Fastest possible external USB 3.1 solution

[Merlin_KM]

TL;DR: I want the fastest possible external drive solution (Laaaate 2015) I can devise. Insight and/or opinions welcome.

 

My day job involves a lot of video editing and I've just purchased a new XPS 15 for mobile editing. The big selling point for me was the Thunderbolt 3 port (The port is backwards compatible with USB 3.1 which is what I'll be using for my purposes since T3 anything doesn't exist yet.) Simply put I want the fastest possible external drive solution I can devise. 

 

I have a Samsung NVMe PCI-E SSD as my boot/everything drive, so up to 2150 MB/s transfer is my pc-side read limit.

 

Option 1 (External M.2 Drive over USB 3.1):

SSD: Samsung 950 Pro

*plus*

M.2 to USB 3.1 Adapter: Random Chinese Adapter

 

^From what I can tell this would be attaching the identical drive as my boot drive externally over USB 3.1 which shouldn't bottleneck it. Giving me, what I have to assume, is the fastest transfer speed I could hope to achieve. My concern is that this whole thing seems kind of janky. I can't find any example of anyone doing this yet. None of these Chinese M.2 to 3.1 adapters have any reviews so I can't guarantee it'll even work. Never mind any other Windows driver issues or unforeseen hardware bottlenecks.

 

Option 2 Sandisk:

SSD: Extreme 900

 

 

^You may notice this option is about 50 dollars more expensive, gives me double the storage space (Only the 480GB model is in stock) but has a slower advertised read of 850 MB/s compared to the 2150 MB/s of the Samsung 950. My argument here is that it's guaranteed to work, as it's a consumer ready product,

 

I'm living on the bloody edge here. Any experience or insight is welcome! Thanks!

[scottyseng]

-snip-

 

Pretty sure the 950 will crush the Sandisk drive hands down, but it depends on the adapter quality. As you stated, it does seem kind of iffy.

 

Do note that the 950 (Assuming that adapter is legit) will be bottlenecked by the USB 3.1 limits. I'm kind of curious if NVMe would work over USB 3.1 though. And if it doesn't, what kind of performance drop would result.

 

I personally wouldn't risk it and would get the Sandisk (even if it's far slower), but can't help but be curious if that adapter works or not.

[Merlin_KM]

Pretty sure the 950 will crush the Sandisk drive hands down, but it depends on the adapter quality. As you stated, it does seem kind of iffy.

 

Do note that the 950 (Assuming that adapter is legit) will be bottlenecked by the USB 3.1 limits. I'm kind of curious if NVMe would work over USB 3.1 though. And if it doesn't, what kind of performance drop would result.

 

I personally wouldn't risk it and would get the Sandisk (even if it's far slower), but can't help but be curious if that adapter works or not.

 

I'm hoping to find someone who has tried it before (NVMe Adapted over 3.1) but I can't find anyone.

 

Is it just me or would this make a really interesting LTT episode?

[scottyseng]

I'm hoping to find someone who has tried it before (NVMe Adapted over 3.1) but I can't find anyone.

 

Is it just me or would this make a really interesting LTT episode?

 

You know, it would make for a interesting LTT episode...

 

Yeah, I don't know of anyone doing NVMe over 3.1 either. I even didn't know they had adapters like that.

 

Does your laptop have two M.2 slots? Maybe you could try the adapter thing, and if it doesn't work, toss the second drive inside of the laptop? and then buy the Sandisk one as your external? It's a waste of money though...

[braneopbru]

USB 3.1 is 10 Gbps which is roughly 1GB/s not counting overhead. The one review I read on the Asus USB 3.1 add in card stated that Asus claimed that they were getting around 850MB/s actual speeds in their lab.

 

Getting the 950 pro will not benefit you at all. You will be slowed down by USB 3.1. 

 

If capacity is your main concern, get the Sandisk. If cost is your main concern, go for the 950 pro.

 

The fact that Sandisk is advertising speeds that are right at the numbers that Asus reported in lab tests makes me think that they are using nvme storage in that enclosure.

[Merlin_KM]

USB 3.1 is 10 Gbps which is roughly 1GB/s not counting overhead. The one review I read on the Asus USB 3.1 add in card stated that Asus claimed that they were getting around 850MB/s actual speeds in their lab.

 

Getting the 950 pro will not benefit you at all. You will be slowed down by USB 3.1. 

 

If capacity is your main concern, get the Sandisk. If cost is your main concern, go for the 950 pro.

 

The fact that Sandisk is advertising speeds that are right at the numbers that Asus reported in lab tests makes me think that they are using nvme storage in that enclosure.

 

I'm really interested in how exactly Sandisk is achieving that speed. The only mention I can find is from the original announcement when they mentioned it operates using RAID. Other than that, I can't find any solid info on the drive. If I end up going with the Sandisk, I'll end up taking it apart to investigate. 

[braneopbru]

I'm really interested in how exactly Sandisk is achieving that speed. The only mention I can find is from the original announcement when they mentioned it operates using RAID. Other than that, I can't find any solid info on the drive. If I end up going with the Sandisk, I'll end up taking it apart to investigate. 

 

http://www.legitreviews.com/asus-usb-31-type-a-card-review_160622

 

This is a review for the Asus USB 3.1 add in card. But they do their testing with an external enclosure with two Msata drives in RAID 0. Possible that Sandisk is using a similar setup. These guys were able to get about 800/800 out of that setup.

[Merlin_KM]

You know, it would make for a interesting LTT episode...

 

Yeah, I don't know of anyone doing NVMe over 3.1 either. I even didn't know they had adapters like that.

 

Does your laptop have two M.2 slots? Maybe you could try the adapter thing, and if it doesn't work, toss the second drive inside of the laptop? and then buy the Sandisk one as your external? It's a waste of money though...

Unfortunately the Xps 15 only has one M.2 PCI-E slot. My model has an unused sata port, but that won't do me any good.

[Merlin_KM]

http://www.legitreviews.com/asus-usb-31-type-a-card-review_160622

 

This is a review for the Asus USB 3.1 add in card. But they do their testing with an external enclosure with two Msata drives in RAID 0. Possible that Sandisk is using a similar setup. These guys were able to get about 800/800 out of that setup.

 

I think for now I'll go with the Sandisk solution. Once Thunderbolt 3 to M.2 adapters get released I think maybe then, i'll be able to justify an external NVMe soltuion.