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BeatCrazy

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2011
5,109
4,471
Hey guys, just giving everyone a heads up (in case you didn't see it in this thread), we now have a TB3 M.2 NVMe bare enclosure that also supports USB4/3.0.

It's the ACASIS "USB4.0" enclosure, and has great read performance with my 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus. Write performance is still a bit perplexing, but you can se more details in my post here (same thread as above linked).
 
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joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,938
4,241
Hey guys, just giving everyone a heads up (in case you didn't see it in this thread), we now have a TB3 M.2 NVMe bare enclosure that also supports USB4/3.0.

It's the ACASIS "USB4.0" enclosure, and has great read performance with my 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus. Write performance is still a bit perplexing, but you can se more details in my post here (same thread as above linked).
But it's not really USB4 https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...lso-definitely-not-usb4.2269777/post-29533992
 

BeatCrazy

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2011
5,109
4,471

I understand, and I paused before I typed USB4, but decided to describe it as such, because that's how it's described as a Device ID in the Thunderbolt Device Tree in System Information. It's not listed/doesn't show up under the USB Device Tree.
full



Another oddity with this enclosure: I cannot get to be recognized by my Windows PC with an Alpine Ridge TB3 card. It can't be seen as a TB3 device, at all. I know this TB3 output works, because I use it to feed my eGPU. Connection to the PC via USB-C gen 1 works fine, and Windows recognizes the enclosure/drive as JMS583 (as expected).
 
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joevt

macrumors 604
Jun 21, 2012
6,938
4,241
I understand, and I paused before I typed USB4, but decided to describe it as such, because that's how it's described as a Device ID in the Thunderbolt Device Tree in System Information. It's not listed/doesn't show up under the USB Device Tree.
That description "USB4.0 SSD" is stored in the Thunderbolt DROM of the device, not macOS. Basically, you can put any name you want there. The Vendor ID and Device ID and Device Revision and UID are also stored in the Thunderbolt DROM. You can use Linux to get the entire firmware and examine the DROM part. https://gist.github.com/joevt/4f6d4d97b560efab9603ac509bf00122

Another oddity with this enclosure: I cannot get to be recognized by my Windows PC with an Alpine Ridge TB3 card. It can't be seen as a TB3 device, at all. I know this TB3 output works, because I use it to feed my eGPU. Connection to the PC via USB-C gen 1 works fine, and Windows recognizes the enclosure/drive as JMS583 (as expected).
I guess it doesn't negotiate Thunderbolt alt mode and stays in USB-C mode which has 30% the performance of Thunderbolt mode. Maybe you can work around this problem by connecting the ACASIS to another Thunderbolt device.
 
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BeatCrazy

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2011
5,109
4,471
That description "USB4.0 SSD" is stored in the Thunderbolt DROM of the device, not macOS. Basically, you can put any name you want there. The Vendor ID and Device ID and Device Revision and UID are also stored in the Thunderbolt DROM. You can use Linux to get the entire firmware and examine the DROM part. https://gist.github.com/joevt/4f6d4d97b560efab9603ac509bf00122

Makes sense.

I guess it doesn't negotiate Thunderbolt alt mode and stays in USB-C mode which has 30% the performance of Thunderbolt mode. Maybe you can work around this problem by connecting the ACASIS to another Thunderbolt device.

Well I take the same ACASIS enclosure straight from TB3 on the M1 Mac mini, and try it on my W10 PC, but nothing. Not even recognized as USB via the TB3 port. It's not a big deal, just a curiosity.

A few more thoughts on the actual ACASIS enclosure:
It feels very sturdy, and you don't need a tool to open it. It has two tiny ball bearings on the edge of the bottom cover that recess inward when you close the case.

So it should hold up to repeated openings. It's a bit bigger than it would appear it needs to be?

Assume we get some fix for the slower-than-expected Write speeds, I am pretty happy with this purchase. Which I still think is the only(?) TB3 bare enclosure that also supports USB-C hosts.


IMG_0265.jpg
 

Damian Brown

macrumors member
Jan 27, 2021
36
6
I've just built one with the follow SSD and enclosure to use with my new M1 Mac mini.



So far, so good. Fast (don't know if it's the fastest out there, but it's hand down faster than the Samsung T5 I'd been using with my late 2013 15" rMBP, so it's a big win for me), compact. No issues thus far. I guess time will tell.

Enclosure with the tool-less design it great. Definitely gets warm, but I don't think I've had any throttling due to heat issues yet. Though admittedly, I am not what would be considered a "power user" when it comes to the drive. Mainly just wanted something attached at all times that I could back up the mini HD, but also have fast access to all my pictures without taking up space on the mini.

Right now, I have it plugged directly into the Mini, but I'll be interested to see if the speed increases, decreases, or stays the same when I get the new OWC Thunderbolt dock whenever they end up shipping this month.

What kind of speeds you seeing? I'm investigating what to get for my m1 macbook air. Either the sabrent rocket xtrm or a diy like you, but it's new to me so I've been reading everything to see what will work best, without breaking the bank.
 

NativeTxn

macrumors 6502
Feb 11, 2013
261
96
What kind of speeds you seeing? I'm investigating what to get for my m1 macbook air. Either the sabrent rocket xtrm or a diy like you, but it's new to me so I've been reading everything to see what will work best, without breaking the bank.
Speeds have been plenty fast for my purposes. When I was initially moving things, for example, my folder of photos that would normally take about 12-15+ minutes to move to/from my older T5 took about 2 minutes to move to the Sabrent.

If I'm just moving a small batch of documents or something like that, it's instantaneous and doesn't even bring up a transfer speed "box."
 
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pcharlesmorphy

macrumors newbie
Feb 7, 2021
10
11
Makes sense.



Well I take the same ACASIS enclosure straight from TB3 on the M1 Mac mini, and try it on my W10 PC, but nothing. Not even recognized as USB via the TB3 port. It's not a big deal, just a curiosity.

A few more thoughts on the actual ACASIS enclosure:
It feels very sturdy, and you don't need a tool to open it. It has two tiny ball bearings on the edge of the bottom cover that recess inward when you close the case.

So it should hold up to repeated openings. It's a bit bigger than it would appear it needs to be?

Assume we get some fix for the slower-than-expected Write speeds, I am pretty happy with this purchase. Which I still think is the only(?) TB3 bare enclosure that also supports USB-C hosts.


View attachment 1719459
Hi, i am a new user, first of all, sorry for my poor English. I have used the help of Translatium.
I read the thread with some interest. I recently bought the Mac Mini M1, with 256Gb and seeing how expensive it is to increase to 512Gb,
I decided to look at alternatives with external ssd, seeing that the best option to obtain a performance similar to the internal ssd was to use a thunderbolt 3 enclosures, which in some cases are quite expensive.
I was looking at it for days before buying the Mac Mini, and looking for AliExpress, YouTube and the web.
I saw an interesting opportunity with the Acassis Thunderbolt 3 box with Intel JHL6340 Chipset for 56 euros.

https://es.aliexpress.com/item/4000460513637.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.2a2763c0Fdv2RV

Now it has risen 10 euros, but it is still a good price, in my case as I wanted it to use in thunderbolt 3 and nothing else, I discarded the version with JHL7540 which is a little more expensive.
On the other hand, I had already bought a 1Tb XPG Gammix S11 Pro ssd for 130 Euros, which is a good product without any doubt.
I tried it and the truth is that the results were disappointing, getting about 1200 Mb / s both in writing and reading.
This is when one has doubts about the causes, since they can be very diverse:
-The box is not of good quality internally and does not give more than itself. Although it is true that at least in reading it promises 2700 Mb / s and in writing 1500 Mb / s
-Incompatibility of some type of this type of box or its chipset with Mac Mini or the M1 processor.
-Incompatibility of the ssd with OSX drivers or with the Intel JHL6340 controller.

Then I remembered something watching one of the youtube videos about the Acasis enclosure.


Although the test is on an iMac, we can see that it tests a Samsung EVO 970 and then it tests Western Digital sn750.
We can see that Samsung experiences low writing speed, but instead with Digital it is better.
After I think that looking through this forum if I'm not mistaken, I saw some information about the Shell Thunder enclosure.

https://fledging.net/products/shell-thunder

The interesting thing is what the Samsung EVO 970 plus puts about it. And we see that they recommend the ssd Western Digital black, also the Sabrent Rocket Q seems a good option.
I suspect that all these Chinese enclosure are similar.

I decided to return the XPG Gammix S11 Pro and I bought a WD SN750 1Tb.
I have tested it this morning and I can confirm that it is compatible and works perfectly.



5ba9b651-6436-4ae1-a502-9db6bc951ae8.jpg


As you can see, the speeds achieved with Western Digital are very similar to those of the 256Gb internal Mac mini's SSD. Curiously there are rumors that the internal ssd may be Sandisk / Western Digital.
With this we can conclude that it is quite likely that it is a compatibility problem of this type of enclouse with the different brands and models of m2 ssd.
 

BeatCrazy

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2011
5,109
4,471
Hi, i am a new user, first of all, sorry for my poor English. I have used the help of Translatium.
I read the thread with some interest. I recently bought the Mac Mini M1, with 256Gb and seeing how expensive it is to increase to 512Gb,
I decided to look at alternatives with external ssd, seeing that the best option to obtain a performance similar to the internal ssd was to use a thunderbolt 3 enclosures, which in some cases are quite expensive.
I was looking at it for days before buying the Mac Mini, and looking for AliExpress, YouTube and the web.
I saw an interesting opportunity with the Acassis Thunderbolt 3 box with Intel JHL6340 Chipset for 56 euros.

https://es.aliexpress.com/item/4000460513637.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.2a2763c0Fdv2RV

Now it has risen 10 euros, but it is still a good price, in my case as I wanted it to use in thunderbolt 3 and nothing else, I discarded the version with JHL7540 which is a little more expensive.
On the other hand, I had already bought a 1Tb XPG Gammix S11 Pro ssd for 130 Euros, which is a good product without any doubt.
I tried it and the truth is that the results were disappointing, getting about 1200 Mb / s both in writing and reading.
This is when one has doubts about the causes, since they can be very diverse:
-The box is not of good quality internally and does not give more than itself. Although it is true that at least in reading it promises 2700 Mb / s and in writing 1500 Mb / s
-Incompatibility of some type of this type of box or its chipset with Mac Mini or the M1 processor.
-Incompatibility of the ssd with OSX drivers or with the Intel JHL6340 controller.

Then I remembered something watching one of the youtube videos about the Acasis enclosure.


Although the test is on an iMac, we can see that it tests a Samsung EVO 970 and then it tests Western Digital sn750.
We can see that Samsung experiences low writing speed, but instead with Digital it is better.
After I think that looking through this forum if I'm not mistaken, I saw some information about the Shell Thunder enclosure.

https://fledging.net/products/shell-thunder

The interesting thing is what the Samsung EVO 970 plus puts about it. And we see that they recommend the ssd Western Digital black, also the Sabrent Rocket Q seems a good option.
I suspect that all these Chinese enclosure are similar.

I decided to return the XPG Gammix S11 Pro and I bought a WD SN750 1Tb.
I have tested it this morning and I can confirm that it is compatible and works perfectly.



View attachment 1726536

As you can see, the speeds achieved with Western Digital are very similar to those of the 256Gb internal Mac mini's SSD. Curiously there are rumors that the internal ssd may be Sandisk / Western Digital.
With this we can conclude that it is quite likely that it is a compatibility problem of this type of enclouse with the different brands and models of m2 ssd.

Thank you for sharing. Prompted by your post, and the video you linked, today I exchanged my 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus for a 1TB WD SN750.

@joevt you might be interested in this as well.

The speed test and real world transfer speed are much better with the WD SN750! This is on my M1 Mac mini and the ACASIS TB3 enclosure.
1TB WD SN750.png
 
Last edited:

pcharlesmorphy

macrumors newbie
Feb 7, 2021
10
11
Thank you for sharing. Prompted by your post, and the video you linked, today I exchanged my 1TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus for a 1TB WD SN750.

@joevt you might be interested in this as well.

The speed test and real world transfer speed are much better with the WD SN750! This is on my M1 Mac mini and the ACASIS TB3 enclosure.
View attachment 1726603
I am glad that my post has helped you, and you have found what you need.I hope you enjoy it. A greeting
 
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BeatCrazy

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2011
5,109
4,471
jezzus.. I might go pick up a SN750 then.
If anyone is considering the ACASIS TB3/USB enclosure, I found a thermal pad/shield that just fits, at least using the SN750. You can put both the thermal pad and the copper heatsink on, but you can't use the included rubber bands to keep the "sandwich" together. The heatsink sticks pretty well, so it's not going anywhere. Especially with the ACASIS case pressed tight.

(no affiliation)
 

pcharlesmorphy

macrumors newbie
Feb 7, 2021
10
11
If anyone is considering the ACASIS TB3/USB enclosure, I found a thermal pad/shield that just fits, at least using the SN750. You can put both the thermal pad and the copper heatsink on, but you can't use the included rubber bands to keep the "sandwich" together. The heatsink sticks pretty well, so it's not going anywhere. Especially with the ACASIS case pressed tight.

(no affiliation)
Very interesting. I have been doing tests, simply having the ssd on, doing some large file reading or writing. At rest it is usually around 45-50 Cº but working it gets to 57-60 ºC. I haven't given it a very intense load either, but I think it can get really hot in the summer. I was thinking of just putting in a good thermal pad, removing the one with the poor looking cover. I would say that the cap acts as a heatsink, but your idea of the copper foil is very good. What temperature have you got?
 
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BeatCrazy

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2011
5,109
4,471
Very interesting. I have been doing tests, simply having the ssd on, doing some large file reading or writing. At rest it is usually around 45-50 Cº but working it gets to 57-60 ºC. I haven't given it a very intense load either, but I think it can get really hot in the summer. I was thinking of just putting in a good thermal pad, removing the one with the poor looking cover. I would say that the cap acts as a heatsink, but your idea of the copper foil is very good. What temperature have you got?
When I was using the Samsung 970 EVO Plus, I was using the Samsung Magician software and getting ~78ºC (this was without any heatsink).

Is there a good way to measure temp with macOS, now that I have the SN750 and new pad/heatsink?
 
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BeatCrazy

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2011
5,109
4,471
Well, I used two apps in trial mode:

DriveDx
https://binaryfruit.com/drivedx

iStats Menu
https://bjango.com/mac/istatmenus/

The second, only works yesterday for me, today only shows apple ssd and I don't know how to monitor WD ssd again.

I tried DriveDx (trial) and ran Black Magic Speed test on the WD_Black SN750 in the ACASIS enclosure with the pad/shield that I linked above. After about 5 minutes, temperatures only reached 42ºC, so I am satisfied.

EDIT: also the heatsink is more substantial than foil, it is real copper and probably 1mm thick. So the price seems decent. Mine came with 2 copper shields, and 3 thermal pads.
 

pcharlesmorphy

macrumors newbie
Feb 7, 2021
10
11
I tried DriveDx (trial) and ran Black Magic Speed test on the WD_Black SN750 in the ACASIS enclosure with the pad/shield that I linked above. After about 5 minutes, temperatures only reached 42ºC, so I am satisfied.

EDIT: also the heatsink is more substantial than foil, it is real copper and probably 1mm thick. So the price seems decent. Mine came with 2 copper shields, and 3 thermal pads.
Thank you for your information. In my country, only found a pack with 1 copper shield at 9 euros. I ordered it.
 

Jzjz2021

macrumors newbie
Jan 12, 2021
15
3
Great to hear that people are finally having good results with the Acasis enclosure I suggested.👍😀When I first posted, I felt bad about mentioning it on the forums but after more testing by myself and others, it seems to be a good product. Especially with the WD-SN750 inside.
Good job people, we tackled a weird Apple issue as a group and got great results.🥳

PS..drivedx and sensei apps are great to check the temps and speeds of the enclosure and drive.
And thanks for the tip BeatCrazy on the thermal pad, I just ordered one.
 
Last edited:

orpheus1120

macrumors 65816
Jan 23, 2008
1,430
57
Malaysia
If anyone is considering the ACASIS TB3/USB enclosure, I found a thermal pad/shield that just fits, at least using the SN750. You can put both the thermal pad and the copper heatsink on, but you can't use the included rubber bands to keep the "sandwich" together. The heatsink sticks pretty well, so it's not going anywhere. Especially with the ACASIS case pressed tight.

(no affiliation)
Did you get the SN750 with heatsink or without?
 

Jzjz2021

macrumors newbie
Jan 12, 2021
15
3
I tried DriveDx (trial) and ran Black Magic Speed test on the WD_Black SN750 in the ACASIS enclosure with the pad/shield that I linked above. After about 5 minutes, temperatures only reached 42ºC, so I am satisfied.

EDIT: also the heatsink is more substantial than foil, it is real copper and probably 1mm thick. So the price seems decent. Mine came with 2 copper shields, and 3 thermal pads.
Howdy..
Just got the SN750 and thermal pads. Could you please send a pic of how you installed it? I don’t want to screw it up.
Are the pads permanently stuck on the nvme stick and/or enclosure or can it be removed?
I was planning to swap the SN750 around between my desktop and MBP
Thanks
😊
 

BeatCrazy

macrumors 603
Jul 20, 2011
5,109
4,471
Howdy..
Just got the SN750 and thermal pads. Could you please send a pic of how you installed it? I don’t want to screw it up.
Are the pads permanently stuck on the nvme stick and/or enclosure or can it be removed?
I was planning to swap the SN750 around between my desktop and MBP
Thanks
😊
I think there are two different thickness of the blue thermal pads. I believe I used the thicker one. When you do it correctly, the copper shield should come into contact with the top of the ACASIS case when closed.

I don't think it's permanent, because the pad should pull off the SSD easily, same with the copper shield.
IMG_0290.jpg
 
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