SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD - Disassembly
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 17 ก.ค. 2021
- Ever wondered what's inside that external SSD? I disassembled my SanDisk Extreme Portable SSD and reassembled it. Spoiler: It still works as well as before.
Correction: Inside is a M.2 SATA SSD, not NVME.
Link to the SSD
amzn.to/4004uKg - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
POV: You leave your SSD at the sleepover (rookie mistake)
I'd like to point out there is a V1 and V2 of this drive. V1 is what you have in video. V2 shell was slightly redesigned to be even harder to open without damage, probably because people kept shucking the drive and returning them empty, where an average retail store can't tell it's been opened or tampered with. V2 also uses NVME with M key rather than SATA with B key, those drives will not work in most SATA adapters. My V2 reached around 2,500mb/sec when I shucked them and put in my computer's built in PCIE M.2 slot which is far faster than USB 3.0 or SATA is capable of.
PS please don't rip Sandisk or your retailed by shucking drives and returning empty shells. Otherwise future drives would be released with integrated USB port and not M.2 port and be un-shuckable like Western Digital portable hard drives are.
i mean western digital owns sandisk so ye they might do that.
Also toshiba external hard disk have this problem, but they are still really reliable
Thanks for the tip, guess we're getting some free drives
@@sL1NK *based department calls you*
I bought a 2TB M.2 nvme drive off Amazon back in 2017 when they were over $2000 and someone had replaced it we a Sandisk SATA M.2 drive. Just took the sticker off, placed it on the Sandisk drive and returned it.
People are going to do this no matter what.
All that wrap does a great job of spreading heat. The advantage of a purpose-built solution.
I just stripped mine after seeing how easy this was to do. Currently installing Windows on a server PC due to this! Thank you for the video, PS: anyone wanting to try this... there are only two strong adhesive pads on the back of the SSD stopping you from removing it. Gently remove those with a PLASTIC pick or some sort of plastic pry tool and you should be fine.
It may be that 99% alcohol will loosen that adhesive. It looks to be double-sided foam tape, and if so, 99% alcohol is your friend. Soak it well with a couple of cotton swabs full of the stuff, then wait about 10 seconds. Then start peeling! The alcohol will not hurt the drive or other elecronics.
Thank you so much for this. I always wanted to know but didn't want to chance breaking mine.
Exactly what I was looking for! Thanks!
I like the idea with off the shell drive and just having some USB controller from NVMe or SATA
This is a perfect example of why video should be taken top-down.
So apparently it's a WD Blue SN560E, which is a bit odd as WD only seem to sell 550's and 570's at retail. The only reference I can find to an SN560 is an upcoming m.2 2230 drive. So although it looks like a "standard" 2280 m.2, it seems like this is a specific m.2 that's designed for external SSD use? Maybe low power draw or something?
Found a reference to the sn560. Looks its designed for small form factor. I wonder if the E is Energy or something
Its external so it needs DRAM
I think the E stands for encryption. The the 550 and 570 do not have encryption, aka SED (self encrypting drive). The Sandisk extreme claims 256-bit AES hardware encryption.
@@indiekiduk Encryption is pretty common on SSD, it seems to be more of a controller issue than anything.
Impressive glue and sticker work :)
But bad heat dissipation - thanks for enlightening that.
I'm have to pull mine apart that I am using with the series x and put some heatsinks on it as it is getting hot and slowing way down to under 1Gbps.
They definitely did not intend for this drive to be hooked up all the time as mine even when idle will get too dang hot.
Thank you for this video! I have a 250 GB disk just like this and the connector was failing, like it only connected when plugged and twisted in a certain way. So I wanted to unmount it and see what was going on even though I have no idea of soldering anything! But I didn't know where to start until I found your video. I found out the connector was strongly attached to the board, it had to be a different thing. May the connector be a little loose inside? Well, I used some pliers to make it a bit tighter to hold the connector properly and now it works again! It's stays connected no matter what. Thanks!
I made my own 'extreme' case for an old internal SSD I had. I used an empty milk bottle for the casing, some bits of old rubbery pleather material for the cover, and a 1/16" foam lining to absorb shocks.
Shock absorber for SSD? :D
@@teslastellar shocking, right?
😂😂
Grateful you "destroyed" yours so we could see what was inside🙏I'm actually watching this on a MacBook with an attached 1TB/2000mpbs version of this drive that I boot into a Mojave system from/with. It's running Mojave flawlessly.
perfect, I'm sold. it was between this and the Samsung T7 external ssd and I'd much rather have my data backed up on this sandisk m.2 drive than on the proprietary junk inside that samsung casing. thanks for the video!
I'm looking into a model that has usb 3.2 gen2. I'd buy it and swap with gen4 ssd but specs have lower read/write speeds. Something not matching up. So I don't think I can upgrade the Sandisk body with better m.2 but who knows. Thank you!
Will i get same thing if a use external SSD like this instead of updating my Mac with opening and putting one inside (some of those nvme samsung, or similar). Thanks
This is actualy really smart for sundisk not the most original but still livea up to wgat it offers
Nice. That satisfied my curiosity.
Thanks for the video. I wanted to know if one can replace the M.2 NVSE SSD with a faster one. Will the newer M.2 SSD from some other brand work with this "Enclosure"?
Alas, this is a M2 SATA device. You could upgrade the size by swapping the SSD, however, it has to be a M2 SATA. There is another model available which is named "pro", which supports NVME speeds.
Thanks for the opening instructions!
I have the same drive but suddenly not working. windows shows ( no media ) and mac not recognizing it.. any idea how to solve this issue?
Hi! Has someone tried the read write speed by connecting this Ssd directly to nvme internal slot. What is the the result. Its a WD sn730e inside the enclosure.
I think you might be able to remove the adhesive tape with floss. ;) I would love to see the performance inside a desktop b/c USB is limited to roughly 500 MB/s (USB 3.1 gen1) or 1000 MB/s (USB 3.1. gen2).
When I shucked mine from a V2 (harder to open, uses M key rather than B key), I was able to get close to 2500/sec. The older V1 topped out at 550mb/sec regardless of what connector I used (USB, SATA, etc)
V2 is a lot harder to open without damaging the shell or even the internal. I think V2 came around when Western Digital bought out Sandisk.
The day the M.2 drive was invented should be celebrated as a national holiday for computer lovers.
Indeed. I've bought 6 now. It's the size vs capacity which got me.
@@Vamspaz I have one of these SanDisk drives, I figured there was an M.2 inside given its size and speeds. I recently got a Beelink SER5, crazy fast and powerful for such a tiny PC, thanks to the M.2 that runs it.
Good work but it is a partial dissassemby. Why you don't use any floss (dental maybe) to divide drive and logic board? Then try to use another drive (sata will be perfectly) in subj and plug original drive via internal m.2 slot of motherboard. What name of internal ssd model?
I tried it this week and it was a pain. It appears to be some sort of a sticky double sided tape. One bad design element in this device is that a screw connects the board to the casing and not the SSD. Unlike how we get to use a screw to fix an SSD onto a motherboard, this relies on glue/sticky tape to the logic board. When replacing the SSD, it basically just hangs off the slot in the board. Not a strong fit at all.
Hi, I was wondering if the nvme will work the same even without the black covering on it
It does
I have an issue where videos from my Sandisk Portable 1TB drive freeze for 5-7 seconds at random intervals. I've tried switching ports, cables, and even formatting the drive, but the issue persists. This never happened with my previous HDD, and my PC has Thunderbolt and 3.2 ports.
If this happens when you transfer large files then it could be because of heat. Another reason could be that the cache gets filled and it takes that time to clear.
So, it wasn't just a piece of solid plastic after all!
try to remove the SSD and use it on a computer as boot drive. Also, try other SSDs with the adapter.
would be awesome to customise it and make whatever SSD we want in. at this rate would be fun to 3D print it and buy the NVME SSD to USB controller alone.
Did you cover the component side with a new piece of electrical tape before placing the internals back in the case? I would have, for safety's sake, just like you replaced that rubber ring.
I ended up throwing the tape away given how badly it was removed. The device does heat up a bit during long transfers. However, I did not observe how it used to be before attempting this.
Should take it apart and see if you can run it in your computer. Most likely yes but it would of added
to the video.
Good job 👍.
So the ssd is glued or soldered to the reader?
Thank you. It is glued. Just to be more precise it is stuck using a double sided tape.
I figured this is what was on the inside.
Amazing video, what kind of adhesive did they use to bind the Nvme with the usb port - it just electric tape?
Thank you. If you meant thermal tape then yes. Only the tape. With little care one can separate the SSD from the logic board.
@@Vamspaz spatula
@@Vamspaz Then why did you say this at 3:38? Seems like it is glued and can't be removed easily at all lol. Not just the tape.
I actually am very curious about this. I ordered another SSD to transfer my data before separating the one in the external storage from the circuit board (In case I ruin it). The join borders glue and tape territory TBH.
@@Vamspaz That's awesome! I'm really wondering too, what exactly is in this thing. Could you also check what controller the USB board has? There's lot's of discussion about the stability of different chips like the ASM and RLT in USB NVME enclosures. Hope you can get it out without damage. Maybe use a hairdryer/heatgun to loosen it up.
where can i buy this and do you have a newegg link to?
Can you remove the M.2 Drive from the Power board or is it sodered on?
It's not called a power board,it's either a m.2 or pcie to usb c adapter!
And there's a good chance they used Thermal Ahesive to help transfer heat plus hold down the ssd to the adapter.. if so you would probably tear the ssd up trying to get it off the board.
There's no way they aren't throttling/dying due to overheating....... SSD's run HOT!
It does get a bit hot. I don't run sustained transfers from or to it though.
this weird thing can be super fast even in USB2.... I was surprised.
Спасибо. это именно то что мне было интересно) Хорошего дня и прекрасного настроения , друг!
you sure that's nvme drive in there? I think it's just a regular SATA m.2
Can you try it with the samsung t7 portable ssd now
Nvme with adaptor? I can make one now
I wonder what gen is that m.2 drive gen 3? Gen 4?
I’ll check it out and tell.
I just orderd 2 off costco! I wonder what NAND they have reason being is a week ago WD and Kioxia( toshiba) release information about contamination in there their 3D BiCS NAND fabs with 6.5 exabytes possible effected
It’s actually NGFF? I thought it would be mSATA inside.
at least that one has dram cache
I really thought these are just premium nvme enclosures with app support. But it's not
An SSD inside. Who would have thunk it!
a normal m.2 ssd rather than a proprietary design, a very important distinction when it comes to backing up your important files.
BRUH, before reassembling, I would add some more Thermal Paste to it to help with Operating Temperature.
I have observed some heating in usage after this disassembly. Yes. Some thermal padding to replace the black tape is needed for prolonged usage.
It should be called "I dissasembled it so you don't have to"
needs clear case with the rubber housing/seal and a power/ status led mod
Clear case is not durable. it look pretty tho
Yes or no can you use the guts in a TB3 enclosure?
Yes
At least it's not a micro-SD card with a USB interface like those fake SSDs from Wish.
Hi! is it possible to buy one of these portable SSD and get the M.2 to make it my primary boot drive because they seem much cheaper than the actual M.2 selling on the market?
Hi. You will need to make sure that the SSD you buy is what you expect before you buy it. If that done then yes. Tools like macrium reflect will help you with the cloning process.
@@Vamspaz Oh thanks
Hi! Has someone tried the read write speed by connecting this Ssd directly to nvme internal slot. What is the the result.
thank you
You must glue back on the Black tape and the Copper sheet, which is very important for radiation isolation.
As a former electronics engineer, it makes me wince to see modern electronics handled without antistatic precautions.
I now think I was lucky that no charge passed onto the device.
@@Vamspaz You never know. Back in the 1980s, when I was an electronics engineer, someone came into my lab and picked up an IC. These were the days when a really thin track width was 250nm - today it’s 5 or 10.
After irately telling the guy to leave my lab, I cracked the device apart (it was a ceramic DIL with a glass frit seal, and cracking the seal was an art). I popped the chip half under a light microscope and saw a brown spot that didn’t look right.
I put it in the lab’s scanning electron microscope and quickly found the spot. It was a crater in a track that hadn’t totally severed it, but there were molten blobs around, implying static damage. The SEM had a feature called EBIC (electron beam induced current) where you could send current down specific tracks. I tried several tracks with no effect, then turned my attention to the crater. A small amount of current, the walls glowed and melted, and the track was severed. I tested the other tracks, and they were all glowing brighter. Plainly, after the failure of the track, the other tracks were having to take more load. I induced another track to fail, and then it took less load to destroy the next.
Static doesn’t necessarily kill a device immediately, but it may start a slow chain reaction that speeds up to end in a premature catastrophic failure.
I used to teach the importance of anti-static precautions at the European Space Agency.
I would no more pick up a modern PCB without a tested wrist or ankle strap than I would put on a blindfold and earplugs and step on to a busy motorway.
I've handled a LOT of circuit boards with no more "antistatic precaution" than just "touch something metal" and "don't touch the pins" 😂 so far everything worked fine afterwards. I think modern electronics are more resilient than our insecurities from the 80s and 90s would have us believe.
Witch is best samsung t7 or sandisk i am from india
Go for the t7 if you get a good deal.
Good work
can you remove the ssd? it seems soldered
Apparently we can. It is stuck with a double sided conductive tape. I couldn't risk seperating it cause I had a lot of data on the drive. I'll soon do a quick video on how to remove that SSD.
What this black paper do with the ssd ?
Spreads heat. I now feel the device heating up much often.
Thank you for showing black tape!
Any heating issues?
None additional after the sticker was removed.
Out of curiosity Is the drive an ssd or nvme drive?
ssd
Who knew another m.2 is sitting inside it.
I use portable external drives for moving files between systems. As a result my externals are repeatedly erased and replaced with new files.
I figure that many people use externals in a similar fashion, making the suitability of SSD for travelling temporary storage, with its measurable re-write half-life, less than ideal.
I spent last week re-organizing my back-up mechanical external drives - some are as old as 20+ years old (even includes old IDE drives)...they're slow and cumbersome, but none had lost any data, and were ALL still accessible for "full-speed" writes even though I have lost count of how often data has been replaced. Will the same hold true for a repeatedly used transfer SSD after 5 years (let alone 20+) ??
I'll take RW longevity over speed...
Am I reading the issue incorrectly?
You are on the right path there. In case you've come across a measure, TBW, it will answer your question. The amount of data you transfer and delete affects how long your SSD survives before becoming read only.
@@Vamspaz OK. Just making sure. I do have external drives that I use for permanent storage, but speed is not an issue with personal documents, which are usually on the small side. So not worth the cost there.
As, I said my primary use for externals is offline file transfers to media to other systems where the drive is being repeatedly erased. So not ideal there.
In either case, there is no usage case in my life for such a device...but I do have a closet full of 500GB and 1TB mechanical drives that I can pop into a Vantec case (of which I've also built a collection over the years).
can anyone confirm that it is upradeable?
It is.
hello someone knows the controller part number please
ASM235CM
RIP......😢
Haha, it still works. But gets warm very quick though.
Love in background music
Thanks.
So basically he removed heat spreader tape and emi shielding.
So this is an M.2 drive?
Correct!!
So it can be used in a PC m.2 slot..?
I’m running catalina,,,, Office Depot won’t replace it…. I can’t contact western digital or Sandisk. I’m SOL
Have a ram inside?
No. It is an SSD.
Sorry, this is not SSD, this is flash memory, if you connect it to MAC you will see the flash memory format types, not HDD or SSD format types, I am return it to amazon again before.
The enclosure converts an SSD to USB flash memory here. That's why you see it as a flash memory when connected to your Mac. However, you should see increased random read write speeds when compared to a HDD.
Matou minha curiosidade
Big tip for future videos, slow the speed down or fix the camera position. Parts almost unwatchable. Plus, learn howto focus the shots.
Will do. Focus has been a problem with my Fuji.
Almost the same with the WD one.
You have to blow hot air to the glue to loose its strength.
has anyone managed to take it off?
@@War3NEFans yes the Gods have.
@@PJ-sv4iw I took it off. But also broke it 😃
@@War3NEFans whomp whomp
@@War3NEFans I mean it's good to know there is an actual 'useable ssd' inside that can possibly be removed. I kept mine intact and it still works fine 1+ year later. Got it at clearance for $22 (500GB)
interesting to see that,Thx,....just if you allow me ....too much time on removing the cover, sticker removal,...we got that...you could fast forward that 2 parts,...and the recording was out of focus more than 50%,.....Once again, thanks for the sharing...
Out goes my Fuji. I have been struggling with the focus.
@@Vamspaz Thanks again for sharing...
I thought there would be a little man inside. Looks like it's just a bunch of computer gizmos.
Ok so if you want to upgrade your storage you just get a Portable SSD or HDD and disassemble it.
Shhhh delete this right now 😭
@@ultra568jinx why? Wouldn't you like to have an M.2 to USB adapter if you are testing drives anyways?
Only 6k view?!
1:25. Video starts here. All before is just prying open.
The music is unnecessary, but good disassembly
It sounded like some sort of homosexual music.
Why
Indeed. Music very distracting. And why on earth would somebody like to take this all apart? These things are expensive!
M.2 sata drive, pro using nvme
I just got the normal "portable ssd" of this and it's pretty quick. I have no idea which M.2 from SanDisk is inside, but i think it's a WD Green Version.
I do get 563mb/s read and 489mb/s write which is pretty much the max for a SATA 3 drive.
I'm using a Thunderbolt 3 USB C cable which still works on this drive.
that SSD look like using Old NAND chip.
Alongwith a SATA controller
M.2 SSD
that sucks.. means you cant fill this full or youll shorten its life.
Filling is fine. How often you do that will affect the drive.
@@Vamspaz yeah of course lol. but if you fill it full or near max capacity, then you'll shorten it's life due to wear leveling. you cant use this for archiving large files, or use HDD or don't fill it full.
They stuck it so people don't upgrade!
My drive like that died, after 3 months …. Lost all my data
ever heard of a heat gun lol
I came here to see the teardown, but got only disappointment!
A freaking m.2 drive? no wonder its overpriced where I live
That voids your warranty! You know that right? 🤣 Amazon won’t be that happy with that return. 😂🤣😂
Haha. Well I kept it.