External NMVe enclosure – recommendations

Topic

New Reply

[Peter-B UK]

Hello,

My Windows 11 PC has NMVe drives rather than the old style hard drive that I am familar with (long time computer user since the 1980s)

I’m currently backing up to a 2tb drive but thinking about getting an external enclosure that will take an NMVe drive and using Macrium Reflect to clone the drive so that if the internal NMVe fails I can just switch over to the cloned NMVe drive.

Looking at reviews seems to be a few issues with enclosures overheating or corrupting drives so just wondered whether anybody in these forums has experience of external NMVe drives that supports M.2 PCIe NVME Gen 3×4 Class 35 2230 Solid State Drive?

Any advice or recommendations would be most welcomed. I’m based in the UK so products need to be available here.

Thanks in advance.

Peter

• This topic was modified 1 year, 2 months ago by Peter-B UK.

Reply | Quote

Replies

If you clone a drive, the only thing on the destination (external) drive is an exact copy of the source. One working drive, one backup drive. And the backup is stagnant – the data and installed programs are frozen at the time of backup.

My recommendation would be to use your external drive to store images of your working drive (all partitions). An external drive can hold many images, made sequentially at scheduled times. That way, you can choose a more recent set of data to restore. If the working drive goes belly up, you have to replace it anyway, and it takes a minimal amount of time to restore an image to a new drive.

I use Macrium too. Never had a failure restoring an image.

4 users thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK, RetiredGeek, Paul, PL1

Reply | Quote

PK’s post re: Using Images, not clones is spot on.

In addition, I keep two identical NVMe drives, one is the current boot drive in my desktop pc  & the other is stored in the original box.   Then, every six months or so, I swap the drives to stay nimble.  Simple: I make an up to the minute Macrium backup, swap, then image the replacement drive.  It’s like nothing ever happened except windows will index the replacement once on the initial boot after re-imaging. 

I always have a current Macrium back from the night before so if I have a drive issue the next day I’ll always have a fresh backup ready and every backup is synced to two other data drives (1 external, 1 internal) just in case.

This would be over-kill for some, but it’s simple peace of mind for me.

Desktop mobo Asus TUF X299 Mark 1, CPU: Intel Core i7-7820X Skylake-X 8-Core 3.6 GHz, RAM: 32GB, GPU: Nvidia GTX 1050 Ti 4GB. Display: Four 27" 1080p screens 2 over 2 quad.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote

IMHO, skip the NVMe Enclosure.

• They generate a lot of heat they can’t dissipate which affects drive lifespan.
• A good one (thinking of device longevity) that supports USB4 is in the $100 range.

Stick with a standard 2.5″ SSD and compatible enclosure. Sure the Images will take a little longer but well worth the cost savings plus you’ll get more storage for the same outlay.

Also avoid Clones and go with Images they are much more flexible in what you can do with them.

• Restore a single partition.
• Mount a partition and restore single folders or files. Actually, you could copy folders and/or files from the clone in the enclosure as Windows would assign a drive letter to each partition. However, the down side is those drives would be R/W where a mounted Image is usually R/O preserving your data.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote

Thanks for the replies so far.

For those recommending images rather than clone I’m already doing that anyway (to a 3.5″ drive with 2TB capacity). My thinking about getting an external device to clone my internal NMVe drive is a belt and braces approach. I have two drives (the system C drive being NMVe and the D drive (which holds all my data) is the traditional 3.5″ drive).

Just thinking about cloning my system c drive (in addition to taking images) so that if the NMVe drive fails it’s a quick swap to get up and running again.

Thanks again all

Reply | Quote

Similar chance of the power supply failing but you don’t have a spare one of them, do you?

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

I use several external NVMe drive enclosures and find them useful tools:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0892BK5L6 (USB3.1 10Gb/s)

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0B2LK719P (Thunderbolt 3/4 40Gb/s)

The first one came with a thermal pad to transfer heat to the aluminum case, while the second came with an internal heat sink and thermal pad to attach to the SSD. SSDs will throttle to protect themselves from heat the same as CPUs or GPUs. The heat is only an issue while doing extended writes, and I doubt it is any worse than the heat that builds up inside any modern laptop with a SSD. I’ve never worried about it much.

Most M.2 drives come as 2280 form factors, which both of these enclosures are built to handle, but if you need to use the 2230 form factor, inexpensive adapters can be used.

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

1 user thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote

RetiredGeek wrote:

IMHO, skip the NVMe Enclosure.

• They generate a lot of heat they can’t dissipate which affects drive lifespan.
• A good one (thinking of device longevity) that supports USB4 is in the $100 range.

NVMe enclosures with cooling fans are available for reasonable prices.

ineo M.2 NVMe (PCIe) enclosure with built-in cooling fan $32.99

ORICO M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure with built-in fan $39.99

That keep the NVMe temps within their “normal operating range” just as if they were inside the PC.

Ascaris wrote:

Most M.2 drives come as 2280 form factors, which both of these enclosures are built to handle, but if you need to use the 2230 form factor, inexpensive adapters can be used.

“Most” external enclosures, like the two I linked to above, come with the ability to handle all four NVMe sizes (2230 ⇒ 2280) so you won’t need an adapter.

2 users thanked author for this post.

windbg, Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote

n0ads,

I just ordered the Orico one (20Gbps). I’ll report back on how it works. Thanks!

I was referring to 40Gbps ones in my post much more expensive.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote

I was referring to the two that I cited in my post, which would need adapters.

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

1 user thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote

While the one in your 2nd link does indicate it supports 2280 Only and would need an adapter for other sizes, if you scroll down to the ‘”Product Description” section for the one in your 1st link, it indicates it supports all four sizes.

• The rubber SSD retention peg can be moved to support multiple M.2 NVMe SATA NGFF SSD lengths including: 2280, 2260, 2242, 2230.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote

I’ve got one right here, and it does not have a mounting provision for 2230:

The SSD shown is a 2230, and as you can see, there is no mounting hole that matches it.

EDIT: The title for the Amazon listing is correct for the revision I have… it has mount points for 2242, 2260, and 2280. Also, the retention mechanism is brass, not rubber.

I do see a photo from a purchaser of this unit where it does show a fourth mounting hole at the 30mm position, with the PCB being covered by a plastic grate, which mine does not have. A newer revision, apparently (but they forgot to change the title, which still reflects the older version I have).

As the 2230 drive in the photo is one of mine, and I haven’t bought an adapter for it, I ordered another one to see if it does indeed come with the provision to mount it. My existing one is fast and reliable, and for $18, why not? I have more drives than enclosures!

 

Dell XPS 13/9310, i5-1135G7/16GB, KDE Neon 6.2
XPG Xenia 15, i7-9750H/32GB & GTX1660ti, Kubuntu 24.04
Acer Swift Go 14, i5-1335U/16GB, Kubuntu 24.04 (and Win 11)

1 user thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote

Orico also sells 40GB enclosures with fans and, as you noted, the regular price is $100.

However, they’re currently on sale.

The black one’s are $64 at Amazon Orico 40Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure with built-in cooling fan (only one left in stock) and the blue one’s are $73 at Newegg Orico 40Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure & built-in cooling fan thru 04/07.

1 user thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote

n0ads,

If I hit the PowerBall Wed. I buy and try one of those too! LOL…

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

Reply | Quote

Hey Y’all,

Ok, I didn’t hit the lottery but I did spring for the 20Gbps version on New Egg @ $39.99.

I installed the Kingston 512 NVMe drive that came with my new computer as it was replaced by a Samsung 980 Pro NVMe drive.

I’ve seen some strange results with this as I’ve tested it with a variety of ports (USB 4 & USB 3.2) and cables (Supplied, 20Gbps and 40Gbps) and real life software.

The results are weird, especially the real life software:
Using Terabyte Image for Windows (TBI) to image the Samsung drive.

1. Using USB-C 4 port in my old Orico enclosure – Time 14.02
2. Using USB-C 4 port in the new Orico 20Gbps enclosure – Time 13:40
3. Using USB-A 3.2 port in the new ORico 20Gbps enclosure – Time 07:59!!!

I just can’ figure this one out.

When I run Crystal Disk Mark Portable the results are almost identical when using various combinations of enclosures, ports, and cables. Below is a representative sample of the results:

Orico 20Gbps Enclosure with LDLrui 4K Cable

Orico 20Gbps Enclosure with Talmosal 40Gb Cable Cable

Orico 20Gbps Enclosure with supplied Cable USB 3-2

For comparison using the OLD Orico enclosure:
Kingston 512G NVMe -USB4-Using 40G Cable

In any case at least by my calculations I’m not getting full 20Gbps!

As best as I can figure it’s the Kingston drive that is crippling the performance here.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

1 user thanked author for this post.

Peter-B UK

Reply | Quote