do they work?color me confused…@danny
Yes, spending some time reading up on user experience with these enclosures I can conclude that these are still 1st generation devices which can cause problems. I am interested in a M.2 NVMe enclosure to use as boot drive with a 2012 iMac. I don’t feel like open the iMac to put the drive inside, so this is an option which has been used by quite a few iMac owners. My iMac has spent the last five years in storage, and I recently hooked it up again and it works fine. Using a SSD drive with these older Macs can give quite a performance boost.
One important thing users on diverse forums report is that the reliability of the M.2 NVMe enclosures depends heavily on the chipset used for PCIe to USB bridging. There are three chips on the market, being the JMicron JMS583 the one mostly seen in the cheaper enclosures and the one causing problems. It is reported to draw lots of power and to get hot. Most devices reported as disconnecting randomly use this chip.
Edit: This appears to apply to revision A0 of this chip and to have been resolved in revisions A1/A2 and firmware updates. Even so, there still appear a lot of user complaints about incompatibilities and random disconnection of these USB devices.
The other chips on the market are from Asmedia (ASM2362) and Realtek (RTL9210). This last one has received much better reviews from users. It draws less power, keeps cooler and seems to be much more reliable. Samsung seems to use the ASM2362 with its T7 external SSD drives.
As is to be expected, these devices work more reliably on USB 3.0 interfaces than on 3.1 Gen2. Of course, data transfer rate will be only half that of 3.1, but in my use case this doesn’t matter, as my iMac only has USB A 3.0 interfaces.
So, here are two interesting devices that use the RTL9210 chip; I still have not decided upon which one to try:
There’s an interesting thread on the Anandtech site about these enclosures, their reliability and the different chips used. Have a look, maybe it helps you to make up your mind:
As you are looking for an external SSD for Nucleus or SonicTransporter, and presumably this would be for storage of audio files, I’d decide upon a Samsung T5.
Thanks for posting all info…
I just now ordered the Samsung T7 2TB (good price) for new sonictransporter i9 (coming in a few days (with 8tb of internal ssd)+hqplayer embedded.
I have large library that doesn’t fit on 8 tb internal ssd.
Needed space for another 500gb or so.
Good luck with that! I am probably going to try the Plugable NVMe enclosure to boost my iMac’s performance…
Will the Samsung 8TB 870 QVO 2.5" SATA III Internal SSD work in the original Nucleus? I believe the original Nucleus is more restricted when it comes to SSD support.
Only physically, in that it won’t take anything over 9mm high.
Yes, that exactly my question. I just wanted to confirm from the experts that the Samsung 8TB 870 QVO will fit in the original Nucleus+
From the Samsung data sheet:
100x 69.85x 6.8(mm)
Recently installed this drive in my Nucleus + Rev B. You may want to ask that the seller include the four screws to mount it to the hard drive frame since they are not included unless requested.
i just received my Samsung 8TB 870 QVO drive but did not get the screws to mount it to the rails. does anyone know the correct size needed for this? thanks in advance!
M3 I think.
Yes, the local harware store referred to them as M3 screws. Not sure of the length they handed me, but they worked. Your sales rep can probably advise you when you mention what your intentions are.
You can get kits with various types and lengths for £10 which given the price of the SSD isn’t too bad if you are unsure about right type.
Get an 8tb and be done.
As we add to our libraries it’s easy to start using up space.
Me neither! Luckily I happened to have some spares… can’t believe Samsung doesn’t supply these.
I’m about to order a Nucleus and with that, I would like to also order a 4TB SSD. I’ve read above and it looks like this Samsung 870 QVO would be a good choice. Does anyone else have experience with this drive and Nucleus? Good/Bad? Thank you in advance!
It works. Go for it!
I have one NUC8i7 with ROCK and one Nucleus+ (2 different locations). Just ordered 2 x Samsung 870 QVO 8TB.
Got 6TB of music currently.