Thunderbolt 3 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosures

[EugW]

i just bought this TB 4 enclosure today after tracking it a few days i see the sale so i jumped.

Lets see how it performs.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1STC73H?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

Any specific reason you chose that one?

I've personally been looking only at the ones with the big metal fins to dissipate heat, like the OWC 1M2 that's popular in this thread, but also another cheaper one that's sold both by Hagibis and Qwiizlabs. Both are ASM2464PD.

The Hagibis is a bit cheaper in the US, but the Qwiizlabs is a bit cheaper in Canada.

US$76.00 - Hagibis - Includes USB 4 cable with LED Wattage readout
US$80.99 - Qwiizlab - Includes regular USB 4 cable

EDIT:

Hmm... The Hagibis specs indicate it supports up to 4 TB, but the Qwiizlabs says it supports 8 TB. I would be surprised if the real world specs are actually different, but that's what the specs say.

 

[Phonzoxd]

Any specific reason you chose that one?

I've personally been looking only at the ones with the big metal fins to dissipate heat, like the OWC 1M2 that's popular in this thread, but also another cheaper one that's sold both by Hagibis and Qwiizlabs. Both are ASM2464PD.

The Hagibis is a bit cheaper in the US, but the Qwiizlabs is a bit cheaper in Canada.

US$76.00 - Hagibis - Includes USB 4 cable with LED Wattage readout
US$80.99 - Qwiizlab - Includes regular USB 4 cable

View attachment 2447333

EDIT:

Hmm... The Hagibis specs indicate it supports up to 4 TB, but the Qwiizlabs says it supports 8 TB. I would be surprised if the real world specs are actually different, but that's what the specs say.

combination of price, the reviews seem good on amazon, the looks, not a big name but still a name in this space (wavlink)and just trying something thats not discussed here at all.

who knows it could be a hidden gem.

 

[EugW]

I've personally been looking only at the ones with the big metal fins to dissipate heat, like the OWC 1M2 that's popular in this thread, but also another cheaper one that's sold both by Hagibis and Qwiizlabs. Both are ASM2464PD.

Hmm... The Hagibis specs indicate it supports up to 4 TB, but the Qwiizlabs says it supports 8 TB. I would be surprised if the real world specs are actually different, but that's what the specs say.

I ordered the Qwiizlabs ES40UR since they indicate 8 TB support. I've looked around and all of the Hagibis specs everywhere say it maxes out at 4 TB. I don't know if it's just because they haven't updated their specs lately, but I figure I'd play it safe and get the Qwiizlabs instead. It's too bad though for the Hagibis since I kinda like the idea of the Hagibis USB-C Wattage readout, and because the Hagibis ships faster. OTOH, the Qwiizlabs is a bit cheaper on Amazon.ca and the drive is to be used with my M4 Mac mini which won't be arriving for a few weeks anyway. And I don't even have the NVMe drive yet either...

Here is a quick mini-review of the Samsung 990 EVO Plus on an Apple Silicon iMac with the Qwiizlab USB 4 enclosure:

Drawbacks (other than no DRAM, with lack of HMB support in an enclosure) is that Amazon Canada and Best Buy Canada have no stock, and the actual street pricing is currently full retail. Full retail of the 990 EVO Plus is considerably lower than full retail 990 Pro, but the Pro can be had for a lot cheaper on sale. Here's hoping that Black Friday brings actual stock and some decent pricing, because right now I'm leaning toward the EVO Plus over the Pro for the EVO Plus' much better thermal characteristics. However, it would be nice to see another review soon with more extensive testing in an enclosure.

The Samsung 990 Evo Plus is now in stock at Amazon.ca and the price has dropped! ...by $3. Oh well, I can wait.

EDIT: Nope. Now the price of the 990 Evo Plus has gone up again, to even higher than it was before. Lame. I'll wait for Black Friday pricing. If that doesn't work out, I may cave and get a Western Digital SN850X or something, since it's significantly cheaper. However, I'm not too fond of the SN850X's (or the Samsung 990 Pro's) power consumption.

 

[EugW]

I ordered the Qwiizlabs ES40UR since they indicate 8 TB support. I've looked around and all of the Hagibis specs everywhere say it maxes out at 4 TB. I don't know if it's just because they haven't updated their specs lately, but I figure I'd play it safe and get the Qwiizlabs instead.

Hagibis support states their enclosure maxes out at 4 TB. However, I know the Hagibis also uses the ASM2464PD chipset. So why the discrepancy? Incorrect specification information? Different chipset firmware?

 

[alchemistics]

Tested the Satechi USB4 NVME Pro with a 850x 4TB today to prepare as a permanent home dir drive for the M4 Mini.

The drive gets hot when idling. This cant be good for 24/7 usage.

Research shows that this seems to affect all USB4 NVME enclosures. On Windows Power draw is lower on idle then MacOS.

Is there any solution to this?

Acasis has a version with the same chipset as the satechi (7440) but with a fan.

Please advice:

- 24/7 high temp use, is it truly a concern ?
- Any hopes on MacOS fixing idle power management for these chipsets?
- How silent is the silent fan from the Acasis Fan version really?
- Experience with the Satechi regarding heat?

I am kind of baffled that all enclosures suffer heat issues and that power management is suboptimal despite any form factor dealing with it better or worse.

I'm at the point of just attaching a big passive cpu cooler to such a drive. However considering the investment for Satechi + WD 4TB (370.-) and all the research already done and possible efforts in dealing with further alterations (although chosen), just going for the onboard 4TB option does seem much more attractive compared to the (originally thought) easy workaround of using a USB4 NVME enclosure to increase storage.

Feedback is much appreaciated.

 

[drrich2]

BTW, the picture of the Sonnettech Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Super Dock suggests a third party heatsink would not fit inside. Also, there doesn't seem to be much design consideration given to cooling. It's just a flat metal plate. Will it dissipate enough heat of the faster drives? Mind you, that dock only supports up to 800 MB/s anyway, so you could run a slower drive that produces less heat.

Thanks. I reached out to Sonnettech to get their position on this; their reply:

"Hello Richard,

Thank you for your interest in our dock. When using an M.2 SSD, you are not able to use a heat sink because it would interfere with the enclosure. You are correct that the SSD speed is maxed out at 800 MB/s and this is because there is one lane of PCIe 3.0 dedicated to the SSD since the other 3 lanes are for all of the other connectors. The SSD is heat sinked to the enclosure so it is not sitting in an open space so heat should not be an issue. It appears your version of the SSD compatibility is not the latest, here is the latest .

Thanks,

Jason"

So, if anyone else searching Mac Forums for info. on the Sonnettech Echo 20 Thunderbolt 4 Super Dock, be advised when purchasing an internal SSD for it, get one without a heat sink.

 

[EugW]

Tested the Satechi USB4 NVME Pro with a 850x 4TB today to prepare as a permanent home dir drive for the M4 Mini.

The drive gets hot when idling. This cant be good for 24/7 usage.

Research shows that this seems to affect all USB4 NVME enclosures. On Windows Power draw is lower on idle then MacOS.

Is there any solution to this?

Acasis has a version with the same chipset as the satechi (7440) but with a fan.

Please advice:

- 24/7 high temp use, is it truly a concern ?
- Any hopes on MacOS fixing idle power management for these chipsets?
- How silent is the silent fan from the Acasis Fan version really?
- Experience with the Satechi regarding heat?

I am kind of baffled that all enclosures suffer heat issues and that power management is suboptimal despite any form factor dealing with it better or worse.

I'm at the point of just attaching a big passive cpu cooler to such a drive. However considering the investment for Satechi + WD 4TB (370.-) and all the research already done and possible efforts in dealing with further alterations (although chosen), just going for the onboard 4TB option does seem much more attractive compared to the (originally thought) easy workaround of using a USB4 NVME enclosure to increase storage.

I am no expert here, but after reading through (parts of) this thread and checking the various reviews, my personal conclusion is that on macOS you preferably should:

1) Buy an SSD that doesn't run so hot. You'll see from my posts above that even though some have had decent results with these drives, I've been reluctant to buy either the WD SN850X or the Samsung 990 Pro for this very reason, DRAM be damned. Many of the DRAM-less SSDs run much cooler, and a few of them actually do appear to have good performance despite having neither HMB support in the enclosure nor DRAM. I've been looking at the Samsung 990 EVO Plus (not the plain EVO) precisely for this reason, but so far have held off because it only came out recently and the pricing is still too high.

2) Buy an enclosure which is designed as a giant heat sink, if you're getting a fanless design.
Some examples include the OWC 1M2 and the Qwiizlabs ES40UR / Hagibis MC40. I don't have it yet, but I've ordered the Qwiizlabs and will report back once I've had a chance to test it. In the meantime, I've posted some comments above about the Qwiizlabs and the Hagibis.

 

[drrich2]

- 24/7 high temp use, is it truly a concern ?

I had the same question (roughly) not long ago; here's the thread:

Do external SSDs have more heating issues than internal? Why?​

 

[roflc0pter]

I am no expert here, but after reading through (parts of) this thread and checking the various reviews, my personal conclusion is that on macOS you preferably should:

1) Buy an SSD that doesn't run so hot. You'll see from my posts above that even though some have had decent results with these drives, I've been reluctant to buy either the WD SN850X or the Samsung 990 Pro for this very reason, DRAM be damned. Many of the DRAM-less SSDs run much cooler, and a few of them actually do appear to have good performance despite having neither HMB support in the enclosure nor DRAM. I've been looking at the Samsung 990 EVO Plus (not the plain EVO) precisely for this reason, but so far have held off because it only came out recently and the pricing is still too high.

2) Buy an enclosure which is designed as a giant heat sink, if you're getting a fanless design.
Some examples include the OWC 1M2 and the Qwiizlabs ES40UR / Hagibis MC40. I don't have it yet, but I've ordered the Qwiizlabs and will report back once I've had a chance to test it. In the meantime, I've posted some comments above about the Qwiizlabs and the Hagibis.

View attachment 2447687View attachment 2447686

Got a base Mac Mini M4 arriving Friday and was looking at the OWC 1M2 for $99. This model gets a lot of praise but costs a bit more than the others that use the same ASM2464PD chip. Is it worth paying extra for the brand and reliability?

 

[EugW]

Got a base Mac Mini M4 arriving Friday and was looking at the OWC 1M2 for $99. This model gets a lot of praise but costs a bit more than the others that use the same ASM2464PD chip. Is it worth paying extra for the brand and reliability?

The others here know better than I do about that enclosure as they have first-hand experience with it. However, a few comments:

1) Looking at the pictures, it seems to me to be the most robust fanless SSD enclosure design out there. It really does look like a legit giant heatsink.

2) It doesn't work with Thunderbolt 3. On Thunderbolt 3 machines (Intel Macs) it drops down to 10 Gbps USB 3.2. It needs Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 to work at full 40 Gbps speed, but you're covered because you're getting an M4 Mac mini.

3) I ended up ordering the Qwiizlabs ES40UR enclosure, because it's considerably cheaper than the OWC 1M2, and it looks to me (in online pictures) to have the second most robust fanless enclosure design out there. It also looks like a legit heatsink, but just quite as much as the OWC. In addition, despite the fact that the Qwiizlab uses the same ASM2646PD chipset, this one supposedly does support Thunderbolt 3. It's not a major concern to me since I will also be using it with an M4 Mac mini, but I do have an Intel iMac with Thunderbolt 3 in the house.

 

[roflc0pter]

The others here know better than I do about that enclosure as they have first-hand experience with it. However, a few comments:

1) Looking at the pictures, it seems to me to be the most robust fanless SSD enclosure design out there. It really does look like a legit giant heatsink.

2) It doesn't work with Thunderbolt 3. On Thunderbolt 3 machines (Intel Macs) it drops down to 10 Gbps USB 3.2. It needs Thunderbolt 4 / USB 4 to work at full 40 Gbps speed, but you're covered because you're getting an M4 Mac mini.

3) I ended up ordering the Qwiizlabs ES40UR enclosure, because it's considerably cheaper than the OWC 1M2, and it looks to me (in online pictures) to have the second most robust fanless enclosure design out there. It also looks like a legit heatsink, but just quite as much as the OWC. In addition, despite the fact that the Qwiizlab uses the same ASM2646PD chipset, this one supposedly does support Thunderbolt 3. It's not a major concern to me since I will also be using it with an M4 Mac mini, but I do have an Intel iMac with Thunderbolt 3 in the house.

I'll prob just buy the OWC for $19 more. Company has been around for awhile so I trust them in case I need any support in the future. One thing I saw about the Qwiizlabs on the Amazon US product page is that it has the Frequently returned item banner so I wonder the issue is there.

 

[Pressure]

I have one of those ASM2464PD enclosures with a DIY massive heatsink attached and an old OWC Envoy Express Thunderbolt 3 enclosure (which is limited to 1.5GB/s).

The Samsung SSD 970 EVO Plus is in the ASM2464PD enclosure and the Samsung SSD 990 PRO is in the OWC Envoy Express. That's a delta of 11℃ at idle ...

I am definitely swapping out that ASM2464PD enclosure with a new Thunderbolt 5 enclosure when they get released.

 

[alchemistics]

Thanks for the helpful and fast answers!

I've looked at the numbers of the Satechi USB4 NVME Pro with a WD Black 850x 4TB:

At idle it runs at around 50° with a power draw of ~5-6w. Going up to ~58° when under load. The power draw itself is more then a Apple Silicon System drawing in total at idle, rendering these enclosures really unsuited for mobile use. As seen Windows is able to have ~half of the idle wattage.

Changing to an OWC 1M2 with a 990 Evo Plus would probably result in ~45° idle I estimate. As the main heat generator is the controller from the enclosure + MacOS poor power management and not the NVME itself.

Realistically a 5° cooler system will probably not change anything significantly over a 5 year lifespan. It's probably best to just accept it and let life go on. It's just to bad there is not any real alternative which gets rid of these inefficiencies.

 

[Loco Sock]

Here's my DriveDX on a Samsung 990 Pro 4TB that has been in an Acasis Enclosure since around the middle of May.

I don't use the included cable, I prefer to go with OWC or Caldigit or Apple.

Not one disconnect and I've got 4 partitions on it at the moment. Will be reducing those when I need to. Have the one SneakerNet partition to plug into my Mini PC with USB 4 in it to check for firmware updates on the 990.

Anyway, without further ado https://cln.sh/MT0lTXMk

 

[EugW]

I'll prob just buy the OWC for $19 more. Company has been around for awhile so I trust them in case I need any support in the future. One thing I saw about the Qwiizlabs on the Amazon US product page is that it has the Frequently returned item banner so I wonder the issue is there.

I was watching iJustine's M4 Mac mini review, and guess what I spotted...

One thing I forgot to consider was that the OWC is colour matched to the aluminum Macs like that M4 Mac mini that's coming to me soon, and to the Studio Display as well, as you can see from the screen grab. The Qwiizlabs one I ordered is not. 😥 Oh well whatever.

 

[roflc0pter]

I was watching iJustine's M4 Mac mini review, and guess what I spotted...

View attachment 2448238

One thing I forgot to consider was that the OWC is colour matched to the aluminum Macs like that M4 Mac mini that's coming to me soon, and to the Studio Display as well, as you can see from the screen grab. The Qwiizlabs one I ordered is not. 😥 Oh well whatever.

Good find if you care about aesthetics. I have a feeling it will be even cheaper during Black Friday sales so I'm holding out on the OWC for now seeing as I don't need it right away

 

[alchemistics]

M4 Mini came in!

I attached the Satechi NVME Pro to the desks metal leg using zipties and a longer usb 4 cable.

Idle temp went down from 58° Celcius to 44°. Before after 1h idling it was at 58°

Could be improved with a thermalpad inbetween, but temperature went down significantly and the drive is tucked away cleanly using the whole table structure as a heatsink.

it works.

Edit: Barely warm to the touch now, before after 1h it was burning fingers.

 

[EugW]

M4 Mini came in!

I attached the Satechi NVME Pro to the desks metal leg using zipties and a longer usb 4 cable.

Idle temp went down from 58° Celcius to 44°. Before after 1h idling it was at 58°

World's biggest SSD heatsink!

 

[Chancha]

Acasis announced their TB501 enclosure, as the name implies it is Thunderbolt 5. The speed seems to be exceeding OWC's TB5 enclosure by a large margin. No info on what NVMe SSD in used in the tested graphs.

Mac mini最佳搭档——ACASIS阿卡西斯TB501雷电5硬盘盒推荐

 

[EugW]

View attachment 2448576View attachment 2448575View attachment 2448574View attachment 2448577

Acasis announced their TB501 enclosure, as the name implies it is Thunderbolt 5. The speed seems to be exceeding OWC's TB5 enclosure by a large margin. No info on what NVMe SSD in used in the tested graphs.

Mac mini最佳搭档——ACASIS阿卡西斯TB501雷电5硬盘盒推荐

I'm not so much concerned about the speed. I'm much more concerned about the cooling and thermal performance.

 

[Chancha]

I'm not so much concerned about the speed. I'm much more concerned about the cooling and thermal performance.

I have been using their TBU405 Pro M1 (JHL + Realtek, toolless with a fan). Never went into thermal issues. In fact I don't even turn the fan on almost all the time, the beefy enclosure itself is enough on its own.

That said, judging by the photos, it seems this TB501 is a bit scaled down from TBU405Pro. Not sure if it is due to the Intel Barlow chip can run cooler or not? We will see.

 

[Chancha]

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item.jd.com

Found a JD listing of the product, needs an account to see product details (I don't have one), but the promo video shows some interesting info. There is a breakdown showing exactly how the air chamber goes.

The product is already listed for sale and will ship right away, for about $220 US dollars but this is just domestic China price.

 

[EugW]

I saw this post today:

"this thing SIPS power. I plugged it into a killawatt, during setup it was using like 6-8 watts, right now as im typing this its using between 1-2 watts. unreal. thats like sleep mode on anything else i've ever used."

Compare that to the idle power of one of the external USB 4 drives.

 

[EugW]

Hmmm... Qwiizlab is the first computer or computer peripherals company I've seen that asks for tips on their payment page:

 

[masotime]

Hmmm... Qwiizlab is the first computer or computer peripherals company I've seen that asks for tips on their payment page:

View attachment 2449266

It’s likely a default PayPal plugin thing.