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Extern NVME for Mac mini 4 - Thunderbolt or USB Type C ?

O

oclaudiu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 21, 2024
15
1
Good evening,
I bought an enclosure for Mac mini M4 in which I put a Samsung 980 Pro NVME. The read/write speeds are 1000 Mb/s and 900 Mb/s. If I put it in a Thunderbolt, would I see any differences? I have virtual machines on it and they run very well, I don't really see any differences compared to the internal NVME in the Mac Mini. Basically, apart from the read/write rates on Thunderbolt which reach 40 Gb/s, are there any differences in latency?
 
I don't think you would see any difference in speed or latency. The advertised speed for Thunderbolt represents the amount of data that the bus can carry. It's like a big highway with many lanes. But your car (the SSD) doesn't go any faster on a six lane highway than it does on a two lane highway.
 
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What speed do you get from the Mac mini international NVMe?

The Samsung 980 Pro should be able to achieve up to 7000 MB/s inside a PC.

If you put the NVMe into a Thunderbolt 3/4 enclosure or USB4 enclosure, then it can do 3000 MB/s instead of just 1000 MB/s.

If the Mac mini has M4 Pro which supports Thunderbolt 5, then you can get up to 6000 MB/s if you use a Thunderbolt 5 enclosure.

I don't think you'll see a big difference unless you're working with big files.
 
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From Mac Mini M4 internal NVME I get 3500 Mb/s read and 3000 Mb/s write. I think it's ok.
 
What is the enclosure you bought (provide a URL if possible)?

The enclosure determines the speed, not the nvme drive inside it.

Is it USB3.1 gen2 ?
Is it thunderbolt ?
Something else ?

I'm thinking that with the Mini, IF it's a USB enclosure, you will see similar "USB speeds" (again depending on WHAT VERSION OF USB3) whether it's plugged into the front or rear ports.
 
Is this enclosure :

Rack Extern M2. NVME SATA SSD Enclosure Excitat®, USB 3.2 Gen2, Adaptor NVMe la USB pentru 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 NVMe/SATA SSD De M-Key Sau M+B, Cu Cabluri USB C la C Si USB A la C, Aluminiu, Argint​

Rack Extern M2. NVME SATA SSD Enclosure Excitat®, USB 3.2 Gen2, Adaptor NVMe la USB pentru 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 NVMe/SATA SSD De M-Key Sau M+B, Cu Cabluri USB C la C Si USB A la C, Aluminiu, Argint - eMAG.ro

Cumpara Rack Extern M2. NVME SATA SSD Enclosure Excitat®, USB 3.2 Gen2, Adaptor NVMe la USB pentru 2230/2242/2260/2280 M.2 NVMe/SATA SSD De M-Key Sau M+B, Cu Cabluri USB C la C Si USB A la C, Aluminiu, Argint de la eMAG! Ai libertatea sa platesti in rate, beneficiezi de promotiile zilei...
www.emag.ro
 
how much is it in dollars i see 104lei


Wavlink 40Gbps M.2 NVME Enclosure PCI-E SSD Case NVMe External Case Thunderbolt | eBay

This Thunderbolt 3 M.2 SSD Enclosure facilitates easy connections for file backup, disk upgrades, cloning, data recovery, and storage expansion. It works over Thunderbolt 3 host interface. M.A.R.T is supported for steady and speedy transmission.
www.ebay.com

the one above should do 2500 speed which is better than your case
it is about 40 usd

thunderbolt 4 case should get you 2000-3500 speed.


note fast ebay search for thunderbolt 3-4 cases.

there are more than one under 90 usd which should be 2x the speed of your external.
 
Last edited:
oclaudiu said:
Good evening,
I bought an enclosure for Mac mini M4 in which I put a Samsung 980 Pro NVME. The read/write speeds are 1000 Mb/s and 900 Mb/s. If I put it in a Thunderbolt, would I see any differences? I have virtual machines on it and they run very well, I don't really see any differences compared to the internal NVME in the Mac Mini.
Click to expand...

It is likely then that your external enclosure is not the bottleneck for your work.

oclaudiu said:
Basically, apart from the read/write rates on Thunderbolt which reach 40 Gb/s, are there any differences in latency?
Click to expand...

Yes but likely immaterial for your situation.

I do encourage USB4/TB3/4/5 enclosures with NVMe drives for those buying new but I wouldn't replace a working and otherwise non-bottleneck I/O subsystem just to get benchmarks. Simply moving that NVMe to a USB4/TB3/4/5 enclosure will get you 2-4x read/write speeds on benchmarks. However, likely the result will feel about as fast as you get from running your VM on your internal drive. Which if your current external feels the same as your internal means you won't feel any difference for the work you are currently doing by upgrading your enclosure.

Stepping back, is there something your current setup isn't giving you? Maybe there is a bottleneck but it isn't here?
 
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OP:
re your reply 6 above...

It's a USB3.2 gen2 enclosure.
It should give you read speeds in the 900-925 range.
Doesn't matter whether it's plugged into a "USBc" port or a "thunderbolt" port.
If you're getting BETTER THAN 925MBps, then you're doing very well...
 
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Fishrrman said:
OP:
re your reply 6 above...

It's a USB3.2 gen2 enclosure.
It should give you read speeds in the 900-925 range.
Doesn't matter whether it's plugged into a "USBc" port or a "thunderbolt" port.
If you're getting BETTER THAN 925MBps, then you're doing very well...
Click to expand...
Yes, I think they need a better understanding of what USB and Thunderbolt are. Connections and transfer protocols are not the same thing. Maybe someone should write a FAQ or stickie about all of it, because it's a bit of a mess and lots of people are clearly unclear about them!
 
oclaudiu said:
No bottleneck . Everything work very very fast !
Click to expand...

Your bottelneck is your USB enclosure.
The SSD is capable of much faster speeds, so is the MM M4.
If you connect your current enclosure to the MM with a Thunderbolt cable it will make no difference since the enclosure is only USB.
For anything faster you need a USB4 or TB enclosure. However, if you feel it is fast enough for your work at the moment regardless, then you would most likely not see any benefit in replacing the enclosure with a TB one in normal day-to-day usage.
 
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I have it permanently connected to my Mac Mini M4, used it every day for the last 3 months and no problems so far.

Other people in the thread linked above had it for longer and can provide a more accurate reliability status.
 
bogdanw said:
I have it permanently connected to my Mac Mini M4, used it every day for the last 3 months and no problems so far.

Other people in the thread linked above had it for longer and can provide a more accurate reliability status.
Click to expand...
Thank you very much for reply. I will buy one then.
 
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