Got a tip for us?
Let us know
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.
Thunderbolt 3 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosures
- Thread starter oreggero
- WikiPost WikiPost
- Start date
- Sort by reaction score
- Status
I don’t have another cable to test, unfortunately. I tried the other side of my MacBook Pro and it seemed to be better, but I could only test for like 30 minutes.
Ideally, Samsung magician would recognize the SSD
Samsung Magician detects both my 970 EVO Plus and 990 Pro in macOS.
I can't do anything with the application (besides seeing stats) because of the reasons you mentioned though.
I should clarify that Magician sees the ssd and notes that it’s a Samsung 990 Pro. It won’t let me upgrade the firmware or change anything on the drive though.
I’m thinking of buying the bullet and just purchasing the new Acadia TB5 enclosure…
Yep Samsung Magician sees my 990 Pro but I can’t do anything with the app. BTW even outside of that, the app kinda sucks.
Which enclosure do you have? So I guess if we need to update the firmware we're SOL?
Noctua NF A6x25 FLX or PWM series: https://noctua.at/en/nf-a6x25-pwm
In the spirit of experimentation, I ordered a cheap aluminum heat sink from Aliexpress to attach to my Maiwo K1717 enclosure which has been idling at 53ºC.
They sent me the wrong size (a bit too small), but even this heat sink has lowered my idle temperatures by 5ºC. I'll be interested to see if the temperatures improve even more once the proper sized heat sink arrives.
They sent me the wrong size (a bit too small), but even this heat sink has lowered my idle temperatures by 5ºC. I'll be interested to see if the temperatures improve even more once the proper sized heat sink arrives.
Last edited:
As a FYI, I have 2 Maiwo K1717 enclosures each with a 4TB WD Black 850x in a (Apple DU) 8TB RAID 0 array. Both have an internal flat aluminum HS over the thermal pad. At idle the temps are 44 to 45 C and both enclosures sit on the top of the M2 Studio Max, which does help to lower the temps.
Below are my R/W speeds. I use this to store my LR photo files and the catalogs load just instantly as the Read speed is so fast vs. past drives.
~ EDIT Mar 4: Received my new WLtree Thermal Pads from amazon of 2@ 1mm and 2@1.5mm for $$9.99 and installed into both of the Maiwo K1717 enclosures. Nice pads with higher thermal transfer rate and definitely more rugged than the ones I had before. Ended up using 1 of each thickness (no longer a metal pad) on the WD 4TB Black 850x's in each enclosure and it was a tight fit. Temps are now 39 degrees C at idle or about 5-6 degrees cooler than before. Did a 2-1/2 hour Lightroom Synchronize after combining 2 photo catalogs into 1 (including adding 35,000 new photos) and the temps went to 48 C max, vs 55-60 C previously. The M2 Studio Max CPU was at 65-99% capacity for most of the time, so a worthwhile test and the new pads do help lower the temps.
Last edited:
I just receied my Acasis Tu501 Pro and installed my 4tb Samsung 990 Pro. For reference, here are the scores.
One thing I’m noticing and I think this *might* be with all enclosures, is that the enclosure disconnects when my laptop goes to sleep. So when it wakes up, I get the message that the drive didn’t disconnect properly. Is any one else seeing this?
I have NEVER seen this with my two ASM2464PD USB4/Thunderbolt enclosures on my M4 Mac mini, not even once in the 3-4 months I've had them. However, I used to see this several times a month (or even several times a week) with various USB 3 SSDs.
If you're seeing this behaviour with a Thunderbolt 5 enclosure, that is a major, MAJOR disappointment. The problem with this behaviour on my USB 3 SSD with my Photos Library on it is that occasionally Photos would act funky afterwards. It'd lose the ability the sync with iCloud Photos until I rebooted. I have no idea why this disconnect/reconnect sequence would do this to Photos, but it did.
Last edited:
The advantage is that it sleeps and saves power (and potentially wear and tear) of course. However, if your machine has problems with sleep, then best not to use it.
Hi everyone,
I've finally got around to setting up my Qwiizlab and SN580.
I've got a little bit of a surprise. The SN580 doesn't have an entirely level top side. It seems there are a couple of chips sitting on the top. I've read plenty of people on here have used the SN580, so I'm hoping it's not a problem.
I'm getting a bit nervous now I'm at the point where I should be adding the thermal tape. Are these instructions correct? I found them doing a web search (obviously, it's a different enclosure). https://forum.argon40.com/t/wd-sn580-nvme-installation-on-the-one-v3/3004
I've also noticed there will probably be enough space to apply both thermal pads on top of each other, if that's a good idea? I might just start with the thickest pad.
I've finally got around to setting up my Qwiizlab and SN580.
I've got a little bit of a surprise. The SN580 doesn't have an entirely level top side. It seems there are a couple of chips sitting on the top. I've read plenty of people on here have used the SN580, so I'm hoping it's not a problem.
I'm getting a bit nervous now I'm at the point where I should be adding the thermal tape. Are these instructions correct? I found them doing a web search (obviously, it's a different enclosure). https://forum.argon40.com/t/wd-sn580-nvme-installation-on-the-one-v3/3004
I've also noticed there will probably be enough space to apply both thermal pads on top of each other, if that's a good idea? I might just start with the thickest pad.
Here are the Qwiizlab instructions:
ES40UR
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION QWIIZLAB Fanless USB4 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure, 40Gbps Type-C, PCIe Gen 4 UASP, Fits Size 2280/2260/2242/2230mm, Supports M Key B&M Key, Rugged Aluminum Case About this item： Ultra Speed USB4 - fast data transfer rate with USB4, NVMe and PCIe Gen4 protocols to achieve soaring...
qwiizlab.net
For the SSD, you only need the thermal pad on the top side of the SSD, but I put it on both the top and bottom, which slows down the temp increase under use. There is an also a thermal pad for the top of the SSD enclosure's controller, and there is already a thermal pad installed on the underside near the controller.
Stacked thermal pads can sometimes work, but when I tried it, it didn't seem to work well. However, I would be surprised if both thermal pads included with the enclosure stacked on top of each other would fit properly in that enclosure without bending the SSD motherboard. I wouldn't do it. When I tried stacking thermal pads, it was with the stock 2.0 mm thermal pad plus an additional third party 0.5 mm thermal pad.
Last edited:
Here are the Qwiizlab instructions:
ES40UR
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION QWIIZLAB Fanless USB4 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure, 40Gbps Type-C, PCIe Gen 4 UASP, Fits Size 2280/2260/2242/2230mm, Supports M Key B&M Key, Rugged Aluminum Case About this item： Ultra Speed USB4 - fast data transfer rate with USB4, NVMe and PCIe Gen4 protocols to achieve soaring...
For the SSD, you only need the thermal pad on the top side of the SSD, but I put it on both the top and bottom, which slows down the temp increase under use. There is an also a thermal pad for the top of the SSD enclosure's controller, and there is already a thermal pad installed on the underside near the controller.
Stacked thermal pads can sometimes work, but when I tried it, it didn't seem to work well. However, I would be surprised if both thermal pads included with the enclosure stacked on top of each other would fit properly in that enclosure without bending the SSD motherboard. I wouldn't do it. When I tried stacking thermal pads, it was with the stock 2.0 mm thermal pad plus an additional third party 0.5 mm thermal pad.
Thanks @EugW. You're right, there is a probably too much thickness with both bits of tape stacked on the top. The thickness of mine are fractionally different, .5mm max. They both look like 2mm to me.
I'm wondering if you looked at the photo in the link I posted? It's not my set-up. Someone else posted it. The bit that's unusual (from what I've seen of other chips) is the top of the NVMe isn't flat - chips visible, making it an uneven surface. I think most NVMes have the chips on the underside? Here's the photo:
The response this guy got was to just put the tape across anyway. I'm not sure whether to trust it.
It's not clear from the photo, but the chips are at either end, so the the thermal tape will sag in the middle. I suppose I could double stack there to level it.
The other thing is this design means when I fasten the NVMe to the case it slopes down from the pin end to the screw end. I guess this is because the chips are on the top side. Maybe another opportunity to add some tape and keep it level?
Don’t worry about the unevenness. Mine aren’t even either. Just use the best fit thermal pad that allows all the areas to touch the surface of the enclosure. It will compress to compensate for the unevenness.
In my case a 2.0 mm thick thermal pad worked fine, but I eventually bought a third party 2.25 mm thermal pad to use instead so that it could provide a bit more compression. (Thermal pads will sometimes work better if there is some compression.)
In my case a 2.0 mm thick thermal pad worked fine, but I eventually bought a third party 2.25 mm thermal pad to use instead so that it could provide a bit more compression. (Thermal pads will sometimes work better if there is some compression.)
If you're using Macs Fan Control, don't install the latest 1.5.17 if you want to continue to monitor your external Thunderbolt SSDs. It adds CPU temp monitoring support for M3 and M4, but loses external Thunderbolt drive temp monitoring.
1.5.17:
1.5.16:
Actually, right now I have both installed. I just renamed them to include the version number, and both work fine on the same system.
1.5.17:
1.5.16:
Actually, right now I have both installed. I just renamed them to include the version number, and both work fine on the same system.
...so are the fanless 40gb units likely to remain pretty static in terms of the options available, or should I wait for something better / cheaper in the next few months? I mistakenly bought some 10Gbps SSD's that are supposed to have far faster drives in them, and I am looking to shuck and transfer.