M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure

Over the past 2 weeks I have been pouring through reviews for external M.2 NVME enclosures, along with M.2 2280 NVME SSDs, that work with M1 Macs. There is an issue with the SSDs not being able to reach top speeds, or just not able to work with Apple's M1 Mac hardware or MacOS software. Additionally the speeds of various Thunderbolt 3 enclosures are not the same. By actually trying several enclosures and SSDs, I finally came to the best combination for the M1 Mac Mini. The Acasis USB4/Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, with its Intel 7440 chip works the best. But the enclosure is not the only part of the speed equation. You still need the best SSD. I've discovered that the WD Black SN750 produces the fastest speeds (2250 Write, 2450 Read) when used with the Acasis enclosure. I also tried the Sabrent TB3 enclosure with the WD SSD, but the speeds were only about 50% of the Acasis/WD combination. One SSD that CRASHED my M1 Mac Mini was the SK Hynix Gold P31. The SK is a highly rated SSD with the best value available right now, but it is not made clear that the SK Hynix NVME will NOT work with M1 Mac hardware and/or MacOS software. Also tried the Samsung EVO Plus SSD with the Acasis enclosure, but write speed only reached around 1,400 while read speeds were good at 2,400. Samsung SSDs are also known to have lower speeds with M1 Macs compared with Intel Macs. Anyway, if you want to actually get the best performance out of your M1 Mac, using an external USB4/Thunderbolt 3 enclosure and M.2 2280 NVME SSD, then know that the Acasis/WD Black SN750 combination works the best. At least for February 2021.2/24/2021 UpdateI forgot to add a correction to my assessment. The SK Hynix Gold P31 NVME, combined with the Acasis USB4 enclosure (USING INTEL 7440 CHIPSET) is the reason why the SK Hynix does not work with the M1 Mac. I also tried using the SK Hynix with a Jeyi USB 3.1 gen 2 (10Gb/s) enclosure, and that worked without issue with my M1 Mac Mini, and at about near the max speeds for USB 3.2 gen 2 (Jeyi uses the Realtek RTL 9210 controller chip, which is supposedly the best now compared with JMicron JMS583 chip). Also tried the SK Hynix with a Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, which also CRASHED my M1 Mac Mini exactly the same as the Acasis USB4/TB3 enclosure.Summary: SK Hynix will work with NON-USB4/TB3 enclosures. Until SK Hynix does a firmware update for its Cepheus controller chip, do not purchase if intending to use SK Hynix with USB4/TB3 enclosure

I don't know if the board works at all because I cannot install an NVMe to test it out. The reason is that it arrived without a PEM nut to secure and NVMe. It looks like this was part of a batch that was rushed through production but did not go through any quality assurance in the process. It makes me leery of the quality of the construction. I am now having to spend more time and money to order a PEM nut just to get this working. I should not have to do this.I contacted the seller. They gave me $10 for my troubles but I still needed to solve the problem myself by ordering some MVMe standoffs. They did offer an apology and promised that they would fix their quality control. The drive seems to be working fine after securing it with the standoffs that I bought. I just wish it hadn't needed to be repaired by me. I decided to increase my rating to 4 stars. The drive works but needed some effort on my part to get it to work properly.I hope they resolve their quality control issues going forward. I'm sure that if you get a drive with all the parts, you'll be completely satisfied.

I installed a Samsung 2TB 980 Pro. Using it with an M1 13" Macbook Pro.Initially the LED would not illuminate. After disconnecting and reconnecting several times, I finally seen a glint of LED light illumination. I pressed down on an angle on the laptop side of the cable. It finally connected to where it showed up in the MAC OS to be formatted. Formatted it and tested via Blackmagic. Unencrypted 2800 Mbs write and 2650Mbs read. *It was faster writing for some reason. A few minutes later it disconnected. LED went out. After swapping cable ends to try and create a stable connection, it never was reliable.I happened to have a high quality TB4 soft supple silicone cable that I paid $20 for. I used it and the connection was solid, no matter how I twisted it around, it stayed connected.I put back the original provided cable and it once again proved to be unreliable. I believe if it were plugged into a hub and never moved, it would be ok.But connected to my MBP while at work, I move sitting positions multiple times in a 12 hr day and I suspect it would move enough to disconnect.If they sent me a new cable, would it be better than the original? Dont know.Enclosure and the thermal adhesive strips work great. While backing up my timemachine from my mechanical 4tb drive, the enclosure was very warm on its entire body, and not just 1 side. That is impressive.

There are a ton of usb4 tb 3 nvme enclosures in the 300 to 400 dollar price range. I purchased this after purchasing a enclosure shaped like the Mac mini . I purchased a WD black 1tb sn770 and was getting speeds of about 800 mbs. These fast drives are quite new yet and I’ve been spending a lot of time with the confusing usb 3/4 thunderbolt 3/4. I found this and it’s said it was to 3 and I could expect up to 40gbs . Before I purchased this I started a return for my 1tb sn770 because I wanted 2 tb I should have stuck with the 770 because I got almost the exact same speed about 3000 mbs with both the sn770 and the much more expensive sn 850. Also I didn’t read this whole ad until I purchased this and saw that it said it didn’t support the sn850. Well it’s true I’m not getting 7000 mbs but I figure it’s future proof if I end up getting a newer Mac silicone. Right now I’ve got a m1 Mac mini 512 gb SSD and 16gb ram. I bought it used but it’s mint and I paid about 700 for a 1200 dollar Mac mini. Anyway I’m very pleased with the quality of this enclosure , I loaded up a fresh Monterey and everything went perfect. Only problem I’m having is both my inside drive an my nvme exterior won’t let me take ownership. But just using the computer no problems. I’ve still gotta figure this out I think it has something to do with the new file system. When you click on a drive it’s like there’s 4 drives below it and I don’t understand it. Bottom line halyard with this purchase. Only cheaper thunderbolt was 79.00 and I think this 122.00 price is just fine.Well built if you’re looking for a tb3 enclosure this is it.

Outstanding NVME enclosure! I've tried a few, but this is the most well made and fastest on my M1 Mac I've ever purchased..... Please read on....I'm a photographer with a huge LR catalog from tens of thousands of images through the years. Before purchasing this product - LR imports and the catalog logging would take minutes. So, I bought an M1 Mac Mini thinking that would "cure" my issues - but, my LR catalog used to sit on a RAID_1 2TB SATA SSD enclosure, and I found it wasn't the host computer, but rather the external SSD 2.5" drive enclose that was bogging it down.. So, the search began....I bought this product after all the excellent reviews - along with a Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 - and this combination rocks! At 2700 MBs writes and 2600 MB/s reads - this thing is a "pocket rocket" and nears the native speeds of my internal M1's SSD. For me...Exceptional performance, while at a price - is well worth it.I'll edit this review if anything goes wrong - but, for now? It's a 5-star.Hope this helps!