Finding a good external enclosure is a mess

[majormike]

Been trying to find an enclosure for my 970 Evo Plus but all the enclosures on Amazon have complaints about dropouts and inconsistency, so my dear fellow external storage brethrens here, who have announced themselves to me on several occasions, whenever I complained about Apple's stock storage being not enough and upgrades too pricey, you proudly always referred me to "that's why you use external storage".

So, would you please then be so kind and tell me which enclosure gets you reliably through the day? 🧐

Since half of you said you do professional work, they must be reliable.

 

[turbineseaplane]

Yep - it's a minefield of bad cooling, weird chips, performance all over the place with lots of variables.

It frankly sucks.

I wish Apple would just relent and do socketed NVMe so different storage needs could be more easily addressed after purchase and in the future.

 

[majormike]

Yep - it's a minefield of bad cooling, weird chips, performance all over the place with lots of variables.

It frankly sucks.

I wish Apple would just relent and do socketed NVMe so different storage needs could be more easily addressed after purchase and in the future.

I think Maximara should hook us up, because he apparently found the endgame.

 

[LuisN]

Been trying to find an enclosure for my 970 Evo Plus but all the enclosures on Amazon have complaints about dropouts and inconsistency, so my dear fellow external storage brethrens here, who have announced themselves to me on several occasions, whenever I complained about Apple's stock storage being not enough and upgrades too pricey, you proudly always referred me to "that's why you use external storage".

So, would you please then be so kind and tell me which enclosure gets you reliably through the day? 🧐

Since half of you said you do professional work, they must be reliable.

I bought this one and after one month of use didn't have any problems

OWC Envoy Express

For the first time in the history of Thunderbolt, you can buy a bus-powered Thunderbolt certified enclosure and install your own drive in it.

eshop.macsales.com

 

[Spudlicious]

Been trying to find an enclosure for my 970 Evo Plus but all the enclosures on Amazon have complaints about dropouts and inconsistency, so my dear fellow external storage brethrens here, who have announced themselves to me on several occasions, whenever I complained about Apple's stock storage being not enough and upgrades too pricey, you proudly always referred me to "that's why you use external storage".

So, would you please then be so kind and tell me which enclosure gets you reliably through the day? 🧐

Since half of you said you do professional work, they must be reliable.

You don’t say if you intend to boot from the SSD or if you’re thinking expensive thoughts of Thunderbolt, but no matter. My entirely amateur view is that - unless reviews show a consensus against a particular suspect - you may as well choose by colour, the brand name on the box means nothing in this age of contract manufacturing.

 

[mi7chy]

The only enclosures that support 2.8GB/s are OWC Envoy Pro EX and FX but they come with bundled SSD. Wonder if you can buy the smallest one like 240GB then swap it out with your own 2TB.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-ex-thunderbolt-3

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-fx

 

[Mike Boreham]

I bought this one and after one month of use didn't have any problems

OWC Envoy Express

For the first time in the history of Thunderbolt, you can buy a bus-powered Thunderbolt certified enclosure and install your own drive in it.

eshop.macsales.com

Another vote for Envoy Express. Not the fastest but well behaved and cool for me. I use it with a WD SN750 black 500GB. Used for occasional booting. Had no trouble installing and booting from it.

 

[mj_]

Been trying to find an enclosure for my 970 Evo Plus but all the enclosures on Amazon have complaints about dropouts and inconsistency

Are those complaints M1-specific? If not I can highly recommend the SSK USB 3.2 Gen 2 SSD enclosure (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07MNFH1PX/). The 1TB Samsung 970 Evo has been my 27" iMac's primary boot drive for the last seven months during which I've had exactly zero dropouts, zero disconnects, and zero inconsistencies.

 

[majormike]

The only enclosures that support 2.8GB/s are OWC Envoy Pro EX and FX but they come with bundled SSD. Wonder if you can buy the smallest one like 240GB then swap it out with your own 2TB.

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-ex-thunderbolt-3

https://eshop.macsales.com/shop/owc-envoy-pro-fx

They are insanely expensive, they price them at the same price Apple charges for more space on their devices, clever.

I don't think OWC isn't that good, many people complain about the empty enclosures. The only thing I like is that magnet on the back?

 

[ca$hman]

Been trying to find an enclosure for my 970 Evo Plus but all the enclosures on Amazon have complaints about dropouts and inconsistency, so my dear fellow external storage brethrens here, who have announced themselves to me on several occasions, whenever I complained about Apple's stock storage being not enough and upgrades too pricey, you proudly always referred me to "that's why you use external storage".

So, would you please then be so kind and tell me which enclosure gets you reliably through the day? 🧐

Since half of you said you do professional work, they must be reliable.

After messing around I ended up getting rid of my 970 Evo Plus, buying a WD Black 750S 1TB and using that with a Necktec enclosure. That combination giving me a whopping 2319 MB/s write and 2541 MB/s read speed!

 

[S_Antas]

Hi all,

Tried, with success this one from ORICO with a rather modest Crucial P2 1TB:

ORICO 40Gbps USB4 to M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure, USB-C to M2 PCIe Adapter Reader for 2280 M-Key & B+M Key Solid State Hard Drive, Compatible with Thunderbolt 3/4,USB4/3.2/3.1/3.0

Turn your M.2 PCIe Gen 4x4 SSD into an USB4 40Gbps Storage Turn your PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD into a lightning-speed USB4 based external storage solution. This enclosure features USB4 (40Gbps) & PCIe 4.0 delivering real read/write data transfer speeds up to 1GB per second. USB4 Type-C or Thunderbolt 4/3...

www.amazon.co.uk

Ended up keeping the Sabrent tool-less, even though it maxes out at 20GPBs (but that was something I could live with, especially as it costs a bit more than half the ORICO's price):

SABRENT M.2 Thunderbolt NVMe Enclosure SSD Docking Station USB C External Aluminum Thunderbolt 3 M2 NVMe Adapter, Tool-Free, with Cooling Pad, Fast Data Transfer, M Key only, Cable Included (EC-T3NS)

Description: The Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 M.2 NVMe SSD Tool-Free Solid Aluminum Enclosure is the ultimate combination of convenience, performance, and reliability! Thunderbolt 3 technology enables amazing speeds of up to 1600 MBs. TRUST RELIABILITY: Don't entrust your valuable DATA to devices that a...

www.amazon.co.uk

My main external is the Sabrent XTRM 1 TB (not the Q version), and had zero problems and issues with it. Blazing fast, and to be honest ended up cheaper than buying the enclosure and the disk separately...

SABRENT Thunderbolt 3 External SSD 1TB, Portable Hard Drive NVMe USB 3.2x2 2400 MB/s Read, USB 3.2 Cable C to A and Type A to C Included, External M.2 SSD Aluminum Shell (SB-XTRM-1TB)

SABRENT Thunderbolt 3 External SSD 1TB, Portable Hard Drive NVMe USB 3.2x2 2400 MB/s Read, USB 3.2 Cable C to A and Type A to C Included, External M.2 SSD Aluminum Shell (SB-XTRM-1TB)

www.amazon.co.uk

(note: as I live in Portugal, bought all items from Amazon Spain, where the prices were (curiously?) lower than in the UK)

 

[majormike]

Hi all,

Tried, with success this one from ORICO with a rather modest Crucial P2 1TB:

ORICO 40Gbps USB4 to M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure, USB-C to M2 PCIe Adapter Reader for 2280 M-Key & B+M Key Solid State Hard Drive, Compatible with Thunderbolt 3/4,USB4/3.2/3.1/3.0

Turn your M.2 PCIe Gen 4x4 SSD into an USB4 40Gbps Storage Turn your PCIe M.2 NVMe SSD into a lightning-speed USB4 based external storage solution. This enclosure features USB4 (40Gbps) & PCIe 4.0 delivering real read/write data transfer speeds up to 1GB per second. USB4 Type-C or Thunderbolt 4/3...

www.amazon.co.uk

Ended up keeping the Sabrent tool-less, even though it maxes out at 20GPBs (but that was something I could live with, especially as it costs a bit more than half the ORICO's price):

SABRENT M.2 Thunderbolt NVMe Enclosure SSD Docking Station USB C External Aluminum Thunderbolt 3 M2 NVMe Adapter, Tool-Free, with Cooling Pad, Fast Data Transfer, M Key only, Cable Included (EC-T3NS)

Description: The Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 M.2 NVMe SSD Tool-Free Solid Aluminum Enclosure is the ultimate combination of convenience, performance, and reliability! Thunderbolt 3 technology enables amazing speeds of up to 1600 MBs. TRUST RELIABILITY: Don't entrust your valuable DATA to devices that a...

www.amazon.co.uk

My main external is the Sabrent XTRM 1 TB (not the Q version), and had zero problems and issues with it. Blazing fast, and to be honest ended up cheaper than buying the enclosure and the disk separately...

SABRENT Thunderbolt 3 External SSD 1TB, Portable Hard Drive NVMe USB 3.2x2 2400 MB/s Read, USB 3.2 Cable C to A and Type A to C Included, External M.2 SSD Aluminum Shell (SB-XTRM-1TB)

SABRENT Thunderbolt 3 External SSD 1TB, Portable Hard Drive NVMe USB 3.2x2 2400 MB/s Read, USB 3.2 Cable C to A and Type A to C Included, External M.2 SSD Aluminum Shell (SB-XTRM-1TB)

www.amazon.co.uk

(note: as I live in Portugal, bought all items from Amazon Spain, where the prices were (curiously?) lower than in the UK)

Does the sabrent rocket use the same toolless enclosure?

 

[S_Antas]

Does the sabrent rocket use the same toolless enclosure?

Hi,

Aesthetically they are quite the same, but the tool-less has a ring in the bottom used to open the enclosure. The rocket is somehow (or apparently) sealed, and I can’t seem to find a way to open it up.

Speedwise, the Rocket doesn’t have the bandwidth limitations of the stand alone enclosure (I get slightly lower speeds on the Rocket when compared to the internal sdd o the MacBoo Pro - 16/256).

 

[turbineseaplane]

The rocket is somehow (or apparently) sealed, and I can’t seem to find a way to open it up.

There are screws under the rubber feet I believe

 

[majormike]

Hi,

Aesthetically they are quite the same, but the tool-less has a ring in the bottom used to open the enclosure. The rocket is somehow (or apparently) sealed, and I can’t seem to find a way to open it up.

Speedwise, the Rocket doesn’t have the bandwidth limitations of the stand alone enclosure (I get slightly lower speeds on the Rocket when compared to the internal sdd o the MacBoo Pro - 16/256).

Yeah no it seems to be the same enclosure but with a speed of 1600 instead of 2200 or 2500 so I don't see myself spending 90 bucks on that and rather get the 10 GB version...