meantime. your drive wont last forever either, so, i wouldnt worry about that i i were you.

My apologies, what I mean is near-future usage, since I'll probably buy it in about a week and I've plans for using it already

[zinco]

1 minute ago, Just A Name said:

My apologies, what I mean is near-future usage, since I'll probably buy it in about a week and I've plans for using it already

not anytime soon

[Electronics Wizardy]

11 minutes ago, Just A Name said:

From what I can find, their new products are DRAM-less, unlike the old versions of them. That kinda bugs me a bit.

I woudln't wory aabout dram for media and games. These drives are stilly plenty fast for these use cases.

[Just A Name]

15 minutes ago, Electronics Wizardy said:

I woudln't wory aabout dram for media and games. These drives are stilly plenty fast for these use cases.

So, in your opinion, I should be fine with external drives? Also, I looked at their teardown pictures and it look like they're basically OEM SSD enclosure with a M.2 in them. Does that mean you can swap them or is there a security chip preventing that?

[Electronics Wizardy]

Just now, Just A Name said:

So, in your opinion, I should be fine with external drives? Also, I looked at their teardown pictures and it look like they're basically OEM SSD enclosure with a M.2 in them. Does that mean you can swap them or is there a security chip preventing that?

I think the off the shelf external drives will work fine. I'd get whats cheaper unless you want to reuse the m.2 later.

 

I have a few of the external SSDs and they all seem to be custom boards, so you can't swap any parts later on.

[kokosnh]

10 hours ago, Just A Name said:

1. Should I buy an external SSD or a M.2 with an enclosure? If external, are current new WD/Sandisk and Samsung products up to the tasks?

depends. 
to get a good TLC one, you have to go for like the crucial x9, or Samsung T7,  

if you don't need top of the like performance, and they are in good price, go for them.

 

In my country, it’s actually comparable to buy top PCIe 4.0 SSD like KC3000 2TB, and a USB C 10/20Gbps usb enclosure. And that setup will be always faster.  
 

10 hours ago, Just A Name said:

2. If M.2, is the USB 3.2 Gen 1 be the bottleneck for the drive and my future usage?

depends comparator to what

 

the USB 3.2 gen 1 so 5Gbps right? 
 

10 hours ago, Just A Name said:

3. If M.2, do I really need to go for a PCIe 4 drive or a gen 3 drive will be just fine? (My speculation is since it'll be plugged into a USB 3.2 Gen 1 port, it won't matter too much)

Good gen 4.0 will be cooler running in the enclosure, so gen 3. Not all, but the Phison E18 + 176l TLC are ok. ofcourse you have to have good aluminium enclosure. 

I tested it against Samsung PM991, and the Phison E18 based ( in the same orico USB 20Gbps enclosure ) , was significantly cooler.

 

10 hours ago, Just A Name said:

4. If M.2, what do I need to know about the enclosure? I've read some posts about the RTL9210B USB chipset and some says it's good but other says it's bad

You should know.