In this review, we are focused on the USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports available in contemporary computing systems. The Plugable USBC-NVME enclosure we are looking at today is also based on the same bridge chip. It can accommodate a M.2 2230 / 2242 / 2260 / 2280 NVMe SSD. The aluminum enclosure comes with two 25cm cables - a Type-C to Type-C, and a Type-C to Type-A . Both are rated for 10 Gbps operation. Plugable also supplies three thermal pads, and rubber pegs (one for each supported M.2 SSD size). Our evaluation of the Plugable USBC-NVME had two aspects - the comparison of different USB 3.1 Gen 2 hosts currently in the market, and the comparison of the product itself against the MyDigitalSSD M2X enclosure. Our benchmark numbers have shown that the ASMedia ASM2142 and the Cannon Point-LP PCH's implementation of the USB 3.1 Gen 2 perform very similar to each other. Alpine Ridge / JHL6540 turned out to be an also-ran. To its defense, the DHL6540 / JHL6540 controllers have been around for more than a couple of years now. Evaluation of the newer Titan Ridge controller for similar workloads may yield numbers similar to what we obtained for the ASM2142 and CNP-LP PCH.

Xclio Super Mini M.2 NVMe SSD External Enclosure for - Scan

In the rest of this review, we compare the Plugable USBC-NVME with a host of other storage bridges (including the TEKQ Rapide Thunderbolt 3 enclosure). Note that only the MyDigitalSSD M2X belongs to the same specific category as the Plugable USBC-NVME. The table below presents the detailed specifications and miscellaneous aspects of the units and how they compare.Intel JHL6540 (Alpine Ridge) enabling one of the Thunderbolt 3 Type-C ports in the rear I/O panel of Intel NUC8i7HVK ( Hades Canyon NUC) Use the PowerShell command Optimize-Volume -DriveLetter H -ReTrim -Verbose (assuming that the drive connected to the storage bridge is mounted with the drive letter H) SATA - USB storage bridges that support UASP fully can translate the SCSI UNMAP command to TRIM commands for SSDs connected to the downstream port. In the case of M.2 NVMe - USB storage bridges, the bridge chip has to recognize the corresponding NVMe command and pass it downstream appropriately. Just a while ago I shared a tutorial about building your own external SSD and how easy it is to do so. All you need is an internal SSD along with a compatible NVMe enclosure. Fix the SSD into the enclosure and you are done. It’s that simple, really.

UGREEN M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure, USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps NVMe

Plugging in the enclosure reveals what makes it stand out – its 1.3-inch screen. When in standby, the home screen displays whether that power loss protection capacitor is charged, the SSD model currently installed, the remaining life of the SSD, and the amount of data that has been read from or written to the drive since it was powered on.ASMedia ASM2142 enabling the USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C port in the front panel of Intel NUC8i7HVK ( Hades Canyon NUC) Intel's Cannon Point-LP PCH enabling one of the USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A port in the front panel of the Intel NUC8i7BEH ( Bean Canyon NUC) The second approach started making its appearance with the introduction of the AM4 desktop chipsets from AMD, and the Z390 chipset on the desktop / Cannon Point-H/-LP PCH on the mobile side from Intel. Usually, the number of USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports directly from the PCH is limited, and vendors may continue to use the third approach to enable additional high-speed ports. ASMedia continues to be a popular vendor in the bridge space, as evident from the widespread use of the ASM 2142 in various PCs introduced over the last year.

enclosure hands-on - 9to5Mac DockCase Pocket M.2 SSD enclosure hands-on - 9to5Mac

With its USB-C connection, the enclosure is limited to a theoretical maximum speed of 10Gb/s, and in testing it with one of my 128GB SK Hynix drives, I was seeing real-world write speeds of 850MB/s and read speeds of about 900MB/s. Using a different SSD, you could get slightly faster speeds with the enclosure, but that connection means you won’t see the speeds possible on some Thunderbolt-connected enclosures. An array of SMART features Compared to the MyDigitalSSD M2X's 56C at the end of the test with the JHL6540, we find that the Plugable USBC-NVME ended up at 62C, despite taking a slightly longer time to complete the benchmark. Based on this, we can conclude that the thermal solution of the M2X is slightly better than the USBC-NVME. However, it has to be kept in mind that the M2X is not a tool-less solution. BR: 10.7 GB Blu-ray folder structure of the IDT Benchmark Blu-ray (the same that we use in our robocopy tests for NAS systems) The 10Gbps Type-C Enclosure for M.2 2230 NVMe SSD JMS583 USB3.1 Gen2 features an JMS583 controller to enable fast transmission speeds of up to 1GB/s in USB 3.1 Gen 2 mode. With its 52mm x 28mm size and 24 gram weight, this M.2 2230 SSD Enclosure is a small yet versatile choice for various personal projects. The enclosure features an ultra-durable and rugged aluminum alloy CNC case for exceptional durability even in tough environments. Plus, it comes with free USB 3.1 10Gbps C to C cable and A to C cable at no additional cost, making it even more convenient to connect on the go! SPECIFICATION External bridge chip interfacing between one of the direct interfaces above or other available high-speed I/O lanes and the relevant I/O port

The M.2 2230 has never been a mainstream form factor. However, its compact size has made it a popular choice for embedded and laptop applications where portability is essential. We have been searching for a compact and high-speed storage solution, and we believe this product is the best option available on the market. The next screen offers graphs of the drive’s temperature and input voltage, while the final screen allows you to upgrade the enclosure’s firmware. 9to5Mac’s Take

Enclosure - USB 3.1 Type-C to M.2 PCIe ORICO M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure - USB 3.1 Type-C to M.2 PCIe

Any difference in power consumption for the same access trace between two different units is down to the storage bridge itself (since the drive used is the same in all cases). Peak power consumption for the USBC-NVME with the JHL6540 and the ASM2142 was around 4.8W (same as the MyDigitalSSD M2X). The USBC-NVME idled at around 1.5W on both of our test systems, compared to the 1.2W number for the M2X (albeit, on a different testbed). We can't reliably conclude whether the difference in the host system (our custom Skylake testbed against the Hades Canyon NUC) is responsible for the lower idle power of the M2X, as it is also possible for the bridge firmware to be slightly different between the M2X and the USBC-NVME. Miscellaneous Aspects and Concluding Remarks The test starts off with the Photos folder in a RAM drive in the testbed. robocopy is used with default arguments to mirror it onto the storage drive under test. The content on the RAM drive is then deleted. robocopy is again used to transfer the content, but, from the storage drive under test to the RAM drive. The first segment gives the write speed, while the second one gives the read speed for the storage device. The segments end with the purge of the contents from the storage device. This process is repeated thrice and the average of all the runs is recorded as the performance number. The same procedure is adopted for the Videos and the BR folders. Readers interested in looking at all the graphs in one shot can choose the 'Expand All' option in the dropdown menu. Based on the results from the CrystalDiskMark tests, we expect the ASM2142 to comfortably win all the benchmarks, but, the numbers below indicate that the Cannon Point-LP PCH and the ASM2142 are actually quite similar in real-world performance (coming out on top in 3 benchmarks each). The numbers also serve to confirm that the MyDigitalSSD M2X and the Plugable USBC-NVME perform similarly when the Alpine Ridge-enabled Type C port is used.Some of the early USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports were enabled by the third approach in the above list. For example, the ASMedia 1142 bridges 2x PCIe 2.0 or 1x PCIe 3.0 lanes to two USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports. Intel's own Alpine Ridge Thunderbolt 3 controller bridges 4x PCIe 3.0 lanes to a Type-C port that can act either as a Thunderbolt 3 Type-C, or, a regular USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C host (depending on the downstream peripheral).