OWC Express 1M2 owners what SSD did you buy ?

[OWC_TAL]

Ive been in touch with OWC for extra feet. They asked for my invoice and it's been 3 days since they got back. Why the delay? Over something that costs them 1c.

Hmm not sure. First that I've heard of this. Usually our response time is fast, so that seems off.

Asking for invoice also seems odd at first glance. If we are sending out free feet, perhaps it is reasonable to just confirm that someone legitimately has a device? Though usually that is for something more expensive... not a foot.

Did you get a case number? If so, send me a DM or post so I can look into and get this fixed going forward. Thanks!

 

[DeepSix]

This is not something we deny warranties for. We expect drives, especially portable ones, to have scratches and be used. Now say someone shipped back a warranty claim for a drive that was split in half because it went through a wood chipper... that would be a different situation...

Okay this is good to know, thanks.

 

[DeepSix]

Hmm not sure. First that I've heard of this. Usually our response time is fast, so that seems off.

Asking for invoice also seems odd at first glance. If we are sending out free feet, perhaps it is reasonable to just confirm that someone legitimately has a device? Though usually that is for something more expensive... not a foot.

Did you get a case number? If so, send me a DM or post so I can look into and get this fixed going forward. Thanks!

When I first emailed support, I got a reply the next day but I haven't heard back since.

Case: 02796703

If I can have a few feet sent to me that would be great as I didn't have any spares in my package. Thanks.

 

[OWC_TAL]

When I first emailed support, I got a reply the next day but I haven't heard back since.

Case: 02796703

If I can have a few feet sent to me that would be great as I didn't have any spares in my package. Thanks.

Hi! I think they should be reaching out to you shortly, or have already reached out again. Not sure why it sat for so long, so apologies for that. Looks like you are in Canada, and there were not spares there. So we have/had to send spares from our US warehouse to the Canada warehouse. If you don't hear back this week, let me know and I'll probe again. Hopefully should be able to get you some spares soon. Thanks

 

[DeepSix]

Hi! I think they should be reaching out to you shortly, or have already reached out again. Not sure why it sat for so long, so apologies for that. Looks like you are in Canada, and there were not spares there. So we have/had to send spares from our US warehouse to the Canada warehouse. If you don't hear back this week, let me know and I'll probe again. Hopefully should be able to get you some spares soon. Thanks

Thanks. No reply from support yet but I will give it the rest of this week.

 

[weksasemaj]

If anyone is looking for a hard case for their 1M2, I got this and it fits the 1M2 perfectly. I normally don't put my hard drives in cases but I don't want to damage the fins. Also don't want to scratch it, the enclosure is so nice it feels like a gallery piece.

Worried that with the 3 year warranty from OWC, if you ever have to send it in for warranty, that OWC could deny your claim if it's not on perfect condition.

View attachment 2502392

Looks good! What case is this?

 

[DeepSix]

Looks good! What case is this?

Ugreen. Fits like a glove.

UGREEN External Hard Drive Case 2.5 Inch Shockproof Hard Drive Bag Travel Electronics Organizer Carry Case Compatible with WD, Hitachi Hard Drive and Accessories Like SD Card, Black : Amazon.ca: Electronics

UGREEN External Hard Drive Case 2.5 Inch Shockproof Hard Drive Bag Travel Electronics Organizer Carry Case Compatible with WD, Hitachi Hard Drive and Accessories Like SD Card, Black : Amazon.ca: Electronics

www.amazon.ca

 

[miric]

I currently use it with Samsung 990 Pro 4TB.

 

[DeepSix]

I just bought another 4TB NVMe drive (same drive already in my 1M2 as I got it on sale for the same price) and Ive looking and shopping endlessly for the last month for a good and not too expensive enclosure to put it in.

Since this will be used purely to backup my drive in my 1M2, I wanted to save some money by getting a cheaper enclosure.

Well the cheap ones will just cause your NVMe to overheat and as much as I considered the 1M2 clones, there is not a single one that will perform as well as the 1M2 for both performance and temp control.

So even though it is a overkill, as I don't need TB4 performance on a backup drive. right now I'm leaning towards just getting another 1M2 just for the design and its ability to keep the drive cooler than any other enclosure out there.

The TB4 performance over regular USB 3.1 is a bonus. And I looked and read all the reviews to all the competitors to the 1M2. I just don't trust any of them. You get what you pay for.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

Huh, I never thought of adding a pad below. Oh well, ordering time.

Samsung 9100, no test/stats yet.

 

[Alpha Centauri]

I just bought another 4TB NVMe drive (same drive already in my 1M2 as I got it on sale for the same price) and Ive looking and shopping endlessly for the last month for a good and not too expensive enclosure to put it in.

Since this will be used purely to backup my drive in my 1M2, I wanted to save some money by getting a cheaper enclosure.

Well the cheap ones will just cause your NVMe to overheat and as much as I considered the 1M2 clones, there is not a single one that will perform as well as the 1M2 for both performance and temp control.

So even though it is a overkill, as I don't need TB4 performance on a backup drive. right now I'm leaning towards just getting another 1M2 just for the design and its ability to keep the drive cooler than any other enclosure out there.

The TB4 performance over regular USB 3.1 is a bonus. And I looked and read all the reviews to all the competitors to the 1M2. I just don't trust any of them. You get what you pay for.

good move. The 1M2 does very well keeping my 990 Pro cool for TM. Attached only whilst backing up it doesn't have a challenging role but I did buy it IF I ever want to leave this combination permantely tethered to the MBP.

My Acasis enclosures with TB4 enclosures and same NVMe do heat up a bit BUT for cloning, they're extremely quick and are ejected after completion. So no issue there.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

If I can have a few feet sent to me that would be great as I didn't have any spares in my package. Thanks.

Not specifically your answer, but after putting something without feet on my Mac, I ordered these.

100pcs Cabinet Door Bumpers Clear Self Adhesive，0.4inch Diameter Rubber Dots for Non Slip，Cabinet Soft Close Pads Quiet for Kitchen Drawers Picture Frames Furniture

Reduce the slam of your cabinets by up to 30% with these sound dampening door bumpers. These bumpers will complement your SoftClose dampers for added cushioning and are a great alternative for cabinets that do not have self-closing hinges. Put them on your doors. Put them on your drawers. From da...

www.amazon.com

 

[DeepSix]

40TB Western digital 850X

 

[DeepSix]

Not specifically your answer, but after putting something without feet on my Mac, I ordered these.

100pcs Cabinet Door Bumpers Clear Self Adhesive，0.4inch Diameter Rubber Dots for Non Slip，Cabinet Soft Close Pads Quiet for Kitchen Drawers Picture Frames Furniture

Reduce the slam of your cabinets by up to 30% with these sound dampening door bumpers. These bumpers will complement your SoftClose dampers for added cushioning and are a great alternative for cabinets that do not have self-closing hinges. Put them on your doors. Put them on your drawers. From da...

www.amazon.com

Thanks. What do these exactly do for the mini?

 

[rb2112]

The harsh reality about these "fast" drives is that you are measuring only the initial disk cache which is high speed. After a while of long read / write the cache is filled and the drive reduces to the actual disk speed, which may be about 1200 MB / sec. Some of the caches can be 300 GB large, so most people don't realize this is happening.

The only solution that is effective here is to RAID 0 two smaller drives in separate 40gbs enclosures. So when the performance hit happens it's still getting double the speed than just one. People warn that it doubles the chance of it failing, but the chance is so low it goes from a 1% to a 2% chance. Anyhow everything is backed up these days.

Given this, I wish both numbers would always be reported (initial, and sustained). I know that does not do well in advertising competition.

Nice point about the RAID solution.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

Thanks. What do these exactly do for the mini?

Protect the top of the mac.

I have a couple external SSDs with no feet on their cases. I still fiddle around with the back ports and they would shift and possibly scratch the top of the studio when I move it around.

I swear I would think I was good with the USBs between the studio and the CalDigit TS5. Not. I had to dig out my old Satechi USB hub. It looks great but won't remain flat with cables attached, it isn't heavy enough and the back lifts up and looks ridiculous and stupid. Nice testing, guys. They redesigned it so that wouldn't happen.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

Given this, I wish both numbers would always be reported (initial, and sustained). I know that does not do well in advertising competition.

Nice point about the RAID solution.

Go to the right site for a good review. I noticed on Toms Hardware in some articles they specifically mention issues getting valid numbers.

 

[Non-Euclidean]

I bought 8TB WD850x.

One thing to be aware of is it's double-sided. I got much better thermal performance of 10-15 Celsius when I adhered the thermal pad to both the top of the SSD (included in the 1M2 case) AND to the underside of the SSD (PCB) so it connects to the PCB and to side wall of the 1M2.

OK, after reading this carefully I realize what you are doing. Obviously just adhering the pad to the bottom of the SSD would only contact the PCB and not do much for thermal transfer.

So I guess you made the thermal pad wide enough, or offset it slightly to reach the near/screwdriver side of the case? Possibly having it wrap slighty up around the side of the SSD?

 

[Non-Euclidean]

Thoughts on this? Don't let thermal pad bridge between controller and DRAM?

 

[MacCheetah3]

Thoughts on this? Don't let thermal bad bridge between controller and DRAM?

Eh. It probably does make a difference. Worthwhile? Probably not in most cases.

If we break it down... The recommended maximum temperature is 82ºC.* His highest reported temp under a heavy load (i.e., benchmark software) is 78ºC. The average controller temp, on the non-optimized thermal pad setup, was 64ºC. Even his final speed results are well within the typical run-to-run variances.


* The datasheet is a little confusing.

Those values are seemingly ambient conditions as pointed out in listings such as by Newegg:

The drive itself (via S.M.A.R.T.) reports:
• Recommended Temperature Min/Max of 5ºC to 82ºC
• Temperature Limit Min/Max of 5ºC to 85ºC

This is apparently confirmed by another user:

[SOLVED] - Samsung 980 Pro Temps

Hello, I have a Samsung 980 Pro 1 TB as the boot drive and it's barely full (73% free space out of the 1 TB) and also has 10% over provisioning set. And the case is very well ventilated (noctua 120 + 140 iPPC's, 3 x 140's + 2 x 120's for intake) and (4 x 120's for exhaust). The temps on the...

forums.tomshardware.com

P.S. My 990 Pro in the 1M2 has a max recorded temp of 50ºC — which includes benchmarking and video editing.

 

[AdamSeen]

OK, after reading this carefully I realize what you are doing. Obviously just adhering the pad to the bottom of the SSD would only contact the PCB and not do much for thermal transfer.

So I guess you made the thermal pad wide enough, or offset it slightly to reach the near/screwdriver side of the case? Possibly having it wrap slighty up around the side of the SSD?

View attachment 2574281

Yes, the thermal pad underneath is laid across the PCB and is stretched a little to contact the side to extract heat. The bit circled in red is where the pad touches.

 

[rb2112]

The harsh reality about these "fast" drives is that you are measuring only the initial disk cache which is high speed. After a while of long read / write the cache is filled and the drive reduces to the actual disk speed, which may be about 1200 MB / sec. Some of the caches can be 300 GB large, so most people don't realize this is happening.

fella here has a good way to go about finding and comparing and thinking about these specs