Cheap PNY 8GB commodity drive. Thing was so damned slow I changed it to 512GB and only ran 1 pass. Thats not a mistake, the random write tests are slow low as to not even register. RND4KQ32T16 is something like .0003MB/s.

The SK Hynix Platinum P41 is a worthy choice for anyone looking to buy a high-performance PCI Express 4.0 NVMe SSD without breaking the bank. It blew away several of our benchmark records. The P41 provides AES hardware-based encryption and a clone utility tool as well as SSD management software. Just be forewarned that with its blistering speed, you will want to add a heatsink, the one item of note that it is missing. The Sabrent (EC-SNVE) is cheap and support both M.2 SATA and M.2 NVMe SSDs. It comes with 100% tool-free installation so that you can easily install or remove your SSD on the go. Setup is made easy with the device supporting hot-swapping, allowing users to change SSDs without having to power down the device first. Additionally, it offers plug-and-play functionality, removing the need for driver installations and hence promoting a user-friendly approach.Next is the fastest USB thumb drive I own. These predate me having the USB External M2 adapters. So I used to use them for salvage. Most of the time now they run various bootable things. But the read/write speeds are still impressive for a true USB Thumb drive. Sandisk Extreme 64GB (CZ80)

This module contains - 1.M.2 Carrier; 2.Thermal Pads; 3.M.2 3.5" Module Bay; 4.Capacity Label sheet for M.2 Carrier The key thing to remember about M.2 is that it is a form factor, a shape. The bus—the data pathway over which the data travels to and from an M.2 drive—is distinct from M.2 itself and can vary. And it can make all the difference. (Credit: Molly Flores)We actually like these because often, you often get a robust heat sink on the M.2 drive. Some PCI Express-bus M.2 SSDs can run hot under sustained read/write tasks and throttle their speed. That said, unless you're running a server or something similar, where a drive is constantly getting hammered with reads and writes, that's usually not something you have to worry about. That's because many of these drives are so fast, they get their transfer duties done before they have a chance to get all that hot.

The last enclosure I bought was the TDBT M.2 NVMe enclosure. Like the Shinestar this also uses the JMS583, and despite the inclusion of a larger case, and a heat spreader with thermal pad, it runs slightly hotter than the Tripp-lite unit, but not uncomfortably so. I assume the heat spreader is doing its job and spreading the heat, and the larger enclosure has more surface area to absorb/dissipate heat.

Lexar NM790

This one is perfect if you have two drives and do not want to use two different enclosures. Don’t worry, it works perfectly with a single drive as well. However, this only supports the M.2 NVMe SSDs, not M.2 SATA SSDs.