Thunderbolt 3 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosures

[Elviss116]

i have problem with my ugreen enclosure with chip RTL9210B, after update mac os , is very slow when open nvme folder after restart or turn on my macbook pro 14"

 

[steve123]

The 30W adapter works fine.

The adapter I was referring to is the Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter. I was attempting to find a way to achieve TB2 speed of 20 Gbps with my Mac Pro 6,1. Do you have this adapter? If you do, would appreciate to know if you can get 20 Gbps when plugged into a TB2 port on a mac.

The TBU42 requires power be supplied so not sure if that meets your requirements

I carefully considered this enclosure. My hesitation is that it only supports external power, there is no bus power option, and uncertainty if I could achieve the speed I was looking for.

 

[FilterJoe]

The adapter I was referring to is the Apple TB3 to TB2 adapter. I was attempting to find a way to achieve TB2 speed of 20 Gbps with my Mac Pro 6,1. Do you have this adapter? If you do, would appreciate to know if you can get 20 Gbps when plugged into a TB2 port on a mac.


I carefully considered this enclosure. My hesitation is that it only supports external power, there is no bus power option, and uncertainty if I could achieve the speed I was looking for.

Sorry I thought you meant power adapter. I have no idea if a TB3 to TB2 adapter would work, allowing 20 Gbps speeds.

 

[VitoBotta]

I'm so happy! I got the Firecuda 530 today so installed in the Acasis and got up and running in no time from a TimeMachine backup. Performance it's awesome (I got 3100Mb/sec reads and 2900MB/sec writes soon after the restore despite Spotlight is indexing the drive and I had TimeMachine and Arq backing up at the same time, so I expect this to be even better once the system is quiet). The system seems super stable and fast. **** Samsung, never anymore for me. The X5 has ridiculous cooling (magnesium instead of aluminum and poor thermal pad) and excessive throttling. The 980 Pro was borked after upgrading the firmware that was supposed to fix a known issue that was gonna cause my drive to die at some point. Both these two experiences have been really annoying and I have wasted lots of time with them due to instability, poor performance etc.

Finally all looks good now and I am booting from the Firecuda just fine. So looks like Acasis TB405 + Firecuda 530 is an excellent combo!

 

[EncryptedUser]

Unless you desperately need PD and DP - avoid the TBU42.

It's a thunderbolt only enclosure. No USB support.
The DP do not properly support waking a monitor in power save mode.
Running a DAC over it's USB 3 out does cause audio interruptions on high CPU loads on my M1.
The performance is not as good as the TBU401/405.

I regret buying one in the belief I would be able to combine a TB3 enclosure with a M2 for TimeMachine and DP for my monitor.
In the end I turned to a OWC TB4 hub and from that I route USB-C to my monitor and DAC and the third to the enclosure.

 

[FilterJoe]

Unless you desperately need PD and DP - avoid the TBU42.

It's a thunderbolt only enclosure. No USB support.
The DP do not properly support waking a monitor in power save mode.
Running a DAC over it's USB 3 out does cause audio interruptions on high CPU loads on my M1.
The performance is not as good as the TBU401/405.

I regret buying one in the belief I would be able to combine a TB3 enclosure with a M2 for TimeMachine and DP for my monitor.
In the end I turned to a OWC TB4 hub and from that I route USB-C to my monitor and DAC and the third to the enclosure.

I purchased the TBU42 a couple weeks ago and have been very happy with it . . . but my use case is different.

I just wanted to hide my UPS and Mac Mini and all the wires coming out of both - while exposing the one and only thing I need, which is a small hub that gives me a fast external drive and allows me to charge my various iDevices (bonus: it fast charges iPhone out of the 65W PD port). I wanted all this without going down a thunderbolt port and a plug slot on my UPS as both were completely occupied. So I can charge my iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, Kindle, etc. (and swap cables as needed) without touching the Mac Mini.

For this use case it has been terrific. And it is more economical and less clutter than buying both a TBU401 and another hub.

Even though it is advertised as Thunderbolt only, it has limited USB support of some sort, but only on the USB-A port. I'm basing this on the fact that using the TBU42 USB-C is power delivery only to my iPhone, but when I plug it into the TBU42 USB-A port, I can backup the iPhone. I didn't expect this but it's useful as it means I don't have to plug into the USB-A port on my hidden Mac Mini.

I can't compare with TBU401/405 as I haven't used either. But I can tell you that my WD_Black SN770 1GB consistently tests between 2700-2750 MB/s both read and write with BlackMagic on my Mac Mini M2 Pro. That's plenty fast for me.

That's too bad about DisplayPort not working well with sleep. I didn't know as I don't use DP and have no plans to use it soon. For my use, a 2nd USB-A port would be better than DP as then I wouldn't have to swap cables as much.

 

[EncryptedUser]

Even though it is advertised as Thunderbolt only, it has limited USB support of some sort, but only on the USB-A port.

Thanks for your detailed use of your usage!


What I meant was that it need to be connected to a Thunderbolt port on a computer. It does not support connection to a usb-c port.

 

[rnoxs]

The problem isn't about booting from external hard drive. Apple does allow users to do that (not flash drive though). It is just unfortunate that some ssd like the 980 Pro exhibits peculiar issues which you have just experienced it first hand.

Your case is unique and unfortunate. [...]

I also tried using the Samsung 980 Pro as a boot disk. The speed for me was fine (although not very consistent), but network connections became unreliable and it crashed a few times per week. Returned it and am now using a Kingston KC3000 which seems to work very well.

And just to add my reason for using an external drive as boot: I have a Mac Studio and MBA M1 and like being able to just connect the drive, boot and continue with whatever I was working on, without the need to synchronize files and install/update all my apps twice.

 

[orpheus1120]

A perfectly valid point.

 

[BeatCrazy]

Regarding the Acasis TBU401... did we decide that it doesn't work well with the Intel 670p?

 

[BeatCrazy]

Maybe I should ask my question in a different way:

I have the Acasis TBU401 and will use it with M1 Macs (not Pro/Max versions). Which are the affordable or <$100 2TB NVMe drives I should be looking for that can reach the full 2000MB/s speed? I see recommendations on the Acasis site, but most of those are high-end drives, or a bit older.

Some considerations, that meet the price point... not sure about the performance:

• Kingston NV2
• Intel 670p
• Team Group MP33
• Inland Performance 2TB
• WD SN770 - a bit more than $100, but possibly the only one with full performance in this enclosure?

 

[FilterJoe]

Maybe I should ask my question in a different way:

I have the Acasis TBU401 and will use it with M1 Macs (not Pro/Max versions). Which are the affordable or <$100 2TB NVMe drives I should be looking for that can reach the full 2000MB/s speed? I see recommendations on the Acasis site, but most of those are high-end drives, or a bit older.

Some considerations, that meet the price point... not sure about the performance:

• Kingston NV2
• Intel 670p
• Team Group MP33
• Inland Performance 2TB
• WD SN770 - a bit more than $100, but possibly the only one with full performance in this enclosure?

SN770 is great - I have the 1GB (I'm get 2700-2750 MB/s both read and write with my TBU42, Mac Mini m2 Pro combo) and the 2GB usually runs for about $120 these days. I bet it goes down to $99 if you wait a few months as SSD prices are still in free fall.

Note that many models, perhaps the majority of models, don't play nice with the TBU401/Mac OS combo in terms of maintaining a reliable connection. The SN770 is one of the less expensive models known to both get high speeds AND play nice (and I can vouch for it from first hand experience) with Acasis and Mac OS. Several other WD_Black models also play nice but this is one of the least expensive.

I'm not familiar with how reliable the other 4 names are that you mentioned. If you go all the way back from the beginning of this thread, perhaps someone mentions some of them. I kind of remember 670p being discussed but I can't remember what the verdict was.

 

[BeatCrazy]

SN770 is great - I have the 1GB (I'm get 2700-2750 MB/s both read and write with my TBU42, Mac Mini m2 Pro combo) and the 2GB usually runs for about $120 these days. I bet it goes down to $99 if you wait a few months as SSD prices are still in free fall.

Note that many models, perhaps the majority of models, don't play nice with the TBU401/Mac OS combo in terms of maintaining a reliable connection. The SN770 is one of the less expensive models known to both get high speeds AND play nice (and I can vouch for it from first hand experience) with Acasis and Mac OS. Several other WD_Black models also play nice but this is one of the least expensive.

I'm not familiar with how reliable the other 4 names are that you mentioned. If you go all the way back from the beginning of this thread, perhaps someone mentions some of them. I kind of remember 670p being discussed but I can't remember what the verdict was.

Thanks. I currently have an SN750 in the Acasis enclosure, and it has a stable connection. I definitely don't want to lose any stability so maybe I should stick with a SN770.

 

[Earl Urley]

I picked up an Acasis TBU 405 direct from the company's website for $109, and it was shipped direct from a warehouse in Chino, California.

Installed a WD SN570, and got this result:

So far, pretty happy with this.. may get another and put a 770 in next time but the 570 is good and only $99 at the moment for 2TB..

 

[FilterJoe]

Thanks. I currently have an SN750 in the Acasis enclosure, and it has a stable connection. I definitely don't want to lose any stability so maybe I should stick with a SN770.

I saw the next post about the SN550. It is one older generation but includes DRAM. Out of curiosity I downloaded Amorphous to see how my SN770 numbers compared. They were similar, though SN770 was significantly faster on sequential writes QD1 (2418), and significantly slower on random writes QD1 (49) which makes sense given the lack of NAND.

So despite costing less, SN550 would work better as a boot drive, and would also work better if the drive was pretty close to full. SN770 would be slightly better for working with gigantic files (i.e. video, VMs, etc.).

In actual practice you may not notice any difference so if $20 savings matters to you, then maybe SN550 is the way to go.

 

[FilterJoe]

So far, pretty happy with this.. may get another and put a 770 in next time but the 570 is good and only $99 at the moment for 2TB..

Your Random Write4k QD1 speed is nearly an order of magnitude faster than what I get on SN770. Flipping through this thread to earlier screenshots, something around 40 or 50 is normal for this number.

I wonder what makes your number so much higher than everyone else?

Is it perhaps because the drive had virtually nothing on it? I guess if there is almost nothing on the drive, then it doesn't take long to find an empty space to write to?

 

[BeatCrazy]

I saw the next post about the SN550. It is one older generation but includes DRAM. Out of curiosity I downloaded Amorphous to see how my SN770 numbers compared. They were similar, though SN770 was significantly faster on sequential writes QD1 (2418), and significantly slower on random writes QD1 (49) which makes sense given the lack of NAND.

So despite costing less, SN550 would work better as a boot drive, and would also work better if the drive was pretty close to full. SN770 would be slightly better for working with gigantic files (i.e. video, VMs, etc.).

In actual practice you may not notice any difference so if $20 savings matters to you, then maybe SN550 is the way to go.

I need it for video file storage, not boot drive. Which would you recommend?

 

[steve123]

Some considerations, that meet the price point... not sure about the performance:

• Kingston NV2
• Intel 670p
• Team Group MP33
• Inland Performance 2TB
• WD SN770 - a bit more than $100, but possibly the only one with full performance in this enclosure?

Pay attention to the endurance specifications ... that can make a difference in the expected lifetime.

 

[FilterJoe]

I need it for video file storage, not boot drive. Which would you recommend?

Then SN770 will be a little better. It will be slightly faster. But it won't be dramatically better. Because you're connecting via Thunderbolt, they both operate at close to the speed limit of Thunderbolt. So while in theory the SN770 can go quite a bit faster, in actual practice the Thunderbolt connection will take away most of those theoretical gains.

I made a mistake on prior post - SN570 uses HMB just like SN770. Neither has DRAM. So there is no advantage to using SN570 as a boot drive - but sounds like that doesn't matter to you anyway.

 

[orpheus1120]

I wonder what makes your number so much higher than everyone else?

Perhaps the right question to ask is what machine is this tested on. See the benchmark again.

Looks like an intel 2018 MBP which technically should give a better results than any ARM Mac due to a difference in the thunderbolt/USB4 controller.

 

[Earl Urley]

Your Random Write4k QD1 speed is nearly an order of magnitude faster than what I get on SN770. Flipping through this thread to earlier screenshots, something around 40 or 50 is normal for this number.

I wonder what makes your number so much higher than everyone else?

Is it perhaps because the drive had virtually nothing on it? I guess if there is almost nothing on the drive, then it doesn't take long to find an empty space to write to?

Quite likely this is the case as I literally tested it straight out of the box, only thing I did before I ran that test was to format the SN 570 to APFS using Disk Utility, then went to the tests

I will rerun the results on an M2 Air that I should be getting access to shortly.

Do find it disturbing that it seems Thunderbolt on Apple Silicon systems is somewhat deficient.. perhaps fixed in M3? Or does Apple just not care about reduced TB performance?

 

[Earl Urley]

To anyone who cares, the Western Digital SN570 is now back down to $99 for 2 TB on Amazon, seems a good deal esp. if you already have Prime for free shipping.

 

[grandM]

First MacRumors post . . . wanted to thank everyone who has contributed to this thread, and summarize what I learned (which culminated in my recent enclosure and NMVe purchase):

• NVMe SSDs are so fast that they exceed the limits of Thunderbolt 3 (or 4)
• The following is needed to achieve (close to) Thunderbolt 3 max speeds of nearly 3000 MB/s
  • Thunderbolt 3 or 4 ports on both sides
  • Thunderbolt 3 or 4 cable
  • Your computer system must support PCI Express
  • 4 lanes in SSD enclosure
  • Sufficiently cooled enclosure so that throttling does not automatically kick in
  • Be sure to get an SSD brand that works well with Mac OS and with the enclosure you choose. Samsung Pro and Western Digital's WD_Black series are both SSDs models that successfully work flawlessly and near top possible Thunderbolt 3 speeds with Macs.
  • Note: if you get an enclosure that does NOT have Thunderbolt 3 NVMe support, you'll be limited to at most 1/4 of these speeds as it will be USB 3.2 gen 2 (Macs do not support 3.2 gen 2x2)
• External NVMe are surprisingly economical:
  • If you want to spend < $150 on an NVMe enclosure, get Acasis or Orico, each of which sell several models that support Thunderbolt 3.
  • Though certain SSD models (Samsung 980 Pro, WD SN850x) achieve higher speeds in benchmarks, they cost considerably more and this extra speed is wasted if they will only be used in an external thunderbolt 3 enclosure.
  • A particularly inexpensive SSD model that is just about as fast within an external Thunderbolt enclosure: WD SN770 $60 for 1TB, $120 for 2TB.
  • There are NVMe enclosures that are way cheaper - even $25 - but they don't support Thunderbolt 3. So if you don't want to spend $100-$150 now on a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, you start with the cheap NVMe enclosure and switch later if you desire - and just move your NVMe SSD over to the new enclosure.
  • For the above reasons, I think NVME is the only sensible external 1GB SSD option for consumers that own a computer system that includes PCI Express and Thunderbolt 3 ports. And my guess is that within a few months, that will be true for 2GB as well, as prices continue to fall.

I purchased a Mac Mini m2 Pro 16GB/1TB recently and decided to supplement with an external drive. I had no need for NVMe speeds. But this thread piqued my curiosity and I was shocked at how inexpensive these crazy fast speeds are. SSD prices have really collapsed in 2023 to the point it doesn't make sense for someone getting a 1GB external SSD to get anything but NVMe at this point.

What I ended up buying (which I never would have discovered without this thread):

Acasis TBU42 hub (spent $20 extra for Acasis 65W power supply)
WD_Black SN770 1GB

I get BlackMagic speeds between 2700-2800 MB/s for both read and write with this setup and my Mac Mini m2 Pro.

I have my Mac Mini, a large UPS, and all the cord tangle very hidden away. The only thing that pokes out of that hidden mess is my Acasis TBU42, from which I power things like my iPhone, Apple Watch, kindle, etc.

Minor comment about TBU42 - the site says that it only supports Thunderbolt - it's ambiguous what that means. Turns out that if you use the USB-C ports it is Thunderbolt only, but if you use the USB-A port it does allow data communication so you can back up your iPhone - found this out experimentally as what it does with my iPhone varies depending on whether I hook it up to USB-C (power only) or USB-A (power + data).

I am confused. I can't make head nor tales about all those ports. I've bought the mini m2Pro and want to spare the internal SSD. I guess connecting an enclosure to the TB port is the fastest. I want a fast, stylish, fire proof, quiet solution that does not deconnect preferrably without external charging. No clue if usb-c is much worse than TB. Do not like the Acasis design. I prefer these:

40Gbps NVMe Gehäuse, ORICO M.2 Gehäuse Bis zu 2800 MB/s für USB4.0/3.2/3.1/3.0/2.0, Kompatibel mit Thunderbolt 3/4 Geräten, NVMe Adapter Ganz aus Aluminium Unterstützung 2280 M&B+M-Key- M234-SV

40Gbps NVMe Gehäuse, ORICO M.2 Gehäuse Bis zu 2800 MB/s für USB4.0/3.2/3.1/3.0/2.0, Kompatibel mit Thunderbolt 3/4 Geräten, NVMe Adapter Ganz aus Aluminium Unterstützung 2280 M&B+M-Key- M234-SV

www.amazon.de

Yottamaster USB C Docking Station met NVMe behuizing, 10-in-1 USB C Hub 10 Gbps Ondersteuning 4K @30Hz HDMI, PD100W, RJ45, 4 USB-poorten, audio, SD/TF kaartlezer voor Windows en Mac Type C laptops

Yottamaster USB C Docking Station met NVMe behuizing, 10-in-1 USB C Hub 10 Gbps Ondersteuning 4K @30Hz HDMI, PD100W, RJ45, 4 USB-poorten, audio, SD/TF kaartlezer voor Windows en Mac Type C laptops

www.amazon.de

The issue is I'd like some more ports but the pricing seems insane.

https://www.amazon.de/-/nl/dp/B09NM8FK6V?ref_=ast_sto_dp

Use case: office work, coding and storing/watching HQ movies

 

[steve123]

No clue if usb-c is much worse than TB

The first Yottamaster USB C dock you referenced does not have a Thunderbolt compatible port so you will only achieve USB 3.2 Gen2 speed of 10 Gbps speed on your Mini M2 Pro. The maximum SSD speed will be about 900 MB/s. If you connect a display to the dock, the SSD speed will be reduced.

Regarding the second Yottamaster device, this one does have a Thunderbolt port. If you are intending on connecting a display to this dock and/or using the ethernet port you need to consider that you will be sharing the bandwidth of the display with the SSD which will reduce the speed of the SSD.

IMO, avoid the TB dock and get a TB SSD enclosure. There are a number of people on this forum using the ACASIS TBU405 which uses an Intel Titan Ridge TB 3 controller. I purchased an INDMEM U4001 because it was a little less expensive and it uses a Titan Ridge TB 3 controller as well. My understanding is the ORICO device is similar. When paired with a suitable PCIe Gen 3 or Gen 4 SSD, it is possible to achieve transfer rates close to 2800 MB/s. The WD Black SN850X gets a lot of positive reviews from people here. I selected the Kingston Fury Renegade because it has a good endurance specification and is lower power compared to other SSD's. Stay away from Samsung SSD's, there are known compatibility issues with macOS.

 

[grandM]

The first Yottamaster USB C dock you referenced does not have a Thunderbolt compatible port so you will only achieve USB 3.2 Gen2 speed of 10 Gbps speed on your Mini M2 Pro. The maximum SSD speed will be about 900 MB/s. If you connect a display to the dock, the SSD speed will be reduced.

Regarding the second Yottamaster device, this one does have a Thunderbolt port. If you are intending on connecting a display to this dock and/or using the ethernet port you need to consider that you will be sharing the bandwidth of the display with the SSD which will reduce the speed of the SSD.

IMO, avoid the TB dock and get a TB SSD enclosure. There are a number of people on this forum using the ACASIS TBU405 which uses an Intel Titan Ridge TB 3 controller. I purchased an INDMEM U4001 because it was a little less expensive and it uses a Titan Ridge TB 3 controller as well. My understanding is the ORICO device is similar. When paired with a suitable PCIe Gen 3 or Gen 4 SSD, it is possible to achieve transfer rates close to 2800 MB/s. The WD Black SN850X gets a lot of positive reviews from people here. I selected the Kingston Fury Renegade because it has a good endurance specification and is lower power compared to other SSD's. Stay away from Samsung SSD's, there are known compatibility issues with macOS.

Tx. I guess only adding USB devices 'd reduce its speed too. Will be dongle hell I guess adding a hub and an enclosure.