Recommend me a USB4/TB4/5 NVMe Enclosure

[smirking]

What I’d like to see is something with thermals of the T7 Shield but with DRAM and USB 4 speed, but AFAIK, that does not exist.

OK, after making the mistake of buying a USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 SSD, I'll answer my own question on why you would buy your enclosures separately from the SSD. The consumer market SSD solutions aren't just a bit behind. They're way behind.

You had mentioned that this gap existed, but I didn't realize just how wide that gap was because I was looking at attractive looking 20Gbps drives without realizing that I wouldn't be able to use those drives to their full specification.

The gap between 20Gbps and TB4 is small enough to overlook in terms of actual usage for most people, but the gap between 10Gbps and TB4 is consequential. The equivalence in options that I was wrestling with was a mirage on one side of the equation.

The simplicity and price competitiveness of consumer market solutions completely vanish once you come to the realization that there's a lot of fine print and it's easy to make an expensive mistake that you can't fix.

I think we will eventually get back to a place where the tech matures and my assumptions about cost-benefit tilt back toward the consumer market solution, but that could be a while. In the meantime, I'll be watching for what TB5 solutions come onto the market with great interest.

 

[Phonzoxd]

Is it normal for the tb4 enclosure to always be lukewarm, even when the mac is asleep?

 

[OftheSeven]

Also looking for an enclosure and NVME for my MiniM4 Pro.

For music production, do people still partition for "Samples" and "Recording" or just keep it one partition?
Other than options and redundancy, is there a benefit to multiple smaller SSDs, are modern drives fully capable of handling simultaneous sample playback and recording/playing?

 

[tacman7]

Used to be you would use a disc for your OS and one for recording. Then SSD's changed things.

Some like to have a real hard drive for recording still. I don't think partitions do anything for you performance wise but just my opinion.

If drives are fast enough it probably doesn't matter.

OS access of a drive while recording so that it would cause a problem was the fear but it comes from the early days of drives.

That being said, nothing wrong with over engineering.

 

[spaceballl]

ALRIGHT! It's Black Friday week. Which enclosure should we be buying here?? I want the best possible chipset at the lowest possible price!

 

[Phonzoxd]

ALRIGHT! It's Black Friday week. Which enclosure should we be buying here?? I want the best possible chipset at the lowest possible price!

People are paying like 100+ for theres, meanwhile i was recommending this one when its was going for $56 on Amazon. Just slightly more expensive now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1STC73H?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

this is what i got on my first pass.

 

[marstan]

People are paying like 100+ for theres, meanwhile i was recommending this one when its was going for $56 on Amazon. Just slightly more expensive now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1STC73H?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

this is what i got on my first pass.

That looks like a bad thermal design: underside of top cover doesn't look like it touches the pad on the ssd. I would worry about heat problems (thermal throttling, disconnects, longevity).

 

[EugW]

Is it normal for the tb4 enclosure to always be lukewarm, even when the mac is asleep?

Which enclosure? Is that the WAVLINK? I believe that uses the same ASM2464PD chipset as my Qwiizlab.

The behaviour I see is that it draws 5.5 Watts when idle, and when the Mac sleeps, it continues to draw that for like half a minute, and then drops down to 1.0 - 1.5 Watts.

So, even while sleeping it's drawing a bit of power, enough to slow the cooling of the drive. My drive which has a much more robust heatsink design than the WAVLINK does, idles at 43C (although it takes a long time to get up to 43C if it's not being actively used), and then on sleep it will slowly drop to below 30C. However, it never seems to get to room temperature unless the computer (and thus the drive) has been completely shut off.

People are paying like 100+ for theres, meanwhile i was recommending this one when its was going for $56 on Amazon. Just slightly more expensive now.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0D1STC73H?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1

this is what i got on my first pass.

What drive though, and what kind of temperatures are you seeing?

When I first applied the thermal pads, my Samsung 990 Pro was idling at 43C inside my Qwiizlab as mentioned, but with long continuous writes it could spike to over 50C (after 15 minutes) or even to 55C (after almost an hour). However, I redid the thermal pads, and it now it doesn't move past 46C even after 15 minutes of continuous writes. It still idles at 43C though, probably because of how much power the ASM2464PD chip uses.

 

[Phonzoxd]

Which enclosure? Is that the WAVLINK? I believe that uses the same ASM2464PD chipset as my Qwiizlab.

The behaviour I see is that it draws 5.5 Watts when idle, and when the Mac sleeps, it continues to draw that for like half a minute, and then drops down to 1.0 - 1.5 Watts.

So, even while sleeping it's drawing a bit of power, enough to slow the cooling of the drive. My drive which has a much more robust heatsink design than the WAVLINK does, idles at 43C (although it takes a long time to get up to 43C if it's not being actively used), and then on sleep it will slowly drop to below 30C. However, it never seems to get to room temperature unless the computer (and thus the drive) has been completely shut off.



What drive though, and what kind of temperatures are you seeing?

When I first applied the thermal pads, my Samsung 990 Pro was idling at 43C inside my Qwiizlab as mentioned, but with long continuous writes it could spike to over 50C (after 15 minutes) or even to 55C (after almost an hour). However, I redid the thermal pads, and it now it doesn't move past 46C even after 15 minutes of continuous writes. It still idles at 43C though, probably because of how much power the ASM2464PD chip uses.

Orico o7000 4tb

what program to use to check thermals

it only was very hot when i did an initial transfer of 1.3tb onto it

ehen i did a 300gb transfer it didnt get nearly as hot

 

[EugW]

Orico o7000 4tb

what program to use to check thermals

it only was very hot when i did an initial transfer of 1.3tb onto it

ehen i did a 300gb transfer it didnt get nearly as hot

I used Macs Fan Control. They have a free version that allows you to check fan speeds and various temps. Don't bother with the paid version because that's to set custom settings and what not.

Macs Fan Control - control fans on Apple computers, also on Windows via Boot Camp

Control fans on Apple computers, also on Windows via Boot Camp. Monitoring of fan speed and temperature sensors. Solve fan noise and overheating problems, iMac HDD replacement

crystalidea.com

The only thing though is that when Macs Fan Control is actively monitoring my drive's temp, my drive's LED is also constantly flashing. It seems the checking of the temperature is read as a drive access and therefore flashes the LED. It doesn't harm anything and it doesn't increase power usage either, but it's annoying. So, what I do is load the program, check the temp, and then quit the program from the taskbar icon's drop down options.

 

[Phonzoxd]

That looks like a bad thermal design: underside of top cover doesn't look like it touches the pad on the ssd. I would worry about heat problems (thermal throttling, disconnects, longevity).

It absolutely touches the underside of the pad to the enclosure. But hey people always love justifying there more expensive purchases, be my guest.

I used Macs Fan Control. They have a free version that allows you to check fan speeds and various temps. Don't bother with the paid version because that's to set custom settings and what not.

Macs Fan Control - control fans on Apple computers, also on Windows via Boot Camp

Control fans on Apple computers, also on Windows via Boot Camp. Monitoring of fan speed and temperature sensors. Solve fan noise and overheating problems, iMac HDD replacement

crystalidea.com

The only thing though is that when Macs Fan Control is actively monitoring my drive's temp, my drive's LED is also constantly flashing. It seems the checking of the temperature is read as a drive access and therefore flashes the LED. It doesn't harm anything and it doesn't increase power usage either, but it's annoying. So, what I do is load the program, check the temp, and then quit the program from the taskbar drop down options.

Ill give it a try in a little bit.

 

[Phonzoxd]

Which enclosure? Is that the WAVLINK? I believe that uses the same ASM2464PD chipset as my Qwiizlab.

The behaviour I see is that it draws 5.5 Watts when idle, and when the Mac sleeps, it continues to draw that for like half a minute, and then drops down to 1.0 - 1.5 Watts.

So, even while sleeping it's drawing a bit of power, enough to slow the cooling of the drive. My drive which has a much more robust heatsink design than the WAVLINK does, idles at 43C (although it takes a long time to get up to 43C if it's not being actively used), and then on sleep it will slowly drop to below 30C. However, it never seems to get to room temperature unless the computer (and thus the drive) has been completely shut off.



What drive though, and what kind of temperatures are you seeing?

When I first applied the thermal pads, my Samsung 990 Pro was idling at 43C inside my Qwiizlab as mentioned, but with long continuous writes it could spike to over 50C (after 15 minutes) or even to 55C (after almost an hour). However, I redid the thermal pads, and it now it doesn't move past 46C even after 15 minutes of continuous writes. It still idles at 43C though, probably because of how much power the ASM2464PD chip uses.

ive had my Mac on all day, and transfered 300GB on it a few hours ago.

I am idling at 38C

 

[EugW]

ive had my Mac on all day, and transfered 300GB on it a few hours ago.

I am idling at 38C

That's good, but what I'd be more concerned about are the peak temps during heavy usage.

 

[Phonzoxd]

That's good, but what I'd be more concerned about are the peak temps during heavy usage.

ill test that out for you tonight when i move another 300GB over.

i'll time it as well.

Edit: actually nevermind, ill be transferring in from a 2.5ssd so it wont be pushing it to the limits.

 

[marstan]

It absolutely touches the underside of the pad to the enclosure. But hey people always love justifying there more expensive purchases, be my guest.

Hey, don’t impute intentions to me that are not there. Good to know the cover makes contact but there are some unhappy campers on that Amazon link (Wavelink not Orico) you provided that report otherwise.

 

[EugW]

ill test that out for you tonight when i move another 300GB over.

i'll time it as well.

Edit: actually nevermind, ill be transferring in from a 2.5ssd so it wont be pushing it to the limits.

Well, it would be good for you to know anyway, since that would be real world results of your setup.

Anyhow, I see that the Orico 07000 is a DRAM-less model with MaxioTech controller, so it should run cooler than the higher performance SSDs with DRAM that some of us are running here. To be honest, I do share @marstan's concern about the thermal design of the WAVLINK if paired with a hotter drive, but it looks like the Orico 07000 should be fine.