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Thunderbolt 5 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosures, and Docks.

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PaulD-UK

macrumors 65816
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Oct 23, 2009
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With proper Thunderbolt 5 announcements beginning to appear in the MR news discussions, it seems here is a better place to add new info as it becomes available.

Sonnettech has announced (for March shipping) a proper Mac friendly TB 5 dock with an internal NVMe PCIe Gen 4x4 slot.

This is notable as it shows that the 'promise' of TB4 (its 3 TB port hub capability) has now been integrated with the 'power' of TB3 (its full PCIe Gen 3x4 bandwidth to NVMe SSDs).
Both are combined and given double the speed, with full PCIe Gen 4 bandwidth for NVMe, and up to 3 downstream TB5 ports.

So for the first time, we get one enclosure that supports full-speed internal NVMe storage, a 2.5Gbps ethernet port, full speed USB-A ports, and enough TB5 ports to support, with USB-C/TB cabling, the two high resolution monitors that MacOS allows per TB5 port.

Which begins to fulfil the promise - for TB5-enabled Macs - of single cable connectivity to everything that a computer base station needs to accomplish more complex workflows where high speed access to stored data is essential.

Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock - SONNETTECH

Thunderbolt 5 dock features built-in PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage, Thunderbolt 5, 10Gbps USB, 2.5GbE, SD and microSD, 140W power delivery, and up to 8K displays.
www.sonnettech.com www.sonnettech.com
 
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I’d like to see more like this sooner than later. I waited for an enclosure and bought the first one I could get my hands on — ACASIS TBU501. I sent it back suspecting a faulty unit as I couldn’t get reliable connections to it after trying their supplied cable plus two more thunderbolt 5 cables.

When I say bad performance, I mean FAR less than than the TBU401 pro I was replacing it with, which achieves 3000 MB/s compared with the consistent 900MB/s I got from the thunderbolt 5 ACASIS TBU501. I know this is quite strange, but I also verified that another smaller SSD also did not work at expected speeds, and also performed far faster in the TBU401.

When shipping times look quicker I’m gonna try the Trebleet model (one that became available about the same time). It available on Amazon for $40 less than I paid for the ACASIS on Newegg.

I hope we all have good luck in our pursuit of 80gbps Thunderbolt 5 external SSDs this year.
 
@LelandHendrix "...compared with the consistent 900MB/s I got from the thunderbolt 5 ACASIS TBU501."

Apparently the recently released MacOS 15.3 update has improved performance of TB5.

In particular TB4/USB4 performance when attached to a TB 5 hub/dock has greatly improved in Write mode, but it's possible there are improvements with directly attached devices that have underperformed with 15.2.

Hopefully more reports will follow soon.
 
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ekwipt said:
Looks to be a great product, I was hoping there'd be a TS5 announcement
Click to expand...
The big question is whether they are rolling them out separately to give each product its own time to shine (like Apple did with the M4 Macs, albeit a day each for M4, M4 Pro and M4 Max), or whether the TS5 is simply more of an engineering and production hassle and going to take longer.
 
PaulD-UK said:
Sonnettech has announced (for March shipping) a proper Mac friendly TB 5 dock with an internal NVMe PCIe Gen 4x4 slot.

Echo 13 Thunderbolt 5 SSD Dock - SONNETTECH

Thunderbolt 5 dock features built-in PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD storage, Thunderbolt 5, 10Gbps USB, 2.5GbE, SD and microSD, 140W power delivery, and up to 8K displays.
www.sonnettech.com www.sonnettech.com
Click to expand...

I would love to buy a dock like this. But not with an NVMe already inside. Hope soon other docks appear where I can choose my own NVMe and can easily swap them too.
 
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Max_G said:
I would love to buy a dock like this. But not with an NVMe already inside. Hope soon other docks appear where I can choose my own NVMe and can easily swap them too.
Click to expand...

I mean don't you kinda get a NMVE drive in there for free (you don't have to use it)!
 
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Any update for the Caldigit's Thunderbolt 5 Hub? Its now February and its not aviable in Europe.
 
So I finally got my Trebleet thunderbolt 5 SSD enclosure, and so far I am quite pleased. As you may notice, I'm not using a well known nvme ssd, but it has excellent specs nonetheless.

For reference, here's the performance in the Trebleet
PastedGraphic-1.tiff


I have to believe the first enclosure I tried, the ACASIS TBU501, was defective as it operated like it was 10gbps not 80gbps. I contacted ACASIS who told me that my particular SSD wasn't on the officially supported list, or that maybe the thunderbolt 5 port of my new Mac mini wasn't working. But obviously both those answers were wrong because it works great in this enclosure.
My SSD also worked perfectly in the TBU401Pro at TB4 speeds despite not being "officially supported." So who can say, but I hope you have good luck with your new TB5 accessories. This now actually compares quite well with the internal SSD of my m4 Pro mini, which I'll include for comparison.
1740259851748.png
 
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LelandHendrix said:
I’d like to see more like this sooner than later. I waited for an enclosure and bought the first one I could get my hands on — ACASIS TBU501. I sent it back suspecting a faulty unit as I couldn’t get reliable connections to it after trying their supplied cable plus two more thunderbolt 5 cables.

When I say bad performance, I mean FAR less than than the TBU401 pro I was replacing it with, which achieves 3000 MB/s compared with the consistent 900MB/s I got from the thunderbolt 5 ACASIS TBU501. I know this is quite strange, but I also verified that another smaller SSD also did not work at expected speeds, and also performed far faster in the TBU401.

When shipping times look quicker I’m gonna try the Trebleet model (one that became available about the same time). It available on Amazon for $40 less than I paid for the ACASIS on Newegg.

I hope we all have good luck in our pursuit of 80gbps Thunderbolt 5 external SSDs this year.
Click to expand...

Strange - my first experience with the TB501 has been impressively positive. Fastest drive Ive ever tested to date!

 
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Ifti said:
Strange - my first experience with the TB501 has been impressively positive. Fastest drive Ive ever tested to date!
Click to expand...
I thought so too, and the unit I received must have been an anomaly. I have three thunderbolt 4 enclosures from ACASIS and they have performed at the head of the class for YEARS now. Kind of wish I had stayed in the family, but like I said earlier the Trebleet TB5 has given equal performance (expected since it has the same chipset).

I am slightly surprised to be honest that I'm not seeing even more thunderbolt 5 enclosures or docks with m.2 slots. I waited what felt like quite a while, but obviously I am glad I hurried and got my 4TB of thunderbolt 5 external storage for my m4 pro mini before any tariffs or market fluctuations made these products even MORE expensive.

Awesome review of your ACASIS unit! :). I'd love to see more evaluations of TB5 products
 
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Ifti said:
Strange - my first experience with the TB501 has been impressively positive. Fastest drive Ive ever tested to date!
Click to expand...
That is the enclosure I will be using when my Mac Studio arrives on Monday.
 
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PaulD-UK said:
New dock from Anker:
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link. In researching docks, I've learned to 'read the fine print.'

All the USB ports are 10-Gbps, yay! But they don't support video out.

"1. The HDMI 2.1 port and DisplayPort 2.1 port cannot be used simultaneously."

"2. The minimum macOS version required to use this Thunderbolt 5 dock is macOS 15 or later."

Which is...Sequoia. So if you're not running that, you're not hooking up this.

"3. The front USB-C ports support charging and data transfer but do not support video output."

I wonder why they don't support video output? This isn't the first time I've run across this where dock is concerned.

"5. This dock does not support Thunderbolt 3 laptops or monitors, including those with Windows, MacBook Intel chips."

What about Thunderbolt 3 desktop systems? And does this mean you can't hook it to an Apple Studio Display?

The power supply integrated into the main unit instead of a separate 'power brick' might make it more conveniently portable; wonder if that will appeal to many.
 
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@drrich2 "I've learned to 'read the fine print.'"

But there's also the 'invisible print' of the various Interface Forum's Specification documents...

1. The maximum bandwidth of HDMI 2.1 (48Gbps) + DP 2.1 (80Gbps) exceeds the maximum bandwidth of TB5 (120Gbps). Put simplistically, both ports can't be active at the same time, and meet the certifications of the specs.
If you are using the TB5 120Gbps mode for multiple video streams, you reduce the bandwidth available for Read data transfer to 40Gbps (TB4) levels, which is not what people want...

2. No TB5 device is going to produce TB5 spec levels of performance if it's not connected to a TB5 port.
On a Mac that by definition means Sequoia.

3. No USB 3.x port on a Thunderbolt device is ever going to carry video, because the maximum supported video stream could to turn out to be 4K/30.
The USB-IF specs for USB 3.x video is so inferior to the Thunderbolt tunnelling protocols, which allow flexibility at full bandwidth.
Which is what everyone wants... 😉

5. What actually happens in practice if you connect this Anker dock to a TB3/4 computer remains to be seen.
It is certain that the dock will fail to meet it's published TB5 specs, so I guess Anker are covering themselves against future class action complaints of underperformance with older computers.

There is no reason why is shouldn't support the Apple Studio Display (or the Pro XDR).
 
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PaulD-UK said:
But there's also the 'invisible print' of the various Interface Forum's Specification documents...
Click to expand...
Thanks. Appreciate the explanation on why these compromises are made. I was hoping Thunderbolt 5's high bandwidth capability would help avoid functional compromises, but even it has limits.


PaulD-UK said:
2. No TB5 device is going to produce TB5 spec levels of performance if it's not connected to a TB5 port.
On a Mac that by definition means Sequoia.
Click to expand...
Which raises an interesting question. Let's say someone recently bought an M4 Mac Mini, not the M4 Pro, so it only has Thunderbolt 4 ports, not TB5. If that person is shopping for a dock, and wants to 'future proof' by getting a TB5 dock (yes, a bit inconsistent if he didn't future proof with an M4 Pro), what happens if he plugs that M4 Mac Mini's TB4 port into this Anker TB5 dock? Does it not work at all...or just work with the bandwidth limitations of TB4?
 
That depends on the design of the dock.
OWC say that their USB4 Express 1M2 enclosure is not compatible with TB3 for performance and stability reasons.

Most other USB4 enclosures work fine with TB3, so the designers and manufacturer's of USB devices can design as they think is best for the end user.

Thunderbolt is an Intel certified standard, so it remains to be seen with shipping TB5 products what limitations there are with older TB4 computers.

Then there are 'Thunderbolt-compatible' enclosures, like the TB5 one from Acasis, where they have produced a functioning product, which they haven't attempted to have certified - because it is non-compliant...

My guess is that choosing a base M4 Mac, where you forgo the use of TB5 products at TB5 data rates, so you'll find there have to be compromises over compatibility.
Your choice. 😂
 
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