Wait… “Not a good comparison⁉️” This is exceptional! The exact same NVMe in multiple controllers is simple genius. The only thing I might have considered is a second test of the transfer of the same TB + size folder to test for temperature throttling.
Really good video. Appreciate the breakdown. Could you include the thermal performance as well? That’s an important criteria unbelief to ensure there is sufficient cooling esp for those fanless enclosures. Thanks much and happy thanksgiving!
I got the Satechi enclosure today with the same Orico NVMe drive you used. I connected it to my MacBook Pro M1 Pro and noticed that BlackMagic reported speeds of around 900MB/s. Upon checking the connection, it was recognized as USB3.1. This puzzled me since I had an Orico enclosure that I bought last year before moving from Mexico to Canada. I tried using its cable, but the results were the same. Next, I connected the Orico enclosure that I had tested earlier, and the speeds were indeed USB4/TB4. However, when I connected the Satechi enclosure without disconnecting the Orico, it was also recognized as USB4/TB4. The speeds average around 3000MB/s. I performed some backups and noticed that the drive disconnected several times. To troubleshoot further, I tested the Satechi cable with the Orico enclosure, but unfortunately, it didn’t connect. It only worked with the Satechi enclosure, indicating a potential issue with the cable. Given this, I’m considering purchasing a TB4 cable, preferably a longer one, to ensure a reliable connection.
I got the Satechi from the video you did in the past. I've had no issues with it and I'm using the supplied cable AFAIK. I put a Crucial P3 2TB PCIe Gen3 in it. Rated for 3500 MB/s and I get 2789 write and 2338 read. I'm very pleased with the combo as an external drive for my Mac mini M2 Pro.
Can attest to the great build quality and speed of the GRAUGEAR in this video. I've had a 4TB SN850x in mine for over a year. It gets beat up pretty good as my main game drive. Always installing, uninstalling, streaming, etc. Never an issue with heat/speed/you name it. The fan probably helps some, but i also usually put an ARCTIC TP3 thermal pad on my NVMEs as well. temps stay cool.
I’ve been using the ACASIS enclosure for about 4 months now with a Crucial P3 4TB SSD and I love it. So much so that I bought a second ACASIS enclosure with a WD Black SN770 1TB. I use an M3 Pro MacBook Pro and use the ACASIS enclosure as my working drive while editing videos. In the real world, it still performs phenomenally and transferring large files is a breeze. For the price, build quality, performance, and SSD compatibility with Mac, it’s one of the best storage enclosures on the market!
The problem I have with the Acasis on a Mac is that it gets incredibly hot. It gets too hot to run if you leave it plugged in for a couple of hours, even if it's not in use. I don't know if this is a firmware issue where it doesn't know when to go into a low power state, but I'm wondering if the others have the same issue.
@@OscarFowler I notice that mine get pretty warm to the touch when actively using them but I usually keep them plugged in when I’m not moving from one location to another or traveling and haven’t had speed or overheating issues. Could it be ambient temps or the surface they are laying on affecting your enclosure as well?
@@tannergonzalez3591 Definitely not an ambient temperature thing. Are you connecting to a Thunderbolt port or USB-C? I notice it doesn't do this when connected to my Windows PC, but that's not Thunderbolt.
@@OscarFowler I’m connecting to my thunderbolt ports directly on my MacBook Pro and my thunderbolt port on my PC to get the full speeds of the SSD. Don’t get me wrong, they still get pretty warm. I also make sure to use the thermal pads that came with the enclosures
Please note that to get the fastest speed need to connect to a TB4 port. I tested the Qwiizlab drive and it performed at the 3k speed on my Silicon Mac with TB4 port but only at 1K on my Intel iMac which had TB3.
Thank you for the video. I ran through several different brands a while ago (all with 4TB SSDs). Most of them especially Satechi were running so hot that I stopped using them. I ended up with Acasis as it was consistently the coolest one. I cant say anything about the newer products you tested, but the heat situation would be my first criteria for choosing. For „normal“ work I even downgraded to the Acasis USB-C version which works around 1800/2000. No problems with heat at all. But I guess Thunderbolt 5 has changed the game now. That will be interesting to see, especially with regard to the heat.
Thanks for watching. yes, all setups will be different depending on workload and drives. I just dropped a video today (Nov. 19th) where I tested a new fast external SSD on the M4 mac mini.
Thanks for doing this test. If I had one critical thing to say it would be to use the same cable in all the test as a reference and then maybe compare that reference to what shipped with the enclosure.
Mine stays hot even when the Mac is in idle. Think this is normal? Should I pull it out when not using? Didn’t want that hassle but concerned about power use when the computer is even off?
I have the Acasis (called something else in UK) and have it on my Mac Mini. It stays warm even when the Mac is sleeping. I read this is normal but can you confirm? Are they OK y to leave plugged in?
Just subscribed amazing. I bought a WD SN850x 8TB which enclosure do you suggest I get. I am interested in the Acasis TBU405PRO I want the fastest one possible for this SSD.
@ a 27” iMac. I currently have too many devices plugged into all the ports. It would be nice to consolidate backup drive and USB ports into one clean box tks again
Hey Craig, not sure you're gonna see this, but worth a shot! I got a new M4 Max MacBook Pro with a Sabrent enclosure (EC-SNVE) and an 8TB Sabrent drive. Apparently the MacBook Pro does not supply sufficient power to run the drive. Do you know if any of your TB3/4 enclosures would work with a MacBook Pro and an 8TB SSD inside it? Thanks a lot!
I don't have the M4 Max to test any of them but I would have to assume it should have enough power to run them or that would be a major story. Are you sure there is not an issue with the drive?
@ thanks for your quick response Craig. After doing some digging turns out it’s a Power delivery issue with some enclosures to a massive 8TB drive which have more chips onboard (max 8.7 watts). The Sabrent enclosure I have is not TB so will be upgrading to any of your Thunderbolt enclosures here. Looks like the Qwiizlab is sold out so will take my chances with any of the others ones. Hopefully this helps anyone with the same issue! Will report back. This only affects the big 8TB drives.
Appreciate you doing this. I bought the Acasia some time ago based on your review and at the time it was the fastest. Now, not so much. Amazing how technology advances. With everyone buying the Mac Mini M4, this was a timely video. I did not heed your advise and get the 512 GB simply for the cost. What do you think of putting an External HD like the ones you just tested with 2 TB and put with the stock version Mac mini M4 and place my home file and Apps on the External and using the system that way? I don't do any video editing or complex usage on my computer.
Thank you. I still need to test moving your home folder to the external drive but you should do that right away before you load any programs onto the Mac or you will need to remove them and reload them. I think any of the enclosures around the 2,800 to 3,200 MB/s are basically the same and good options for the Mac min.
@@craigneidel One more thing, I truly enjoy your web site and the things that you do! I have learned much through you and look forward to each of your videos. Keep up the good work, it is appreciated!
Craig, great stuff as always. Do you know if these newer enclosures have a different chipset than the older enclosures to control the data transfer? Either way, these TB3 and TB4 enclosures and speeds are fantastic and most users won't notice a real difference in day-to-day use. Good stuff!
Thank you for the feedback. Yes, I think the newer ones will have a different or newer chipset but I'll need to confirm that. But, based on experience I'm guessing that is what it is.
Do you have a recommendation enclosure for the crucial T705 4tb with heatsink. I have two and having trouble finding a fitting enclosure with the heatsink attached.
I have not tested any of these with the heatsink but know that many won't fit that and they are normally made to be used without the heatsink and thermal tape if that helps.
I have the Graugear on my wishlist. Question; since the enclosures are limiting write/read speeds, does it really make a difference how fast the NVMe is? Just curious.
@@prsearls thanks for watching. I think as long as SSD is like 3 or 4k MB/s it should reach those speeds but you never know. Some enclosures like specific drives.
@craigneidel I picked up the Graugear enclosure and the Orico 2TB drive mentioned above. Did you use the cooling tray/heatsink from the Orico drive when installing it in the Graugear enclosure? It won't fit in mine, it is too wide with those attachments on the drive. If not, did you put a thermal pad on the top and bottom of the drive before putting it in the Graugear? Thanks for any assistance you can provide, neither of the manufacturers are much help...
I try not to recommend any because I can't use them all like I should. But they are all working good for me but once I do longer term testing I can do a follow up video etc.
do these enclosures (or at least the newer, faster ones) support SMART passthrough? (`smartctl -a /dev/diskN` for example). I don't have any 40Gbps enclosures yet, but older ones (m.2 & SATA) are hit-or-miss - really depends on the chipset used.
I have several computers, some bought AFTER usb 4 was finalized, including two recent GMKtek (G3 and K8). Sadly, none of them support 10Gbps, 20Gbps, or 40Gbps rates. Examining my systems, I can't determine which PCIe version they support. Does your motherboard have to have PCIe version 4 (or above) to support 40Gbps?
Can you do a test when the drive is empty vs drive is 75% full. Also plot a 500gb write over time and measure the speeds/time it takes? See if devices throttles speed down due to heat. This will be truly real world conditions? Maybe do 2 tests and average the two? Results be in time taken and heat produced? Top speed and lowest speed during the test. Pick the top 3 based on these results for the next round test i suggest above? Thanks! Just a suggestion. :). Like if you agree.
Regarding the Satechi M2 used with the M4 Mac Mini. I plugged it into a socket on the front and got a speed of 900MB/s. Then I used a different cable plugged into the same front socket and got 1.7GB/s. Then I plugged it into one of the sockets on the rear using the original cable that came with the device and got a reliable 3GB/s. Not sure what is going on here, but try the rear sockets!
@@jchanning72 that makes sense. Front connections are only 10 Gbps and not thunderbolt. The rear connections are 40 Gbps thunderbolt so 4 times faster roughly. So that is normal.
Great content, very useful to see what real life performance looks like. I have some basic questions that I hope someone can chime in to help me understand. If Thunderbolt 4 gives you 40Gbps and these NVMe's are rated up to 7000Mbps, why are they only giving you 3000Mbps performance? Why not close to the full 7000Mbps, which TB4 should be able to handle very easily? Second, has anybody looked at the Crucial T705 which gives you up to 14,000Mbps. It comes with or without a heatsink. Are there any external enclosures that would work with this particular NVMe? With or without the heatsink? Not sure if you need the heatsink in an external enclosure.
Thunderbolt 4 is 40 Gbps but you need to divide by 8 for bytes and bits so in theory the maximum speed in only 5,000 MB/s. But there is overhead for things like video signals and other stuff so you can only normally get about 3,300 tops. If you wend with the thunderbolt 5 that is up to 120 Gbps but really 80 Gbps for data. Again, that is about 8,000 MB/s on paper but with overhead you might be something in the 6 to 7 thousand range of MB/s. I hope that helps.
@@craigneidel You helped me so much. Thank you! Lower case 'b' vs. Capital 'B'. That was the part I was just glossing over :-) Any idea how a Crucial T705 might work? I did order a Mac Mini Pro which will come with TB5, so not sure if the Crucial T705 might work in an external enclosure.
Thank you. Yeah, I would not get that drive now as it's expensive and you would need an external Thunderbolt 5 drive and those are not out yet. They could be but I would just get a standard drive and a Thunderbolt 4 enclosure. The Thunderbolt 5 could also run very hot.
Heat will depend on so many factors like what you are doing (video editing vs. office work) etc. and depends on the SSD, thermal pads, etc. So hard to test but may do some in a future video.
Thanks. Yeah, I got words mixed up but worked in datacenter for 26 years and had to deal with all the speeds for many of that time. Thanks again for watching.
does any of these enclosure have connect-disconnect issue like the Hagibis? i bought the Hagibis TB4 enclosure (modeled almost exactly the same with the qwiizlab), but everytime i connect to my mac, it will disconnect and remount it self after a few seconds. it doesnt matter whether i connect it directly to my mac, or with caldigit TS4. it does the same. I've tried with 3 different TB4 cable, cheap cable, expensive cable. all the same.
I have not noticed that yet in any of them but I use them more for storage and backups vs something like booting MacOS off of them. Thanks for watching the channel.
@@craigneidel i also using them for temporary drive for editing pictures / videos. but everytime i connect to the mac, it disconnect and reconnect itself after a few sec. although after that, it works just fine, until you physically disconnect the drive / restart the mac
So what good are these external cases if they cann't even come close to the 7000 range of the drive? See like a waste of money to get a 6k/7k ssd when the case can only reach 1/2 the speed???
@@stableArtAI funny... I think 3000 MB/s is way better than 900 with a 10 Gbps enclosure. You don't need a m.2 over about 5500 and with overhead it will fly.
It really depends on things like the heat tape you use and if it's touching the case etc. All of them are going to get warm because if they heat tape is moving heat away from the drive then it will be warm on outside. But that is good. I need to still test overall heat of the drives in the future.
I appreciate the nice words. It's a tough call. I did the Qwizzlab, Zike, and the newer generation better for obvious reasons. But the Acasis has been solid and I need to test their newest entry with the new chip as that could be my favorite but I need to test it soon. Thanks for watching.
KDE Neon has a widget that can monitor the temp of your motherboard SSD. I don't believe there is any support for monitoring the temp of SSDs in USB enclosures.
@@gosman949 OWC's new drive. It starts shipping mid-November. The only other one I am aware of is the Sabrent Drive, and they come in 1, 2, and 4 TB. Not sure when they start shipping.
I'm a newbie to these here, would be very grateful if someone can help me out a bit, currently doing my research already, trying to understand what's the advantage of having a M.2 NvMe ssd in enclosure comparing to like the lacie rugged pro ssd? GRAUGEAR USB 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure + Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 2280 4TB VS Lacie rugged pro 4TB for example? for a non tech person, is the Lacie rugged pro a better choice ? any input will be grateful ^^
If you are not familiar with building them then you might want the Lacie so you can use it right away. The Graugear combo might be faster but make sure you don't get a heaksink on the SSD or it might now fit in the enclosure. Get one without the heatsink attached.
@@craigneidel Appreciate your help man, I've been checking your channel for a bit when I'm doing my research now and picked up a few things, I wonder how much faster with the Graugear combo are we talking about, coz I've already owned 2x lacie rugged pro 2TB, they're mostly around 1800 write & 2600 read speed, while I need a 4TB, and I saw your video about the EVO 990 plus is up to 10000 - 14000 range, I'm using it only for heavy video editing on FCP 11. Thanks in advance 🙏🙏
Thanks. I'm not sure what you mean EVO 990 Plus at 10000 to 14000 range as that is not what I said in the video. With the Graugear you will get around 3,100 MB/s up and down is my guess and it should be faster than the Lacie for sure. But either should be able to do FCP editing. The Evo is up to around 7,000 MB/s but that is when you put into a computer (like windows computer) directly. But on a Thunderbolt 4 enclosure like the Graugear you should only get about that 3K do to the bottlenecks.
@@craigneidel ahhh, thats the bit I'm not really understanding when you mentioned those high numbers, the higher numbers are inside the computer!!!! Got it now, thanks a lot for taking the time to help me out man!!!
Bought the GrauGear and within 48 hours of use, the noise from the fan increased quite a bit! It stayed cool but the noise was way too much for continued use. Send it back for a refund(still waiting for it)
First of all i appreciate you are getting rid of the speed discussion in the first sentence forget the 7000, you get them only if installed on the motherboard, despite the cable issue all cases deliver more or less in the margin of error the same results. So really interesting for the drive decision are different criteria. As especially on apple-products the use as an alternative to the high price internal storage would be the main use, the impact on work performance would be most crucial e.g. thermal throtteling in heavy usage, throtteling if Cache is overflowing or is the internal write speed fast enough to keep up with TB4 limits. as i needed an external TB-Drive on my MBA i looked for a small fanless option (if i have a fanless computer i don't want a sirene next to it). The performance is sufficient ( in that area what TB3 can achieve). I think the most important question is consistency of write rates, power consumption (how big is the difference between active cooled and pasive cooled cases) of the cases, Power consumption of the drives, things like Cache-Size and type of Cache(DDR, SLC, simulated SLC, Cacheless) , endurance (do i have 4400 TBW like Transcend, or do i have 1200 TBW like several drives at the same size)
I did individual videos on all of these on my channel and transferred 100 GB of data and watch for throttling etc. Yes, in this test I stated it was not the best test but instead just 1 test with the same drive. Most are in the margin of error in a few tiers. The Satechi was the only one I had the issue with but I think that one comes down to the cable they sent.
using an ACASIS TB4 enclosure with Samsung 990 pro on my wife's iMac - loading the whole OS onto it - basically not using the 256G internal at all - it is much faster than those slow 256G Apple drives.
@@craigneidel You have no clue what Im talking about??.. instead of "this enclosure is maybe old, and why it's this hmm yeah slower".. - if you mention'ed what controller-chip they are using, as it says so on the enclosure board and most vendors also informs it.. That is the most important criteria for any T4 enclosure as that would also inform the users what limits are valid (4TB or 8TB) a given T4 enclosure got... but whatever..
Newsflash for the people that do not understand electronics or have common sense: There are only 3 chipsets made for this (SATA, NVMe, both), with a few revisions and newer, faster transfers, so all of the latest ones should have similar speeds.
It's the chipsets I'm sure of it and the dates make sense. It would be like 1 in a million that all the cables on the slower ones would be bad and all the cables on the faster ones would be good.
@ But you don’t even know what’s really inside that external enclosure’s controller. Those Chinese brands could be sending a copy of your data without you even knowing. Sketchy stuff, man. 🙀
Yeah, it's possible but they also are larger brands who sell millions so we have millions of eyes on them also. Plus a rock could fall on me tomorrow. I'm safe but I review tech and with any tech you take chances. I mean Apple is made in China.
You can move on from the channel if it bothers you. Not a very nice thing to say to a creator but that's fine. I do what I like to do and if you don't like a video then don't watch that one.
I mean isn't TH-cam a place to do what you like to do. Plus many others tend to like these videos. It's just comes down to how you word your response is all and if you would say something like I prefer this or that then that is a bit nicer.
Thanks, Craig for creating content that I find interesting, informative, and entertaining. I run the Acasis TBU405PRO (has a fan) with the WD Black SN770 rated at 5150 transfer speeds. I get right at 3000MB/s consistently. I love this combo though I wish the fan came on automatically at high temps, and I wish there was an LED indicating when the fan is on. Your testing is confirming my theory that Thunderbolt 4 enclosures with a good cable and gen 4 PCIe NVMe ssd are really only capable of around 3000MB/s. So if you're paying extra for ssd rated over about 4000MB/s, you're probably wasting money if you're planning to install it in an enclosure. I'm betting that when Thunderbolt 5 computers, cables, and enclosures become available, speeds will go up. My newish HP laptop has 2TB internal ssd from SK Hynix and it achieves tranfer speeds over 7000MB/s 🤯. I know this obsession with transfer speeds is pretty pointless for the average user. I'm just hobbyist, but these enclosure/ssd combinations are sure fun to experiment with. Thanks for sharing your adventures. Happy computing, amigo. 🫡 🍻
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Please do an update on thermal throttling and temperature testing. That's the most important criteria to see if it can sustain write speed.
I did individual videos on most of these. Some I did a 100 GB data test on.
Wait… “Not a good comparison⁉️” This is exceptional! The exact same NVMe in multiple controllers is simple genius. The only thing I might have considered is a second test of the transfer of the same TB + size folder to test for temperature throttling.
Thank you. I have done individual videos on all of these enclosures also on my Channel and you can search for those. Thank you.
Really good video. Appreciate the breakdown. Could you include the thermal performance as well? That’s an important criteria unbelief to ensure there is sufficient cooling esp for those fanless enclosures. Thanks much and happy thanksgiving!
Thanks, I'll see what I can do and thanks for watching and happy Thanksgiving.
I got the Satechi enclosure today with the same Orico NVMe drive you used. I connected it to my MacBook Pro M1 Pro and noticed that BlackMagic reported speeds of around 900MB/s. Upon checking the connection, it was recognized as USB3.1. This puzzled me since I had an Orico enclosure that I bought last year before moving from Mexico to Canada. I tried using its cable, but the results were the same.
Next, I connected the Orico enclosure that I had tested earlier, and the speeds were indeed USB4/TB4. However, when I connected the Satechi enclosure without disconnecting the Orico, it was also recognized as USB4/TB4. The speeds average around 3000MB/s. I performed some backups and noticed that the drive disconnected several times.
To troubleshoot further, I tested the Satechi cable with the Orico enclosure, but unfortunately, it didn’t connect. It only worked with the Satechi enclosure, indicating a potential issue with the cable. Given this, I’m considering purchasing a TB4 cable, preferably a longer one, to ensure a reliable connection.
Yes try changing out cable and it can fix a bunch of issues. Thanks for the info.
I got the Satechi from the video you did in the past. I've had no issues with it and I'm using the supplied cable AFAIK. I put a Crucial P3 2TB PCIe Gen3 in it. Rated for 3500 MB/s and I get 2789 write and 2338 read. I'm very pleased with the combo as an external drive for my Mac mini M2 Pro.
@@WineWorldTV yes it works well bit I had issues with the cable so just something to note. Thanks for watching the channel
Can attest to the great build quality and speed of the GRAUGEAR in this video. I've had a 4TB SN850x in mine for over a year. It gets beat up pretty good as my main game drive. Always installing, uninstalling, streaming, etc. Never an issue with heat/speed/you name it. The fan probably helps some, but i also usually put an ARCTIC TP3 thermal pad on my NVMEs as well. temps stay cool.
Thanks for the information on this.
I’ve been using the ACASIS enclosure for about 4 months now with a Crucial P3 4TB SSD and I love it. So much so that I bought a second ACASIS enclosure with a WD Black SN770 1TB. I use an M3 Pro MacBook Pro and use the ACASIS enclosure as my working drive while editing videos. In the real world, it still performs phenomenally and transferring large files is a breeze. For the price, build quality, performance, and SSD compatibility with Mac, it’s one of the best storage enclosures on the market!
same
The problem I have with the Acasis on a Mac is that it gets incredibly hot. It gets too hot to run if you leave it plugged in for a couple of hours, even if it's not in use. I don't know if this is a firmware issue where it doesn't know when to go into a low power state, but I'm wondering if the others have the same issue.
@@OscarFowler I notice that mine get pretty warm to the touch when actively using them but I usually keep them plugged in when I’m not moving from one location to another or traveling and haven’t had speed or overheating issues. Could it be ambient temps or the surface they are laying on affecting your enclosure as well?
@@tannergonzalez3591 Definitely not an ambient temperature thing. Are you connecting to a Thunderbolt port or USB-C? I notice it doesn't do this when connected to my Windows PC, but that's not Thunderbolt.
@@OscarFowler I’m connecting to my thunderbolt ports directly on my MacBook Pro and my thunderbolt port on my PC to get the full speeds of the SSD. Don’t get me wrong, they still get pretty warm. I also make sure to use the thermal pads that came with the enclosures
Please note that to get the fastest speed need to connect to a TB4 port. I tested the Qwiizlab drive and it performed at the 3k speed on my Silicon Mac with TB4 port but only at 1K on my Intel iMac which had TB3.
Thanks for the info.
Thank you for the video. I ran through several different brands a while ago (all with 4TB SSDs). Most of them especially Satechi were running so hot that I stopped using them. I ended up with Acasis as it was consistently the coolest one. I cant say anything about the newer products you tested, but the heat situation would be my first criteria for choosing. For „normal“ work I even downgraded to the Acasis USB-C version which works around 1800/2000. No problems with heat at all. But I guess Thunderbolt 5 has changed the game now. That will be interesting to see, especially with regard to the heat.
Thanks for watching. yes, all setups will be different depending on workload and drives. I just dropped a video today (Nov. 19th) where I tested a new fast external SSD on the M4 mac mini.
Thanks for doing this test. If I had one critical thing to say it would be to use the same cable in all the test as a reference and then maybe compare that reference to what shipped with the enclosure.
Yes but I wanted to test the way they came since people that buy them will be using the cable in the box that comes with them.
Thoughts on the ugreen 40gbit/s usb4 enclosure?
I have yet to test that one
I'm happy with the Acasis 2458. Informative video Craig, thanks.
@@tincans87 you got it thanks
@JimAllen-Persona yes it seems to be solid for sure. Just using a slightly older chipset.
ditto
Craig a question. Did you use the same cable on all 7 enclosures?
@@barbancourt69 no I used cable all came with as if people bought them.
@@craigneidel looks like you need to test different cables. That could be a key variable. Keep up the good work
Yes, I have had a few over the years.
@@craigneidel I'm keen to know which cable you used that opened up the Satechi enclosure.
In the video I had said it was the cable from the Zike drive so not sure you can buy that by itself. I just feel any quality cable will work.
Did you try your swap cable with those older lower performing drives?
Yes, they have a different chip but it's only a few hundred MB/s and not really noticeable in real world use.
Mine stays hot even when the Mac is in idle. Think this is normal? Should I pull it out when not using? Didn’t want that hassle but concerned about power use when the computer is even off?
They can all stay a bit warm but I would reach out to company and ask them to confirm.
Great video! Thank you for this
For sure.
hello, which enclosure feels the hottest and coolest of the 3000mbs units? thanks! new sub!
Watch my video from today Nov 19th as I showcase a good one in there to review.
I have the Acasis (called something else in UK) and have it on my Mac Mini. It stays warm even when the Mac is sleeping. I read this is normal but can you confirm? Are they OK y to leave plugged in?
I think they stay warm normally but I would ask the company that you purchased from to be safe.
another great video
@@geminibodyshop71 thanks for the comment
Just subscribed amazing. I bought a WD SN850x 8TB which enclosure do you suggest I get. I am interested in the Acasis TBU405PRO I want the fastest one possible for this SSD.
Thank you. That is a good choice for an enclosure. Also watch my video from November 19th today as I test one out on the M4 mini.
Do you know if a company makes “docking station” device that allows you to add an SSD? One “box” to hold drive and ports combined? Thank you.
Yes.. for what type of Mac... iMac or MacBook or Mac mini.
@ a 27” iMac. I currently have too many devices plugged into all the ports. It would be nice to consolidate backup drive and USB ports into one clean box tks again
For sure, thanks.
Hey Craig, not sure you're gonna see this, but worth a shot! I got a new M4 Max MacBook Pro with a Sabrent enclosure (EC-SNVE) and an 8TB Sabrent drive. Apparently the MacBook Pro does not supply sufficient power to run the drive. Do you know if any of your TB3/4 enclosures would work with a MacBook Pro and an 8TB SSD inside it? Thanks a lot!
I don't have the M4 Max to test any of them but I would have to assume it should have enough power to run them or that would be a major story. Are you sure there is not an issue with the drive?
@ thanks for your quick response Craig. After doing some digging turns out it’s a Power delivery issue with some enclosures to a massive 8TB drive which have more chips onboard (max 8.7 watts). The Sabrent enclosure I have is not TB so will be upgrading to any of your Thunderbolt enclosures here. Looks like the Qwiizlab is sold out so will take my chances with any of the others ones. Hopefully this helps anyone with the same issue! Will report back. This only affects the big 8TB drives.
The Acasis makes a good one too and I have done some videos on that. They are a solid company with the Thunderbolt enclosures.
@ oh amazing great tip! I’ll actually look for your videos right now. Thanks a lot for your help Craig!
Thank you
Appreciate you doing this. I bought the Acasia some time ago based on your review and at the time it was the fastest. Now, not so much. Amazing how technology advances. With everyone buying the Mac Mini M4, this was a timely video. I did not heed your advise and get the 512 GB simply for the cost. What do you think of putting an External HD like the ones you just tested with 2 TB and put with the stock version Mac mini M4 and place my home file and Apps on the External and using the system that way? I don't do any video editing or complex usage on my computer.
Thank you. I still need to test moving your home folder to the external drive but you should do that right away before you load any programs onto the Mac or you will need to remove them and reload them. I think any of the enclosures around the 2,800 to 3,200 MB/s are basically the same and good options for the Mac min.
@@craigneidel Do you plan to try this some time and video it?
@@craigneidel One more thing, I truly enjoy your web site and the things that you do! I have learned much through you and look forward to each of your videos. Keep up the good work, it is appreciated!
Thank you for the nice words. I may do a video on that but have been so busy I'm a bit behind on things.
Craig, great stuff as always. Do you know if these newer enclosures have a different chipset than the older enclosures to control the data transfer? Either way, these TB3 and TB4 enclosures and speeds are fantastic and most users won't notice a real difference in day-to-day use. Good stuff!
Thank you for the feedback. Yes, I think the newer ones will have a different or newer chipset but I'll need to confirm that. But, based on experience I'm guessing that is what it is.
Do you have a recommendation enclosure for the crucial T705 4tb with heatsink. I have two and having trouble finding a fitting enclosure with the heatsink attached.
I have not tested any of these with the heatsink but know that many won't fit that and they are normally made to be used without the heatsink and thermal tape if that helps.
Did they all use the same cable? I heard that there are active electronic components in TB4 cable ends that may affect performance.
No, I tested with cable that came with them.
Can you please do a comparison between the Satechi and the HyperDrive?
I'll let you know if I can get to that test.
When you tested the speeds I didn’t see you mention what size in settings you chose?
Please tell me what size you chose before starting the test.
I would need to go back and confirm but 1 GB. But I got similar speeds with the larger sizes as I tested those and it was very close.
Good job !!! You might be small today but you will be bigger tommorrow
Thanks for watching the channel.
I have the Graugear on my wishlist. Question; since the enclosures are limiting write/read speeds, does it really make a difference how fast the NVMe is? Just curious.
@@prsearls thanks for watching. I think as long as SSD is like 3 or 4k MB/s it should reach those speeds but you never know. Some enclosures like specific drives.
Thx Craig - I gog the GRAUGEAR for an existing 4TB card for my Mac. 3-4x faster than the non-thunderbolt regular card holder.
Ok, thanks for the update.
@craigneidel I picked up the Graugear enclosure and the Orico 2TB drive mentioned above.
Did you use the cooling tray/heatsink from the Orico drive when installing it in the Graugear enclosure? It won't fit in mine, it is too wide with those attachments on the drive.
If not, did you put a thermal pad on the top and bottom of the drive before putting it in the Graugear?
Thanks for any assistance you can provide, neither of the manufacturers are much help...
I didn't use the heatsink and just heat tape on that setup. Thanks for watching.
Good stuff!
Thank you
Is there another review where they open the drives and determine the chipsets that each use?
@@eltamarindo it should normally say on Amazon site under questions
Thank You!
@@davidtindell950 welcome.. thanks for watching.
@@craigneidelThx. I like the idea of a fan as in the ‘Graugear’ BUT moving parts can FAIL and simply wear out!
@@davidtindell950 yeah I will need to test heat sooner or later
I'm thinking of getting this one because it gets cooled, what do you think? I need to put a 4TB SSD in it
You never said which one.
@ Which of these do you recommend?
@ which one best ssd 40gbps mac?
I try not to recommend any because I can't use them all like I should. But they are all working good for me but once I do longer term testing I can do a follow up video etc.
do these enclosures (or at least the newer, faster ones) support SMART passthrough? (`smartctl -a /dev/diskN` for example). I don't have any 40Gbps enclosures yet, but older ones (m.2 & SATA) are hit-or-miss - really depends on the chipset used.
I would need to check but maybe see if it says that on the Amazon questions.
@@craigneidel Graugear (via Amazon) said it does support it. Didn't check others, as that one looked most appealing out of all of them.
Thank you for the update. I have looked at about 50 of these over the years so I forget individual specs.
I have several computers, some bought AFTER usb 4 was finalized, including two recent GMKtek (G3 and K8). Sadly, none of them support 10Gbps, 20Gbps, or 40Gbps rates. Examining my systems, I can't determine which PCIe version they support. Does your motherboard have to have PCIe version 4 (or above) to support 40Gbps?
It should tell you if it does but I'm a Mac channel so most of the modern Macs can support this for sure.
How about hyperdrive enclosure? Compared to satechi and qwizzlabs.
@@EhsaanShaikh-z6p I haven't tried that one. Check out my channel for others.
Can you do a test when the drive is empty vs drive is 75% full. Also plot a 500gb write over time and measure the speeds/time it takes? See if devices throttles speed down due to heat. This will be truly real world conditions? Maybe do 2 tests and average the two? Results be in time taken and heat produced? Top speed and lowest speed during the test. Pick the top 3 based on these results for the next round test i suggest above? Thanks! Just a suggestion. :). Like if you agree.
That is quite a test but I'll see what I can do. Just been super busy.
Regarding the Satechi M2 used with the M4 Mac Mini. I plugged it into a socket on the front and got a speed of 900MB/s. Then I used a different cable plugged into the same front socket and got 1.7GB/s. Then I plugged it into one of the sockets on the rear using the original cable that came with the device and got a reliable 3GB/s. Not sure what is going on here, but try the rear sockets!
@@jchanning72 that makes sense. Front connections are only 10 Gbps and not thunderbolt. The rear connections are 40 Gbps thunderbolt so 4 times faster roughly. So that is normal.
Great content, very useful to see what real life performance looks like. I have some basic questions that I hope someone can chime in to help me understand. If Thunderbolt 4 gives you 40Gbps and these NVMe's are rated up to 7000Mbps, why are they only giving you 3000Mbps performance? Why not close to the full 7000Mbps, which TB4 should be able to handle very easily?
Second, has anybody looked at the Crucial T705 which gives you up to 14,000Mbps. It comes with or without a heatsink. Are there any external enclosures that would work with this particular NVMe? With or without the heatsink? Not sure if you need the heatsink in an external enclosure.
Thunderbolt 4 is 40 Gbps but you need to divide by 8 for bytes and bits so in theory the maximum speed in only 5,000 MB/s. But there is overhead for things like video signals and other stuff so you can only normally get about 3,300 tops. If you wend with the thunderbolt 5 that is up to 120 Gbps but really 80 Gbps for data. Again, that is about 8,000 MB/s on paper but with overhead you might be something in the 6 to 7 thousand range of MB/s. I hope that helps.
@@craigneidel You helped me so much. Thank you! Lower case 'b' vs. Capital 'B'. That was the part I was just glossing over :-) Any idea how a Crucial T705 might work? I did order a Mac Mini Pro which will come with TB5, so not sure if the Crucial T705 might work in an external enclosure.
Thank you. Yeah, I would not get that drive now as it's expensive and you would need an external Thunderbolt 5 drive and those are not out yet. They could be but I would just get a standard drive and a Thunderbolt 4 enclosure. The Thunderbolt 5 could also run very hot.
The other issue which don't recall other video not sure of this one is heat and overheating issues.
Heat will depend on so many factors like what you are doing (video editing vs. office work) etc. and depends on the SSD, thermal pads, etc. So hard to test but may do some in a future video.
Good review.
Thank you.
Useful video. Just a small tip: data transfer is measured in megabits per second, not megabytes.
Thanks. Yeah, I got words mixed up but worked in datacenter for 26 years and had to deal with all the speeds for many of that time. Thanks again for watching.
What is the name of the app I could use to measure read/write data?
Black Magic for Mac
The ACASIS cord sucks too, but changing out the cord you do get full performance.
I didn't have issues with that one but I guess they can all be a bit different.
I have an Acasis one and it is pretty fast, 3200 pretty often. I use it for photo and video editing.
@@testshoot nice . They work great for that.
does any of these enclosure have connect-disconnect issue like the Hagibis? i bought the Hagibis TB4 enclosure (modeled almost exactly the same with the qwiizlab), but everytime i connect to my mac, it will disconnect and remount it self after a few seconds.
it doesnt matter whether i connect it directly to my mac, or with caldigit TS4. it does the same. I've tried with 3 different TB4 cable, cheap cable, expensive cable. all the same.
I have not noticed that yet in any of them but I use them more for storage and backups vs something like booting MacOS off of them. Thanks for watching the channel.
@@craigneidel i also using them for temporary drive for editing pictures / videos. but everytime i connect to the mac, it disconnect and reconnect itself after a few sec. although after that, it works just fine, until you physically disconnect the drive / restart the mac
Thanks for the info.
What do you recommend for a budget enclosure nothing fancy just good reliable enclosure
I'm not sure what you mean. Do you mean a 10 Gbps enclosure instead of a 40 Gbps enclosure?
@@craigneidel yes
I did a bunch of videos on 10 Gbps enclosures too. search for a rugged enclosure on my channel and I liked that one quite a bit.
So what good are these external cases if they cann't even come close to the 7000 range of the drive? See like a waste of money to get a 6k/7k ssd when the case can only reach 1/2 the speed???
@@stableArtAI funny... I think 3000 MB/s is way better than 900 with a 10 Gbps enclosure. You don't need a m.2 over about 5500 and with overhead it will fly.
Among these enclosures, which did you find stayed cool the best? Thanks!
It really depends on things like the heat tape you use and if it's touching the case etc. All of them are going to get warm because if they heat tape is moving heat away from the drive then it will be warm on outside. But that is good. I need to still test overall heat of the drives in the future.
You do the best videos I've found on TH-cam! Thank you. Do you have a personal enclosure preference? Or is that even a fair question to ask :) ?
I appreciate the nice words. It's a tough call. I did the Qwizzlab, Zike, and the newer generation better for obvious reasons. But the Acasis has been solid and I need to test their newest entry with the new chip as that could be my favorite but I need to test it soon. Thanks for watching.
@@craigneidel Thanks so much for the reply and info!
KDE Neon has a widget that can monitor the temp of your motherboard SSD. I don't believe there is any support for monitoring the temp of SSDs in USB enclosures.
I'll need to check that out.
The Satechi is Thunderbolt 4 or just USB 4? The specifications says USB 4
I would go to Amazon page to see how they classify it.
thank you!
You got it.
I have a 4TB Thunderbolt 5 drive on the way. A whole new era is here!
Nice.
which one?
@@gosman949 OWC's new drive. It starts shipping mid-November. The only other one I am aware of is the Sabrent Drive, and they come in 1, 2, and 4 TB. Not sure when they start shipping.
Link? To the 4tb thunderbolt. Does it only work on Mac? Or can I use it on my pc? I have a ASUS 790e mobo
Hey Craig! It's time to buy a new drive! Thank you very much!
@@asan1050 I might test that SSD more extensively later
@@craigneidel Great job Craig!
Isn't Satechi USB4 ? At least is what they are advertising.
I think so.
I'm a newbie to these here, would be very grateful if someone can help me out a bit, currently doing my research already, trying to understand what's the advantage of having a M.2 NvMe ssd in enclosure comparing to like the lacie rugged pro ssd?
GRAUGEAR USB 4.0 M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure + Samsung 990 EVO Plus SSD 2280 4TB VS Lacie rugged pro 4TB for example? for a non tech person, is the Lacie rugged pro a better choice ? any input will be grateful ^^
If you are not familiar with building them then you might want the Lacie so you can use it right away. The Graugear combo might be faster but make sure you don't get a heaksink on the SSD or it might now fit in the enclosure. Get one without the heatsink attached.
@@craigneidel Appreciate your help man, I've been checking your channel for a bit when I'm doing my research now and picked up a few things, I wonder how much faster with the Graugear combo are we talking about, coz I've already owned 2x lacie rugged pro 2TB, they're mostly around 1800 write & 2600 read speed, while I need a 4TB, and I saw your video about the EVO 990 plus is up to 10000 - 14000 range, I'm using it only for heavy video editing on FCP 11.
Thanks in advance
🙏🙏
Thanks. I'm not sure what you mean EVO 990 Plus at 10000 to 14000 range as that is not what I said in the video. With the Graugear you will get around 3,100 MB/s up and down is my guess and it should be faster than the Lacie for sure. But either should be able to do FCP editing. The Evo is up to around 7,000 MB/s but that is when you put into a computer (like windows computer) directly. But on a Thunderbolt 4 enclosure like the Graugear you should only get about that 3K do to the bottlenecks.
@@craigneidel ahhh, thats the bit I'm not really understanding when you mentioned those high numbers, the higher numbers are inside the computer!!!! Got it now, thanks a lot for taking the time to help me out man!!!
Thanks again for watching teh channel.
The difference to achieve closer or excess of 3,000mbps is the chip, go for ASM2464PD chip
Yes the chip matters.
Bought the GrauGear and within 48 hours of use, the noise from the fan increased quite a bit! It stayed cool but the noise was way too much for continued use. Send it back for a refund(still waiting for it)
Ok. I've been using mine for 1.5 years with no issues but it's good to hear all sides.
First of all i appreciate you are getting rid of the speed discussion in the first sentence forget the 7000, you get them only if installed on the motherboard, despite the cable issue all cases deliver more or less in the margin of error the same results. So really interesting for the drive decision are different criteria. As especially on apple-products the use as an alternative to the high price internal storage would be the main use, the impact on work performance would be most crucial e.g. thermal throtteling in heavy usage, throtteling if Cache is overflowing or is the internal write speed fast enough to keep up with TB4 limits.
as i needed an external TB-Drive on my MBA i looked for a small fanless option (if i have a fanless computer i don't want a sirene next to it). The performance is sufficient ( in that area what TB3 can achieve).
I think the most important question is consistency of write rates, power consumption (how big is the difference between active cooled and pasive cooled cases) of the cases, Power consumption of the drives, things like Cache-Size and type of Cache(DDR, SLC, simulated SLC, Cacheless) , endurance (do i have 4400 TBW like Transcend, or do i have 1200 TBW like several drives at the same size)
I did individual videos on all of these on my channel and transferred 100 GB of data and watch for throttling etc. Yes, in this test I stated it was not the best test but instead just 1 test with the same drive. Most are in the margin of error in a few tiers. The Satechi was the only one I had the issue with but I think that one comes down to the cable they sent.
And now there is Thunderbolt 5...............
Yes, but almost nothing out yet except a few expensive options.
Should have listed the price at the bottom in the final chart.
Can't do everything.
For anyone with the Satechi enclosure: the plastic cover makes it run hotter, even at idle
Mine's gone into recycling ;-)
You can take it off plus the heat will depend on the thermal pad and SSD drive used.
using an ACASIS TB4 enclosure with Samsung 990 pro on my wife's iMac - loading the whole OS onto it - basically not using the 256G internal at all - it is much faster than those slow 256G Apple drives.
I run my 2017 iMac off an external SSD just fine and it's great.
Need a video for TB5 now 😂
If they come out
Gonna be a short one ATM ;-)
A shame you dont relate to the fact.. what chip are they using that is the most vital info to decipher what they can manage with a given drive.
Ok thanks
@@craigneidel You have no clue what Im talking about??..
instead of "this enclosure is maybe old, and why it's this hmm yeah slower"..
- if you mention'ed what controller-chip they are using, as it says so on the enclosure board and most vendors also informs it..
That is the most important criteria for any T4 enclosure as that would also inform the users what limits are valid (4TB or 8TB) a given T4 enclosure got... but whatever..
Of course I know what you are taking about I worked for a datacenter for 26 years. Nothing is a shame in a free TH-cam video... Funny.
Why is my write speed so slow? Only 400MB/s
My read speed is 3600MB/s
Try another cable maybe
Sadly, some of these enclosures only support 2280 size SSDs, not smaller ones.
yes that is true.
Newsflash for the people that do not understand electronics or have common sense:
There are only 3 chipsets made for this (SATA, NVMe, both), with a few revisions and newer, faster transfers,
so all of the latest ones should have similar speeds.
@@pepeshopping I have seen some changes with different drives being used as some enclosures don't like some of the SSDs.
Satechi are a trash company, not a great company at all. Overpriced cheaply made products, I gave up on them a long time ago.
@@vincewatson_official well not my experience at all
Maybe test cables next time?
It could be the chipsets used internally that makes them 2500MB/s or 3000MB/s?
Yes, but I figured I would test the cable that comes with them since most people would be using what comes with it.
@craigneidel so it might be possible the "slow" ones might be as fast as the fast ones with the right cable?
It's the chipsets I'm sure of it and the dates make sense. It would be like 1 in a million that all the cables on the slower ones would be bad and all the cables on the faster ones would be good.
Do you trust chinese brands with your data? 🤪😱
The drive matters. Never had an enclosure ruin data.
@ But you don’t even know what’s really inside that external enclosure’s controller. Those Chinese brands could be sending a copy of your data without you even knowing. Sketchy stuff, man. 🙀
@@hellolau Are there any enclosures not made in China or made from Chinese controller chips?
Yeah, it's possible but they also are larger brands who sell millions so we have millions of eyes on them also. Plus a rock could fall on me tomorrow. I'm safe but I review tech and with any tech you take chances. I mean Apple is made in China.
Craig. Move on from the external drive testing already.
You can move on from the channel if it bothers you. Not a very nice thing to say to a creator but that's fine. I do what I like to do and if you don't like a video then don't watch that one.
I mean isn't TH-cam a place to do what you like to do. Plus many others tend to like these videos. It's just comes down to how you word your response is all and if you would say something like I prefer this or that then that is a bit nicer.
OK... your points are well taken. I apologize.
No hard feelings but I do what I'm interested in as a hobby. If somebody doesn't like the video they can skip it is all.
Thanks, Craig for creating content that I find interesting, informative, and entertaining. I run the Acasis TBU405PRO (has a fan) with the WD Black SN770 rated at 5150 transfer speeds. I get right at 3000MB/s consistently. I love this combo though I wish the fan came on automatically at high temps, and I wish there was an LED indicating when the fan is on. Your testing is confirming my theory that Thunderbolt 4 enclosures with a good cable and gen 4 PCIe NVMe ssd are really only capable of around 3000MB/s. So if you're paying extra for ssd rated over about 4000MB/s, you're probably wasting money if you're planning to install it in an enclosure. I'm betting that when Thunderbolt 5 computers, cables, and enclosures become available, speeds will go up. My newish HP laptop has 2TB internal ssd from SK Hynix and it achieves tranfer speeds over 7000MB/s 🤯. I know this obsession with transfer speeds is pretty pointless for the average user. I'm just hobbyist, but these enclosure/ssd combinations are sure fun to experiment with. Thanks for sharing your adventures. Happy computing, amigo. 🫡 🍻
All us Acasis folks getting great numbers!
@testshoot, I love mine. TBU405PRO with WD Black SN770. Which enclosure and ssd are you running? Are you also getting around 3GB/second?
@@testshoot I'm checking out your channel right now. That's some terrific photography, amigo.🤠👍
@@Sonic_Ox thanks dude, i need to get an editor, my BTS is trash
@@Sonic_Ox TBU 405 Pro with a Sabrent Rocket 2tb. I am consistent 3gb to 3.2gb