Thunderbolt 3 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosures

[shoarthing2]

. . . . I wonder what is the thermal conductivity of the thermal pads provided, and if higher end thermal pads would make any difference for the Samsung drive, but at this point I'm satisfied with the temps so I have no incentive to disassemble these enclosures again.

Quite so - disassembly of these NVME/thermal pad/enclosure sandwiches ain't appealing. I had some 1.5mm Arctic TP-3 tucked away, so used that between a 4TB 990 Pro & the board & case of a Hagibis MC40. Higher-end pads make some difference; but their strongest suit is softness/gap-filling, so avoiding local hot-spots if components aren't on the same level.

 

[Black Diesel]

I updated the firmware on my MAIWO

Same thing happened to me when I updated the firmware on my Maiwo k1717. The format of the firmware version changed. The stock firmware version looked like your old one and after updating the firmware to the latest, it now shows version 1.87. Odd.

I bought an snx850 and Maiwo k1717 as well. This is my first and I’m wondering if there’s clear direction on how/where to install the thermal pads? How did you update the firmware of the Maiwo? Is anything else required to get these things working?

 

[shoarthing2]

I bought an snx850 and Maiwo k1717 as well. This is my first and I’m wondering if there’s clear direction on how/where to install the thermal pads? How did you update the firmware of the Maiwo? Is anything else required to get these things working?

This image may help (tho' it is a bit too arty to be truly helpful):

 

[Idgit]

I bought an snx850 and Maiwo k1717 as well. This is my first and I’m wondering if there’s clear direction on how/where to install the thermal pads? How did you update the firmware of the Maiwo? Is anything else required to get these things working?

Maiwo has a video about applying the thermal pads, although it omits some steps (like removing the protective film from the thermal pads).

Maiwo also contradict themselves. On their website, they mention that the device comes with three thermal pads (two silicone and one metal). The video only shows two thermal pads (one silicone and one metal). My Maiwo only came with two thermal pads (one silicone and one metal).

The silicone thermal pad is sticky on both sides (protected by thin plastic films). Only remove the second protective film after you've applied the pad to the SSD. There is also a film protecting one side of the metal pad. Remove the film and put that side on the silicone pad.

I recommend wearing latex/nitrile gloves when you do this because you don't want to get oils or dust on the thermal pads because they can impair the heat transfer efficiency of the thermal pads. That's usually more of a concern with CPUs but I think it's still important to use good practices even for stuff like NVMe drives.

As for updating the firmware, I first recommend using the drive for a while to see if it performs reliably for you. I sort of jumped the gun and updated the firmware almost right away. I regret doing that. I should've used it stock for a while to get an idea of its stability and performance.

But if you want to update the firmware, you'll need access to a Windows machine.

Get the firmware from here:
ASM-2464 NVMe/USB 4.x Controller File Repository (includes the firmware updater app)

Instructions: How to upgrade ASM2464 firmware

One final note, after applying the firmware update, the updater app showed PASS but the firmware number was unchanged. I had to quit the app, disconnect and then reconnect the drive to see the updated firmware number.