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Most cost effective enclosure for best performance for Samsung 990 Pro NVMe M.2?
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I have a brand new Samsung 990 4TB sitting on my desk. Got several external drives so not sure what to do with it just yet, but will most likely pick up the OWC Express 1M2, since it would sit nicely next to the OWC Thunderblade stack I have - if only they did the 1M2 in black to match 
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Bit of an update after using the 990 Pro's in the Acasis TB enclosure with Super Duper and Time Machine.
Happy with the two 2TB cloning use, as this combination absolutely flies through this, they don't even have a chance of getting slightly warm and get unplugged straight after.
Now, the 4TB I use with Time Machine is another matter. The backups are thus far quick and short but the enclosure get's quite warm to hot whilst plugged in and idling after TM does its thing, this does concern me somewhat as ideally I'd like to leave it plugged into the MBP. Has anyone else found this to be an issue and why would this occur whilst the SSD isn't being written or read to/ from? It's just getting power really. I know it's a high performance drive but it's effectively only plugged in. I realise very warm to hot is subjective but I've no way to measure the actual temperatures.
Cheers.
PS I sent all three SSD's to Samsung to have the latest Firmware applied. The 4TB (also new) failed one of their tests and was returned to me with a brand new one.
PPS All drives formatted as APFS encrypted.
Happy with the two 2TB cloning use, as this combination absolutely flies through this, they don't even have a chance of getting slightly warm and get unplugged straight after.
Now, the 4TB I use with Time Machine is another matter. The backups are thus far quick and short but the enclosure get's quite warm to hot whilst plugged in and idling after TM does its thing, this does concern me somewhat as ideally I'd like to leave it plugged into the MBP. Has anyone else found this to be an issue and why would this occur whilst the SSD isn't being written or read to/ from? It's just getting power really. I know it's a high performance drive but it's effectively only plugged in. I realise very warm to hot is subjective but I've no way to measure the actual temperatures.
Cheers.
PS I sent all three SSD's to Samsung to have the latest Firmware applied. The 4TB (also new) failed one of their tests and was returned to me with a brand new one.
PPS All drives formatted as APFS encrypted.
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Acasis with a thermal Pad between cooler and case. The material of the pad ensures a sufficient holding effect for the heat sink. Bring down my 970 Pro from 64 to 55 °C.During a large copy, it gets proper hot (and yes, I do have the thermal pad making contact with both the drive and the case). At idle, it feels quite warm.
So at 01:30 this morning, I ordered this heatsink. It said Sunday delivery when I ordered but it turned up at 14:00 today. Superb service by Amazon.
I've fixed it to the enclosure nice and tightly with just a couple of cable ties, I don't have any thermal pad between them.
My Studio is mounted under my desk and the drive is plugged into the back and sitting on some stuff stacked up under my desk. It's not visible.
The difference is incredible, that extra heatsink means it's barely warm to the touch at idle and during a large copy, it warms up by three or four degrees, nothing more. I have an IR thermometer gun which is what I used to check the temperature.
It's not pretty but as I can't see it, I don't care. For the sake of less than six quid, this was well worth it.
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You've said already not having an Acacias but Satachi instead. Are you finding the OWC 1M2 enclosure running quite noticeably cooler?
I'm just revisiting this enclosure for TM use, if it's plugged in for a lengthy time. It's odd that these NVMe's get quite warm just simply mounted but not reading/ writing.
I found the same. That's part of the reason for the mah00sive heatsink I added. I don't think it's out of spec, it's just that they do seem to run warm, even at idle.
Thanks for confirming this. It appears to reach higher temps irrespective if one drive is attached to TM or another just sits idle when mounted on the desktop. But also not immediately. I think mine got noticeably hotter (then stayed at that temp) after about two hours of merely being mounted.
My two Super Duper SSD's in the Acasis I'll hang onto to as the current backups only take mere minutes. The one dedicated for TM I will send back. I've today ordered the OWC 1m2 enclosure but there's no stock, so it will be 5 weeks or so till it arrives. Amazon.de sporadically sells the enclosures but then always with a SSD pre-fitted, never by itself. So I'll have to wait for a supplier to get some and be sent to me from the other side of the country.
I'll report back how the OWC handles the 990Pro on the temperature front.
Have a look at my suggestion just above your comment (#82)
I've found the OWC 1M2 to work quite well with the 990. Not bad for a passively cooled enclosure. Not bad at all.
OWC 1M2 is a great enclosure - I have several and think they're great!
Picked up an ACASIS TB501 recently, and the speeds you can achieve are ridiculously fast. Need to test temperatures in comparison to the 1M2, even though the TB501 has a cooling fan that comes on as soon as the temps hit 40c and above, the 1M2 have the super larger heatsink and Ive never had any heat issues with them.......
Picked up an ACASIS TB501 recently, and the speeds you can achieve are ridiculously fast. Need to test temperatures in comparison to the 1M2, even though the TB501 has a cooling fan that comes on as soon as the temps hit 40c and above, the 1M2 have the super larger heatsink and Ive never had any heat issues with them.......
Always wondered how loud these were as I had so got used to SSD's being silent. I use two of your passively cooled variants as DAS backup drives, but they're so quick that they only get slightly warm whilst briefly attached. I do use my 1M2 for TM backups. Obviously not for the speed of TM but rather for its passive cooling efficiency when attached longer periods.
FYI you really should not be calling that other solution "Thunderbolt." While they may use a JHL chipset, they skipped the certification process, which is why they are able to offer it as a 0GB solution whereas genuine certified Thunderbolt devices cannot. The Thunderbolt brand is a trademark by Intel with very specific regulations on what and what not is allowed including specific quality metrics, testing procedures and more. Calling it Thunderbolt like you do in your title is a disservice to the actual legitimate devices that follow the rules...
It comes with a Thunderbolt cable, and is compatible with Thunderbolt. While the manufacturer may not call it a 'Thunderbolt' drive, I will point out that it is Thunderbolt compatible, and hence choose to call it what I wish.
I use plenty of OWC drives (personally purchased and not provided to me, may I add), as you can see from the video. If you feel it is a disservice then that's fine, you are entitled to your opinion.
Nothing wrong with people including a TB cable at all. Sorry I must have missed the word "Compatible" in your title the first time I read it. People can write TB compatible and that is true, but an actual TB drive it is not.
A certified device is very different from a non-certified device- one that follows the rules and one that does not.. If you want to interview OWC Larry (founder of OWC), I'm sure he would love to explain some of the ins and outs of Thunderbolt. Perhaps could make a neat video for your channel. I could help arrange.
A certified device is very different from a non-certified device- one that follows the rules and one that does not.. If you want to interview OWC Larry (founder of OWC), I'm sure he would love to explain some of the ins and outs of Thunderbolt. Perhaps could make a neat video for your channel. I could help arrange.