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Thunderbolt 3 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosures

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The first post of this thread is a WikiPost and can be edited by anyone with the appropiate permissions. Your edits will be public.
Thanks for the suggestion.
Has anyone tried using the ACASIS 40Gbps enclosure (Intel JHL7440 controller) or any other enclosure with just that controller paired with a USB4 40gbps cable? I'm looking at the Anker ones and it would be preferable to me if I could use that. Given that USB4 should be able to run TB3 and the controller is TB3 it makes me wonder if its possible.

I might just order one to test it out.
 
bananataffy said:
How can I check the temperatures of my external NVME drive? I downloaded TG Pro, which was advised from a quick google search, but it doesn't show the temperatures of my Acasis TBU405.

Acasis TBU405 connected via Thunderbolt to a Mac Studio M1 Max. I only see temps for my internal drive:
View attachment 2229017
Click to expand...

Go to Settings > Temperatures > Toggle the "Check hard drive temperatures using SMART" option.
 
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ErneX said:
Go to Settings > Temperatures > Toggle the "Check hard drive temperatures using SMART" option.
Click to expand...
Thank you, that did the trick!

Using a 4TB SN850X > Acasis TBU405 > Mac Studio M1 Max for the past 2 weeks and it's been rock solid. Prices on these high-end drives have cratered so it's a perfect time to upgrade storage.

After running speed tests for 10 minutes, I'm averaging about 2,750 read/write with temperatures around 62°C. The drive idles at around 49°C otherwise. A little toasty but not that bad considering the operating temperatures these drives are specc'd for. It did ramp up to 75°C when I first ran the speed tests which had me worried, but it dropped down gradually to more reasonable temperatures. I also have a copper heatsink sitting on top of my enclosure, just to offload more heat.
 
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Screenshot 2023-07-14 at 01.32.47.png
They listed the product on Tmall, the model will probably only appear on the Acasis overseas facing official website later when they are ready to sell outside.

There are loads of product pictures and I am only capturing the important ones.
Somehow they list the JHL7440 controller in conjunction with RTL9210B.
The chassis is not that much bigger than the passively cooled original, there are of course vents and holes for air flow.
A small button next to the TB port is a fan on/off switch.

Their Tmall shop is having a promo now, this TBU-405 Pro is selling at RMB 684.
Toolless TBU-405 at 649.
Regular (screwed) TBU-405 at 599.
 
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Chancha said:
There are loads of product pictures and I am only capturing the important ones.
Somehow they list the JHL7440 controller in conjunction with RTL9210B.
The chassis is not that much bigger than the passively cooled original, there are of course vents and holes for air flow.
A small button next to the TB port is a fan on/off switch.
Click to expand...
That's actually a very interesting product. It seems like the button is there for switching the fan on/off and they added USB3.2 Gen2 controller for broader USB support.

I'm not yet convinced if the fan will achieve meaningful air displacement and if the noise of such a small fan would be palatable. I'll definitely keep an eye out nonetheless.
 
Chancha said:
View attachment 2232127
They listed the product on Tmall, the model will probably only appear on the Acasis overseas facing official website later when they are ready to sell outside.

There are loads of product pictures and I am only capturing the important ones.
Somehow they list the JHL7440 controller in conjunction with RTL9210B.
The chassis is not that much bigger than the passively cooled original, there are of course vents and holes for air flow.
A small button next to the TB port is a fan on/off switch.

Their Tmall shop is having a promo now, this TBU-405 Pro is selling at RMB 684.
Toolless TBU-405 at 649.
Regular (screwed) TBU-405 at 599.
Click to expand...
Thats a very interesting variant, thanks for reporting. Looking forward to hearing reports from people getting one.
 
Chancha said:
View attachment 2232127
They listed the product on Tmall, the model will probably only appear on the Acasis overseas facing official website later when they are ready to sell outside.

There are loads of product pictures and I am only capturing the important ones.
Somehow they list the JHL7440 controller in conjunction with RTL9210B.
The chassis is not that much bigger than the passively cooled original, there are of course vents and holes for air flow.
A small button next to the TB port is a fan on/off switch.

Their Tmall shop is having a promo now, this TBU-405 Pro is selling at RMB 684.
Toolless TBU-405 at 649.
Regular (screwed) TBU-405 at 599.
Click to expand...
I am curious as to why on their webpage for the U.S. (at least) doesn't show anything about the fan or the RTL9210B
 
Because I guess it takes time for a product to reach overseas markets like with permits and license clearing etc? But within China they don’t want to wait or lose out against competitors so the new models are sold right away. The Chinese market is also a bit more forgiving in trying experimental products also, for example I see JEYI sell a quad-NVMe enclosure on Taobao that I can’t find anywhere overseas.
 
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It seems like the price is ~37% higher than the TB3-only fanless model. That would put it in the $150 range, competing with the ORICO-M2V01-C4 (TB3 + USB3) enclosure which is similarly priced. Keep in mind that dual-controller models with a USB3 controller generally cap out at official support for 2TB drives.
 
Guys, I actually bought the TBU405 Pro, and somehow Acasis shipped me an even newer variant "TBU405 Pro M1" that is toolless. There are bearings in place of screws on this one unlike the product photos above. I don't know if they sent it by mistake or is this actually replacing the screwed variant.

And, the enclosure is apparently bulkier and larger, like iPhone SE / mini large. It is not a big deal if you need the active cooling anyway but the portability difference vs most passive enclosures is significant.

My SN850X 4TB hasn't arrived so I got no new SSD stick to test speed and temps yet. I could yank some existing sticks I got but all of them are not empty so speed test result will suffer.
 

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Chancha said:
Guys, I actually bought the TBU405 Pro, and somehow Acasis shipped me an even newer variant "TBU405 Pro M1" that is toolless. There are bearings in place of screws on this one unlike the product photos above. I don't know if they sent it by mistake or is this actually replacing the screwed variant.

And, the enclosure is apparently bulkier and larger, like iPhone SE / mini large. It is not a big deal if you need the active cooling anyway but the portability difference vs most passive enclosures is significant.

My SN850X 4TB hasn't arrived so I got no new SSD stick to test speed and temps yet. I could yank some existing sticks I got but all of them are not empty so speed test result will suffer.
Click to expand...
So there is a _real_ hole on top?
Because no need for failing thermal bridges and design grilles that are too small to make a difference?
 
Chancha said:
And, the enclosure is apparently bulkier and larger, like iPhone SE / mini large. It is not a big deal if you need the active cooling anyway but the portability difference vs most passive enclosures is significant.
Click to expand...

Is that a power switch on the side? Does that button need to be pressed for the unit to turn on?
 
I dissembled it further.
1) looks like a 30mm custom fan, the milled hole is 25mm diameter
2) the enclosure has holes on the 2 sides as well for exhaust (?)
3) the fan is really quite weak, I can't tell which side it is blowing, I assume intake is large circle that blows directly to the board, then exhausts sideways
4) the white line on the board actually shows the exact position the fan directly sits on, interestingly the JHL chip is outside of the area, the SSD on the other side still relies on thermal paste sticking to the lid of the enclosure passively cooled
5) fan noise is quite minimal, have to move my ears to it to confirm if it is on or not.
6) the black button is the fan switch, by default fan is off when enclosure is first powered/mounted
7) chips are JHL7440, RTL9210, PI6C557-03ALE
 

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I bought the Acasis TBU401E, put my Samsung 970 EVO Plus 2TB in there and it works. Speeds are nice. Although it's half as fast as the internal SSD (Mac Mini Pro M2 32GB/1TB), transfer of files is really fast. The case does get fairly hot though (I know this is a thing with the Samsung, but right now it's the only NVMe blade I have) and the thermal pad is very thin so I would like something a bit more substantial. I just don't know what thermal pad to get and how thick. Any advice? Thanks.
Scherm­afbeelding 2023-07-21 om 23.15.56.png
 
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