Recommended 2TB SSD for Acasis enclosure for use with M4 Mini? PCIe v5 worth it?

[Fomalhaut]

I've just ordered an Acasis TBU405Pro M1 Thunderbolt enclosure to use with my M4 Pro Mini.

Can anyone recommend a good quality 2TB SSD that is *known* to perform reliably with this enclosure on an M4 Mini?

Is there any point in getting a PCIe v5 compatible SSD given the speed limitations of the enclosure? (I've seen 2750-2900MBps read/write speeds in tests)

Thanks!

 

[shoarthing2]

As you'll have seen, Acasis keep a fairly up-to-date 'recommended list':

Best M.2 NVMe SSDs for the ACASIS Thunderbolt 4 Enclosure

Introducing a list of the best M.2 NVMe SSDs for ACASIS Thunderbolt 4 SSD enclosures to enhance the experience of every ACASIS user.

www.acasis.com

. . . . I've a year of personal experience with a 2TB Corsair MP600 Pro NH in an Acasis enclosure, and it works fine - tho' like most of the best-performing DRAM-equipped NVMEs - it runs relatively warm.

 

[AlaskaMoose]

I've just ordered an Acasis TBU405Pro M1 Thunderbolt enclosure to use with my M4 Pro Mini.

Can anyone recommend a good quality 2TB SSD that is *known* to perform reliably with this enclosure on an M4 Mini?

Is there any point in getting a PCIe v5 compatible SSD given the speed limitations of the enclosure? (I've seen 2750-2900MBps read/write speeds in tests)

Thanks!

I watched a review somewhere where a faster enclosure was used to compare to the Acasis on a large data transfer (the idea was to see what happened to throttling versus internal temperature). The Acasis I am referring to had a cooling fan, and its speed is lower than the other, but the latter has a tough aluminum case that aids with heat dissipation. Initially the faster enclosure performed quite well at high speed, but toward the middle and conclusion of the test, as its internal temperature increased, it became slower than the Ocasis. However, both of these enclosures are two of the best in the market, so you won't go wrong with either one.

 

[Fomalhaut]

As you'll have seen, Acasis keep a fairly up-to-date 'recommended list':

Best M.2 NVMe SSDs for the ACASIS Thunderbolt 4 Enclosure

Introducing a list of the best M.2 NVMe SSDs for ACASIS Thunderbolt 4 SSD enclosures to enhance the experience of every ACASIS user.

www.acasis.com

. . . . I've a year of personal experience with a 2TB Corsair MP600 Pro NH in an Acasis enclosure, and it works fine - tho' like most of the best-performing DRAM-equipped NVMEs - it runs relatively warm.

Thanks for the link to the list. I couldn’t find it when I searched on the Acasis website….

 

[Fomalhaut]

I watched a review somewhere where a faster enclosure was used to compare to the Acasis on a large data transfer (the idea was to see what happened to throttling versus internal temperature). The Acasis I am referring to had a cooling fan, and its speed is lower than the other, but the latter has a tough aluminum case that aids with heat dissipation. Initially the faster enclosure performed quite well at high speed, but toward the middle and conclusion of the test, as its internal temperature increased, it became slower than the Ocasis. However, both of these enclosures are two of the best in the market, so you won't go wrong with either one.

That was the video that made me choose the TBU405 Pro with the fan. So many tests just run BlackMagic disk test with relatively small single file transfers, which gives optimistic results. Transfers of 100s of GB with many smaller files are more common when moving media files around, which is where I would use an external SSD.

 

[Fomalhaut]

I've just received the Acasis TBU405Pro M1 enclosure but don't yet have the 2TB SSD I plan on using with it (Samsung 990 Pro) so I tried it with a smaller Samsung 970 EVO Plus that I have in a USB-C 3.2 enclosure.

Unfortunately it appears to be very unstable and disconnected during initial speed testing.

The SSD is known to work in the USB-C enclosure, so I'm concerned that the Acasis enclosure has a fault. It appears in the Thunderbolt device tree on the Mac, but couldn't complete a read/write cycle in Black Magic Disk Speed test. It briefly showed a high read speed (c. 2800MB/s), but then froze. Write speed was about 1300MB/s but couldn't complete a full test cycle before disconnecting.

(1) The Samsung 970 EVO is shown in Acasis' compatibility list but not the 970 EVO Plus - maybe it's not compatible for some reason?

(2) Does the Acasis enclosure have any kind of firmware upgrade that needs to be applied? I bought mine direct from Acasis.

This is a pretty disappointing start....

 

[Fomalhaut]

I've just received the Acasis TBU405Pro M1 enclosure but don't yet have the 2TB SSD I plan on using with it (Samsung 990 Pro) so I tried it with a smaller Samsung 970 EVO Plus that I have in a USB-C 3.2 enclosure.

Unfortunately it appears to be very unstable and disconnected during initial speed testing.

The SSD is known to work in the USB-C enclosure, so I'm concerned that the Acasis enclosure has a fault. It appears in the Thunderbolt device tree on the Mac, but couldn't complete a read/write cycle in Black Magic Disk Speed test. It briefly showed a high read speed (c. 2800MB/s), but then froze. Write speed was about 1300MB/s but couldn't complete a full test cycle before disconnecting.

(1) The Samsung 970 EVO is shown in Acasis' compatibility list but not the 970 EVO Plus - maybe it's not compatible for some reason?

(2) Does the Acasis enclosure have any kind of firmware upgrade that needs to be applied? I bought mine direct from Acasis.

This is a pretty disappointing start....

[UPDATE]

I just found this on the Acasis web site (from https://www.acasis.com/en-au/blogs/...95zxTQ7vpjixpxOR4TchjQu1IlOeFJCgrd7XtFL7PvCxp):

• Recommended SSD: Samsung 970 EVO / Samsung 980 Pro /SEAGATE 510 series.
• Not recommend SSD: Samsung 970 EVO plus / Samsung PM981 / WD SN850 / ADATA / CRUCIAL

So it looks like there are some known issues with the Samsung 970 EVO Plus.... in my case it flat out doesn't work for any longer than a couple of minutes inside the Acasis TBU405 Pro enclosure.

I recall a few years ago I tried some other enclosure that I bought from Amazon and it also failed to work (in a similar fashion). I don't recall which SSD I was using, but compatibility is clearly not guaranteed with all devices that supposedly support the same M.2 NVMe standards.

 

[genexx]

Every Samsung NVME with the Phoenix Controller is known to have serious Problems with MacOS implementation of APFS related to Trim.

Trim when used as a Boot driver takes after a while up to 20Minutes to Boot.
Most PowerSave Modes are not working, that leads to High Energy use and Heat.

This is very Old information and i absolutely do not get that so many still buy Samsung NVME for Mac.
The single Best NVME for an Acasis TBU405 is the WD SN850X.

This is not relevant for SSD´s but some are also Tricky.
If you use the Samsung NVME as external non Boot drive and format it with HFS+ there is no Problem.

I use 2x WD SN770 2TB which is also highly compatible with MacOS in 2x Acasis TBU405 Air tested also as a Boot Drive.

If you search you´ll find many Threads about this.

At least for their TB5 Case Acasis have now the WD NVME´s listed.

 

[Fomalhaut]

Every Samsung NVME with the Phoenix Controller is known to have serious Problems with MacOS implementation of APFS related to Trim.

Trim when used as a Boot driver takes after a while up to 20Minutes to Boot.
Most PowerSave Modes are not working, that leads to High Energy use and Heat.

This is very Old information and i absolutely do not get that so many still buy Samsung NVME for Mac.
The single Best NVME for an Acasis TBU405 is the WD SN850X.

This is not relevant for SSD´s but some are also Tricky.
If you use the Samsung NVME as external non Boot drive and format it with HFS+ there is no Problem.

I use 2x WD SN770 2TB which is also highly compatible with MacOS in 2x Acasis TBU405 Air tested also as a Boot Drive.

If you search you´ll find many Threads about this.

At least for their TB5 Case Acasis have now the WD NVME´s listed.

Thank you for your answer.

I won't be using the Samsung 970 EVO Plus in the Acasis enclosure long term, but was just testing it before my new 990 Pro SSD arrives. This drive is on Acasis' list of supported / verified drives, so hopefully it will work! It won't be used as a boot drive, and I was going to format it as APFS. Do you think that HFS+ formatted SSDs would be more reliable?

Interestingly the 970 Evo Plus works very well in a USB 3.2 enclosure, and I have another one as a volume on my TerraMaster NAS which seems to be working well, so I had a high degree of confidence in Samsung NVMe SSDs, hence my choice!

 

[BrianBaughn]

I can't use the word "recommend" but I haven't had any issues (eight weeks) with the cheap "Silicon Power" brand SSDs that I put in two Acasis TBU405 Air enclosures.

I did find out that the "four" TB ports on the back of my M1 Mac Studio can only handle two 40gbps devices at once. A hub is the workaround.

 

[genexx]

The Samsung NVME Phönix controller APFS problem might be solved with Sequoia but i cannot confirm and the 990 is maybe not affected because of a different Controller and at least the Samsung NVME used with PCIe Card and Raid where showing up again in MacPro 7,1 after Sequoia update.

So there is hope
HFS+ is working anyway.

There are some people out there using Samsung NVME with APFS as external non boot drive and running not into Problems, maybe because there is not so much change going on.
I would use HFS+ on a Samsung NVME with Phönix Controller as External Data Storage not because it is more reliable but to avoid Trim Problems.
My TM Backup is also formatted in APFS.

Then there is still the Heat and Power drain Problem.
I do not have that with WD.

For me the most interesting part to get a fast Enclosure was to use it as a Boot Drive because Backups are incremental and fast enough with 10Gbit USB 3.2.
To use a drive as Boot drive it has to be Thunderbolt 3/4/5.

I could get the Acasis TBU405Air for just 50 Bucks incl. Shipping and Tax.
The 2x WD SN770 2TB i had bought while they where 90 Bucks.

So i am prepared for the MacMini M4 in base config, and can have a 16GB/2TB Config for 699 + 140.
That was until a short while ago the Cost for a TB3/4 Case alone.

The only Samsung NVME´s i have, are sleeping in a drawer and pulled from Base Configs of my Laptops (HP and Lenovo) they were replaced with WD NVME as well.

I never had one failing btw. and for all of my SSD´s i was buying Crucial MX500 or had Intel in my old HP8300.
They are also all running till Today if used. The same with the WD NVME´s in my Tecky Teen Daughters NASA Heater´s.

The only failures i had were with HD´s from Samsung while at this time Samsung Ram for Mac was the Golden Standard or Decades ago with Seagate HD´s.



Btw. i have got Temps 10 degree colder (32vs42) when the Drive is conected to the TB hub or used as Boot Drive.
When having the Drive connected direct to my MBA M2 and not using it as Boot drive i could see a permanent draw of 4W.

 

[yukari]

ACASIS has the worst customer service.

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/thunderbolt-3-m-2-nvme-ssd-enclosures.2027925/page-73#post-33624078

https://forums.macrumors.com/threads/poor-customer-service-by-acasis.2445332/

 

[FilterJoe]

WD Black SN770's have worked very well for me in my Acasis enclosures. Mostly I've used 2GB SN770, though I also have 1GB SN770.

On paper, they are not quite as fast as some of the more expensive NVMe SSDs because no DRAM. However, in my mind that lack of DRAM is an advantage, as DRAM would add a little heat. The SN770 runs cooler and therefore rarely if ever needs to throttle.

That being said, I am not using SN770 for a boot drive. If I wanted an SSD for a boot drive, I'd rather have the DRAM as I suspect the frequent random access would benefit from DRAM.