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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. While it may not offer the highest performance or absolute best value for money, it’s earned its place in my everyday carry, thanks to its minuscule size and great looks.
Enclosure, 5s Power Loss Protection DOCKCASE Smart M.2 NVMe Enclosure, 5s Power Loss Protection
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. 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)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. It’s worth mentioning that Apple’s M1 Mac range has an underlying issue due to which, your external SSD will not receive it’s maximum speed. 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 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. 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
ElecGear USB Mini Enclosure for 2230/2242 SATA M.2 SSD
Whichever brand and model you choose, make sure it’s compatible with your SSD and your device. For example, a Thunderbolt 3 certified enclosure won’t work with USB-C ports. Not all enclosures support all SSD sizes or types. Some take M.2 2280 type SSD only with maximum 2TB storage. 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. 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 Usually, PC Mark 8 reports time to complete the trace, but the detailed log report has the read and write bandwidth figures which we present in our performance tables. Note that the bandwidth number reported in the results don't involve idle time compression. Results might appear low, but that is part of the workload characteristic. Note that the same CPU is being used for all configurations. Therefore, comparing the numbers for each trace should be possible across different DAS units. Readers interested in looking at all the graphs in one shot can choose the 'Expand All' option in the dropdown menu.If cost is a concern, go with a PCIe 3.0 M.2 NVMe SSD like Crucial P2 and an enclosure like Orico M2PV-C3. If your device has a Thunderbolt 3 port, you can opt for a PCIe 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD like Samsung 980 PRO and an enclosure like OWC Envoy Express. 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) 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.
JEYI 2230 M.2 Enclosure, USB 3.2 Gen 2 10Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD
Storage bridges are an indispensable part of today's computing ecosystem. Internal ones may enable different I/O ports in a motherboard, while external ones are responsible for a variety of direct-attached storage units. These may range from low-performance flash drives with an USB interface to full-blown RAID towers interfacing over high-performance links such as Thunderbolt 3. While Thunderbolt 3 remains a premium Intel-only interface for now, USB 3.1 Gen 2 has emerged as a mass-market high-performance alternative. It is available across systems based on chipsets from multiple vendors. In this context, high-speed USB 3.1 Gen 2 storage bridges are interesting to analyze. Today, we look at Plugable's USBC-NVME NVMe SSD enclosure that bridges a PCIe NVMe device (M.2 2280 or smaller) to a USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type-C interface. Introduction 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. 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.
Miscellaneous Aspects and Concluding Remarks
In this review, we are focused on the USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports available in contemporary computing systems. 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) The above numbers also reflect the similar real-world performance for the ASM2142 and CNP-LP PCH ports. Thermal Aspects and Power Consumption 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).
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