Thunderbolt 3 vs USB 4 External SSD | M1 Mac

[@KevinRossRN]

I've got an updated video on a combo that seems to work pretty well on these M1 Machines: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oX-4goJ_qZeip7M

[@KevinRossRN]

Alright friends. Just another follow up to compare these two enclosures, and to also discuss that there are "issues" with these controllers/retimers on this M1 chip? Can it be fixed with an update? Sure, but that's likely a hardware update. When testing I always recommend going beyond the synthetic benchmarks and seeing what these are like in an actual workflow. All cables used are certified, and I've even tested certified active cables with these enclosures. It's coming down to relying on powered Thunderbolt hubs to push this throughput, which I'm still waiting on one that hasn't been fully rolled out yet. Either way, sending my best, and it's not all heartbreaking that these M1 Macs are throttled/bottlenecked on these ports because the performance is still amazing for a base level chip. You may be finding different results and by all means, feel free to share them here. I'll see you in the comments.

[@KevinRossRN]

Of course! Happy to help. I think I’m going to build out my own testing lab 🤣

[@kevinunger8511]

Hi Kev. It’s Kevin in Toronto writing. Thanks for this video, which was slightly beyond my scope. However, I was going to suggest to you previously that perhaps in a future video you could talk about or mention USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 - that although they share the same plugin, they are NOT the same thing. In some instances, I don’t think that some cable manufacturers even understand the differences between the two. I have found that finding a proper Thunderbolt 3 cable isn’t easy. On Amazon, they are listed as Thunderbolt 3/USB-C cables or adapters, to which I ask myself “well, which one are you?” The USB-4 configuration that you mention being something Apple has done with the M1 chip is not something I am too familiar with, so thanks for going to the trouble of enlightening those of us that may not know. By the way, I have been finding glitches with the Big Sur OS that is infuriating at times. It’s been ejecting my external drives for no reason while I’m working in them. Out of the blue I’ll get a pop up advising that the external drive was ejected improperly. This goes for the T7 as well as my SATA Drive and a Flash stick. Very weird. Perhaps I’ve got a ghost in the machine! Hope all is well.

[@KevinRossRN]

Hey Kevin, great to see you over here again. You know, it’s funny. I had a section in the video about the cables, but decided to cut it out. I was trying to trim it down a bit. Specifically I discussed the passive vs active cables, and yes, you are right when it comes to the confusion of those cables. As far as the randy ejecting, are you plugged directly in I assume? I’ve had someone else share their issue with using a hub, which hopefully with the latest update as of yesterday I believe, this may fix that issue with some of those hubs. However, interesting indeed. I don’t have a T7, but do have a T5, which I haven’t had that issue. I also keep my NVMe enclosures plugged in pretty much all the time. Interesting. I’ll have to investigate further. Have you found any others with the issue?

[@kevinunger8511]

@@KevinRossRN - Hi Kev. Only the T7 is plugged in directly. The other two are through a USB-A hub. I haven’t clicked on the latest update yet. I’ll do that tomorrow and keep an eye on the ejection rate. Haven’t found anyone else with this same ejection issue. With the Flash drive, I move over a music file from the SATA drive to the Flash drive, and the flash freezes during the write and then just ejects. That was today. But for previous days, just straight ejection out of the blue. It’s not an often occurrence, but definitely a few times in each session. Weird. Never had these issues before. I’m not doing anything unusual or different. All the drives are formatted properly. Anyhow, I’ll figure it out Kev. Just thought I’d mention it.

[@KevinRossRN]

That is weird, and honestly, frustrating. I wish I could point to a fix. At the very least, let’s hope that the latest update provides some benefit. It is supposed to fix the issue with third party hubs that were bricking the Mac, but I wonder if there’s a few other updates that are snuck into it that may address anything else. I’ll be curious to hear.

[@AlexGTech]

There he is! Nice and thorough video bro, really useful info! 👊

[@KevinRossRN]

Ha! This Gerald Undone level is a breakneck workflow. I think I'll go back to vlogging 😆 Good to see you brother.

[@alexisrodriguez7127]

Fantastic video. Been deep in the rabbit hole with these ssd enclosure for about a week now. Sub earned 👍🏻

[@KevinRossRN]

That rabbit hole is deep. Glad to see you made it out. Awesome to have you here.

[@nicksh90]

Thank you so much for this video and all the work you've done to make it. I was searching for a fan-cooled thunderbolt 3 or USB4 enclosure for quite a long period of time as I'm really concerned about the high temps and I never found one. You are the first and only person who showed an exact product that I'm looking for. Thank you for the comparison too, as now I understand what to buy =)

[@KevinRossRN]

Fantastic! Really glad to help. I go a little deeper into it in my most recent video. Best of luck on your purchase.

[@ejnjhoejnjho9882]

Thanks so much for all the great content! The amount of information in your videos is ridiculously helpful. In fact, thanks to your videos I just ordered an Acasis enclosure and SN750 NMVE drive to connect to a new Mac Studio on order. Can’t wait to see how fast this set-up functions.

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s fantastic. A Mac Studio on the way! 🚚📦 You’ll be blown away by that machine.

[@jasonjacobs2516]

My kind of geeky info! Curious to boot ability of these drives. Pulling the trigger on one them soon! Appreciate you brotha!

[@KevinRossRN]

Glad to help. If you need to sandbox the OS you can boot from it, or just hold the OS and apps in the internal and run your libraries, gaming data, etc off of the external as well.

[@masterstacker2833]

I have 2 Trebleet TB3 enclosures each with a 2 TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD and they work great getting between 2.0 and 2.5 GB/s in Black Magic.

[@KevinRossRN]

I really need to get one of these for testing. I know it’s another go to option for folks. Are you on M1 as well? I assume.

[@masterstacker2833]

@@KevinRossRN Allow me to correct myself. I switched the drives and the ports and had better "ventilation" than last time. There was no noticeable difference between HFS+ and APFS. Apologies for any confusion. Yes - I have a 4TB Maxed out 16" M1 Max and the experience is completely different. I work on my 2019 27" Core I-9 iMac and keep asking myself "Is this thing frozen?". Loading programs with the older SSD is particularly slow by comparison. My advice, unlike most on KZbin, is buy AS MUCH of the new M1-Pro/Max as you can afford.

[@KevinRossRN]

Oh gotcha. I think I responded before the edit. And honestly I think that’s reasonable for real world use…at least in my testing on this video as well as my updated test from last week I posted.

[@stevenwaldstein2249]

Great video. Really appreciate the time it took to get the data and your presentation of it as well.

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! I have some more recent updates as well, but I do still use these enclosures.

[@_imteeyaz]

Pretty cool to hear about the nitty gritty stuff here, definitely helped me understand more about what's going on, thanks!

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! And it certainly can go a little deeper than this, but hopefully they can resolve the issue in the next iteration and open up more PCIe lanes or more power to the controller.

[@1clap]

Certainly the best analysis and testing of TB3 / USB4 ports I have seen to date on Apple's misleading marketing figures, and very good research and explanation.. I'm suscribing to your channel.. I don't care how beautiful the background or the lighting is, I just want real facts .. 'bravo' for the quality of the content.

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks friend! I appreciate you hanging out. It can be tough because reviewing tech (or anything) has the ability to upset some folks if the results aren’t leaning to the correct narrative. I’m certainly not trying to create buyers remorse, but sometimes I find that the items we purchase aren’t exactly as advertised 🤷‍♂️ Anyway, I’ll keep speaking the truth 😉

[@stevesmacfix]

I appreciate you taking the time doing this and really presenting it in a manner I’m not guessing anymore. Great video, great info and presentation. Got my 👍🏼 thanks

[@KevinRossRN]

Awesome. Glad to have you around here on this one. 🤘

[@Br0adCastYourS3lf]

Thanks for including the AmorphousDisk results. Because I'm mostly interested in the RND4K Q1D1 speeds.

[@KevinRossRN]

You bet. I like to spread the wealth around to these benchmarking programs, but Amorphous is what I personally pay attention to.

[@indoomni]

Hey you look precisely like that monster hero one from the Big Hero 6 guys.

[@KevinRossRN]

🤫 don’t tell anyone. We’ll keep this between us😉

[@tri-unetrl3966]

Naw... Aerosmith!

[@KevinRossRN]

Rock on 🤘

[@hawaiirealmedia5610]

Your video is super helpful. VERY well done. Thanks!!

[@KevinRossRN]

You bet. And thank you.

[@TheGippy30]

thanks so much for your honesty on the enclosures

[@AlexGTech]

And a set of Ginsu knives 😂 that made me chuckle!

[@KevinRossRN]

Hey, when you’re cutting video, you’ve got to have sharp tools 😉🤣

[@AlexGTech]

@@KevinRossRN 💯 !

[@johnsays]

Thank you. Great approach and analysis. You have definitely helped my decision making.

[@KevinRossRN]

Glad that it helped. Best of luck.

[@JohnnyConcent]

Thanks!

[@KevinRossRN]

I insist…Thank you. 😉

[@GadgetAddict]

So the trick for the M1 Mac's is to really use a USB4 or TB3 enclosure, if you want to get beyond the ~700 that most of the USB 3.x enclosures are giving? Interesting. You're the first one I saw that actually showed what's needed to reach higher speeds on the M1 Mac's.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, I have several videos in this subject. But yes, if you need to go beyond that then these Thunderbolt or USB 4.0 enclosures are the way to go. I still use them all the time.

[@hangar4avs]

I've done extensive testing on just about all TB enclosures out there (there really is not many), and I landed on the Shell Thunder. I have three of them. Coupled with the SP Gen 4 NVMe, it offers about 50% MORE speed on Write than an EVO, and will run cooler (by almost 20 degrees C under load). The enclosure itself also pushed out speeds around 41% higher than in "other" TB enclosures. It was a no brainer which flash to use with me and in which enclosure. The Shell Thunder enclosure is the fastest out there for what it is and Shell are great people to talk with about all things nerdy (and trust me, I have). THAT speak volumes with me. But just as Kevin has said many times, benchmarks are what they are...benchmarks. They are not the be all end all. Don't get too hung up with the numbers of BM and AJA. Put the piece into your workflow and make your decision in that manner and how it works for YOU. Why? The most interesting aspect of my testing yielded the same results as Kevin whereas, the drives that were so-called "faster" exported at the same speed as the "slower" ones. I ran into this situation many times and it just blew me away. It was at that point I no longer focused merely on the "numbers". It is truly a "staring point". Good luck beautiful humans.

[@KevinRossRN]

Really appreciate you popping over for this one. Much appreciate your time and comment. I do love the Fledging setup and have also been in communication with them, which I appreciate so much from a brand. And yeah, even though you (one) may get similar results from a pre-built 3.2 device, these are still great because of the customization...especially since we can't customize/update anything on these M1 machines. Many thanks, and keep rocking those faces.

[@hangar4avs]

@@KevinRossRN Yessir! I've always built my own because I'm just a speed freak (and a little OCD). That part is predictable. What wasn't was all the testing I did with all those DIY enclosures/NMVe and what was concluded from it. I also was never happy with pre-built NVMe configurations that are offered. Don't like to be pigeon-holed. I tinker way too much. Keep rockin' those beanies!

[@KevinRossRN]

You got it. And, I need a beanie sponsor 🤣

[@TOShorts]

What other SSDs have you tried? WD SN850, or Sabrent Rocket 4 by any chance? Also, what speeds were you getting with the SP Gen 4 NVMe?

[@KevinRossRN]

The SN750, which I did post those read/write values in the video, but the only reason I tested the Gen 4 silicon power was because I got an awesome deal on it, I wanted to test whether it made a difference in the enclosure (it didn’t), and I ended up using it in a PC build that I’ll be sharing on the channel soon, but the SP in the PC is reading at 4977 and writing at 4200.

[@Ali_ReBORN]

You deserve a sub brother! I just recently started going back to my lifetime photo and video archive on a QNAP 20TB thunderbolt raid 5 setup after a long hiatus. Got myself a 2tb NVME m.2 (Samsung 980 pro) and 2 8TB sata SSD’s (Samsung evo) for making a mobile secondary backup of my QNAP lol.. definitely getting your recommended enclosures! Gratitude 🙏🏼

[@KevinRossRN]

Hey that’s awesome! And, I did an update on the Acasis and 980 PRO, and they are a great combo. I use it all the time. Great to have you around the channel and I appreciate you sharing your workflow as well. 🤘

[@Ali_ReBORN]

@@KevinRossRN Thank you 😊

[@FabricioOliveira]

Awesome and explained in a simple Way... as always! Congrats!

[@FabricioOliveira]

From Brazil

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! Glad to have you here on this one.

[@Simon-pl2zi]

how lucky are we that we have people like Kevin who take the time to do the work/research for us! Thank you so much.

[@KevinRossRN]

It’s my pleasure. Glad to help where I can.

[@petsareworthsaving4981]

Funny I did not get the same little nut on the Akasis, it came with a rubber plug that fits in its place, seems to work fine and honors the no tools required statement. Very fast enclosure, I am getting 2700 read and write speeds with a MacStudio.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, I think they were one of the first of these enclosures I came across with the nut, and as I picked up more I noticed that others started doing the same. However most of these brands are often using the same manufacturers to assemble these and just putting a different name on it. It’s been fine though. Haven’t had any issues.

[@theaustindude]

Great channel! I would love to see the OWC Envoy Pro EX TB3 ssd compared. It clocks in around $300 for 1TB and has approached M1 internal speeds on some other comparisons I’ve seen.

[@KevinRossRN]

Always looking for more tech to compare it to what I have. My wallet doesn’t agree though 😀 This one is definitely on the list though.

[@theaustindude]

Kevin Ross based on what I’ve seen from that drive, I would think OWC would want to provide you a unit to compare!

[@KevinRossRN]

They did send me an external SSD, no questions asked and no expectations to make a video, but would love the opportunity to test more of their products since as you can see I try not to just run a synthetic benchmark and call it good 😉

[@pumacorp]

@@KevinRossRN well that explains why OWC doesnt send you anything else lol...They dont want the real world #s getting out ...

[@KevinRossRN]

Ha! I have had those conversations to let brands know that I will be testing and I will share what my concerns are.

[@EssinkVideo]

Hey Kevin I’m currently using a treebleet thunderbolt 3 enclosure with SK hynix Gold P31 2TB PCIe NVMe Gen3 M.2 2280 Internal SSD. Currently seeing 2566 read / 2100 write. I expect this to increase slightly after receiving the cal digit thunderbolt 4 element hub as the ssd is rated for 3500/3200. Highly recommend this combination after trying many this was the fastest enclosure I found.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, I’ve been meaning to review that one. The USB4 from Acasis is pretty awesome, and I’ll be curious to see what you find with the hub comes in. My update on the M1 Max should be coming out soon in regards to Thunderbolt speeds with these drives. Let me know what you find when you retest.

[@EssinkVideo]

@@KevinRossRN I also tried that Acasis enclosure. I loved the build quality. Felt like a total beast. But on my machine the treebleet outperformed. I’ll check back in a couple weeks after the hub arrives.

[@EssinkVideo]

Also thanks a ton for the quality in depth testing and review and truly no filler or fluff in the video. KZbin needs more reviewers like yourself!

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, I think it comes down to finding the one that works best with your setup because as you see they’re all a little different. Looking forward to the update. Whenever you get a chance.

[@EssinkVideo]

@@KevinRossRN so I received my hub. Instantly noticed write performance is awful when plugged into the hub. However. Having the hub plugged in and the drive direct to computer i am seeing those higher write speeds and seeing them stay consistently high. Where as before they would drop down a tad and go back up. But direct to hub. I saw a drastic decrease in write speed with this drive down to 600… gross.

[@JamieR]

Love me some snaxy graphs, numbers and air quotes. Let's bring them back! 😁😂 Appreciate all the effort put into this and I got to say the execution is superb. Great stuff Kevin!

[@KevinRossRN]

Really appreciate you being here friend.

[@JureJerebic]

Loved these few of Thunderbolt 3 NVMe vids from you. I got an external Thunderbolt 3 enclosure and a Sabrent Gen4 4800 MB/s drive, but am getting the same 2500-2700 MB/s speeds. So it's not currently even possible to get the 4000-5000 MB/s speeds from these drives, unless they're mounted on a PCIe motherboard in a PC?

[@KevinRossRN]

That is correct. You can only get the speeds that either the enclosure supports and the throughput that TB3/TB4 supports. And based on the information I’ve received the Sabrent SSDs have sometimes performed slower in these enclosures, and just seem to do better directly on the motherboard.

[@KRE808]

Great informative (and honest) video, but in all seriousness I wanted to see the Ginsu knives benchmark data.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah it seems the Ginsu knives benchmark is a hot request. 💀

[@PaceyPimp]

I was wondering what would give me the fastest speeds to run my M1 Mac Mini of external MVNO Gen 4, so I bought a Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 m.2 NVME ssd aluminum enclosure because it was cheaper than the USB 4.0 enclosure but i was not sure which or what would be the fastest speed enclosure i could buy. Do you think i did the right move or should i buy a different enclosure?

[@markchester25]

The question comes to mind, are the SSD enclosures more efficient utilizing a separate power source as opposed to pulling the power through the Thunderbolt 3 connection? Or are these SSD enclosures more efficient running through a Hub as opposed a direct connect to the M1 Thunderbolt 3 connection. Does the same hold true for connections to the MAC Mini M1?

[@KevinRossRN]

I actually did a video on using a Thunderbolt dock to help increase the saturation in that throughput that can occur, however it really only helps if you are truly able to push these enclosures to the fullest. Basically, I was able to get these to perform faster, but only when I was performing multiple tasks simultaneously.

[@jmsobe]

Great video as usual, no BS or rumor riffing. Ordered a tb-3 external enclosure from wavlink. Will be using on a future mac, currently on windows machine. I am finding that none of these enclosures support two sided NVME drives. Is that the case with these enclosures as well Kevin?

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! And yeah, in my research I haven’t found any enclosure yet that can handle that. Up to 4TBs, yes, but I will say that this could be a thermal nightmare if not properly managed. I get sketched out by some of these enclosures, especially when it comes to the components they’re using. That’s why I try to put them under as much load as possible. I am working on something that is more NAS based as far as the hardware, but should be able to have that direct TB connection that would be able to handle those thermals and a few NVMe SSDs. My dream setup would be able to work on those SSDs through TB/USB4 and then archive within the same enclosure to some spinning HDDs...Such a niche workflow. But yeah, the two sided setup would likely cause failure or bottlenecks that these smaller manufacturers couldn’t handle on the customer service side, not to mention the expense because of the type of board they’d need in those enclosures. 🤷‍♂️

[@NeilSnapePhotography]

I bought the Wavlink too. I had the first replaced, and a Crucial P5 V3 specced not V4. Rated performance something like 3500/3000 yet I can only get around 1000 read and write. I sent the NVMe back to Crucial, and the new replacement performs exactly the same. Tried this on M1 Macs and Intel. Always close to the same. I am really disappointed in this. Is it perhaps an incompatible mix?

[@KevinRossRN]

I actually did a follow up video that released yesterday touching on a couple of these questions. I’d have to determine which chip you’ve got on that board in the enclosure, but this could be an issue where the enclosure isn’t able to fully push that throughput, but there’s also the enclosure and SSD compatibility. I’m seeing more manufacturers list the SSDs they’ve tested.

[@C-corp]

Excellent tech review. So at the end of the day, which is recommend for Mac mini M1 doing video? Thanks

[@KevinRossRN]

I have a video coming out today on further tests with two of the top SSDs in this category. For video editing, it really doesn’t matter because the program can only read and write so fast. Are you going with a DIY setup?

[@sundersquare]

Also srry, maybe im the only one that didn't get this but the nut was missing from just the acasis enclosure and not both as the fledging also shows up in that segment. No problem with the fledging? Thanks :D

[@KevinRossRN]

No problem with the Fledging, that is correct. The Acasis was the one that was missing.

[@FedericoPGiller]

Thanks for your honest review. Really practical and based on real need.

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s the idea (real use case). And, thank you.

[@DC-ti3ci]

Thank you for this awesome content! Very informative and rolled out quicker than I could get around to watching it! As you've rightly opined before, the pace of development is so quick nowadays -- to the point that I can't (or won't bother) to keep up. Thanks for your intensive real world testing and for providing all this data so that we (me) mere mortals can make more informed buying decisions! That said, would I be "future proofing" (insomuch as possible) if I were to get the USB 4 with Gen 4 SSD today? Or would it be more likely that by the time we see more PCIe lanes or controllers with more power to fully utilise those throughput speeds, USB 4 and/or Gen 4 SSDs would be reduced to a commonality (with mass market prices) instead of remaining high-priced commodities? Just wondering cos I'm getting my Mac Mini tomorrow! Thanks, Kevin!

[@KevinRossRN]

So for external use right now, and likely in the near future it will be harder to get that full throughput of Gen4, however in my case (and probably yours), I was able to find a Gen4 SSD at the same price, so I just grabbed it. I also do like USB4 for that protocol that it works with USB-C, so I do think it’s worth it there.

[@DC-ti3ci]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks much I'm going the same way too!

[@KevinRossRN]

Awesome 😎 More testing to occur. There’s just a backlog of tech I’m waiting on.

[@joesalyers]

The issue is not Thunderbolt but the BSD implementation of the PCI sleep mode, which puts thunderbolt drives and other things into a hibernation state to save on power. The tools are less than 3 years old and all derived from open source code built on cortex cores not Apple cores. So it will probably be buggy until the next version of Mac OS. I haven’t had any real issues with M1 & thunderbolt except the 2 seconds most drives take to start writing if they have been idle for a while. I’m pretty sure this will get better over time but ARM & BSD Unix have only really been building tools for about 3 years so I expected it to be far worse than it actually is.

[@KevinRossRN]

Really appreciate you weighing in here. Would be great if this could be remedied in an update. My thoughts were along the lines of that trace distance of the retimer and controller to be able to adequately repeat that signal from the port, and especially being concerning with such a low watt chip. But again, helpful. Appreciate you dropping by with that bit of knowledge.

[@joesalyers]

@@KevinRossRN Yea I think it's growing pains Apple depends heavily on the BSD community for the the vast majority of their toolkit. But BSD developers didn't have any ARM based machines with Thunderbolt to work and test with so Apple most likely took the BSD PCI implementation and patched it to work as USB4 because the only real developer based ARM machines are single board computers and the Pinebook Pro and none of them have Thunderbolt controllers. But I truly expected the M1 to be really bad but it's been actually really nice. I enjoy your content and keep up the the great work.

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks friend. Appreciate having you here. And yes, as I had mentioned that even though we’re not getting that advertised throughput , the machine has really been awesome. Such a time saver on my end.

[@nikon2kx]

Great channel! Love these videos! Question for you. I got the Acasis enclosure with 2TB WD SN750. One thing I noticed that the enclosure is very warm when idling and stays very warm even if ejected from my M1 mac but leave it plugged in. Have you noticed anything like this on your units? I'm curious if its the enclosure still drawing power or the SSD.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, this is something I’ve been testing on Monterey as well as Big Sur. It’s still drawing power even if the OS isn’t utilizing the drive, so hence the reason why it’s still warm. This seems to be something with these thunderbolt enclosures that I’ve found.

[@nikon2kx]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks for the reply! Have you heard of any 2TB SSDs that work with the Acasis and M1 mac with no issues? My 2TB WD SN750 is only getting ~1200mbps write which many other have noted too. I'm worried to try the Samsung 970 EVO Plus because i heard a lot of people having issues with that SSD and M1 macs.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah the SN750 seems to work the best, except for that silicon power one I reviewed a while back. I think there’s been an update to the SN750 SSD components that may be slowing it down, which is related to the manufacturing issues globally. The video I did comparing it to the 970 EVO also resulted in the SN750 performing better, but it also comes down to what you’re using it for. As in this case, the program can only write so fast through TB3/USB4 and regardless of the speed of the SSD, it’s negligible. But again, just depends on what you’re using it for. This will be one of the first things I test on the M1X.

[@davidmathew6453]

Keep doing these great videos! Been very informative. I’m wondering what kind of external ssd enclosure and what kind of nvme drive do you prefer for fastest transferring. I saw the numbers were close but, say that you’re on a bit of a budget but want the same speeds, what do you recommend?

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! And so to clarify, what would be your main workflow and what’s a rough budget that you have?

[@davidmathew6453]

No problem! I’d say $150-$200, mainly copying documents and video import and export from and to my m1 MacBook Pro.

[@KevinRossRN]

So I’d say the SanDisk extreme may be your best bet. The one linked in the description that I tested is plenty fast. They have Western Digital NVMe SSDs in them. Otherwise, if you’re building an enclosure you could get the WD SN750 SSD and then a USB-C Enclosure like this one: amzn.to/37OmwFH It’s not TB3, but on par with the SanDisk speeds, and you can always upgrade the SSD in it. That would bring you in at around 150-160USD

[@davidmathew6453]

@@KevinRossRN thank you so much! Did not know the sandisk extreme had the WD nvme in them! I will definitely check them out

[@KevinRossRN]

Yep, the companies actually merged. Western Digital bought SanDisk.

[@yongwoo1020]

Great video. What drive and enclosure would you recommend for someone whose needs are to transfer documents and some audio (pdf, mp3) on a M1 Mac Mini? I don’t think my needs are as demanding as video editing and transferring video b/t drives. Would i benefit enough to justify the premium for thunderbolt?

[@KevinRossRN]

The same ones in the description. I have several of the SanDisk models. They’ve been great, and reasonably priced.

[@BeachPresent]

Hello . I bought an Evo Plus 1 Tb. I have Macbook Pro A 1398 (16gb/1Tb). I'm trying to find a case for him. Also interesting is the ability to insert it instead of an Apple disk using an adapter. I'm also thinking about buying a Mac Mini and connecting an external drive as a boot drive using a 40 Gbps enclosure. What do you think of it ?

[@KevinRossRN]

I’m still using the Acasis enclosures with great success. They’ve been great. No failure so far and I’ve had them for a while now.

[@gsansoucie]

Great video. Really like your channel. I have a 2017 MBP 13” I7 with 16GB RAM and a 1TB drive that is struggling with 4K video. The thing is this MBP has 4 USB C (Thunderbolt) ports and I use them all. I am struggling to figure out if I can live with two ports, albeit separate channels. Video is not my only thing. I need two USB-A ports, plus another 2 USB-C (or Thunderbolt) ports for external SSDs (one is my Time Machine). The price certainly seems right though on the M1.

[@KevinRossRN]

I’ve got a similar setup and when I got the M1 it was as if I got a Mac Pro. It’s a little beast. Have you looked into the TB3 and TB4 hubs from Caldigit or OWC? Those will give you some extra I/O.

[@gemo9561]

Acasis or Fledging for the M1 Studio, which is better/more consistent based on updates since you originally recorded this? Thanks!

[@KevinRossRN]

I’ve actually updated these videos with the Mac Studio. The one thing I really like about the Acasis is that it’s USB4 so I’m able to use it on USB-C devices. I still use them both though, but the Acasis will have a slight edge on synthetic benchmarks. Real world however, the difference is minimal.

[@Chadryanclark]

If you see this, do you have any idea why the acasis with a WD SN 750 would not be recognized or show up in my M1 iPad Pro when connected ? Thank you in advance

[@KevinRossRN]

What file format are you using? And have you tested it on another device?

[@bigdap100]

Excellent video. What is your recommendation now sir, is there a better value option out there right now?

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! I still use both of these enclosures. I have two of the Acasis right now. They’ve been performing quite well. I also use them in my iPads.

[@bentonpix]

I bought the ACASIS USB4 enclosure with a 2TB WD SN750 and I'm getting similar read speeds that you're showing (2700MB/s), but getting much slower write speeds of 1170MB/s using BM Speed Disc. I'm using a brand new Mac Mini with 8gb ram and a 512gb HD. Any idea of why I'm getting much slower write speeds than what you're showing? (I'm using the included cable, which is faster than any other cord I have)

[@KevinRossRN]

Have you tried any other synthetic benchmark tests other than Black Magic? Also, are you in APFS file format? I’m addition, the 2TB models are rated to get about 100MB/s slower than the 1TB due to the 500GB NAND dies on this model whereas the 1TB has 256GB NAND dies on it.

[@bentonpix]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks for your feedback! Yes, I'm getting 877MB/s write and 2587MB/s read on the AJA test. Yes, in APFS format. I'm on Monterey. Not sure if I need to send anything back. But I'm bummed that I'm getting about half of the write speed that I should be getting.

[@KevinRossRN]

It’s possible, and I can’t guarantee this would be the issue, but because of the supply chain issues and all the other manufacturing bottlenecks there are some claims that some of these SSD manufacturers are having to use different components based on these shortages, but I can’t be certain. I’ve discussed it heavily as well that these M1s are underpowered when it comes to these ports. They have the capability of getting to that higher throughput, but you need to put more demands on the machine. Try running a geek bench or other Benchmark test while also running the SSD Read/Write and see if that gives you a bump…just curious.

[@bentonpix]

@@KevinRossRN I'm suspecting it may be the difference between the 1TB SN750 and the 2TB SN750. I've ordered another certified TB3/ USB4 cable that's shorter to see if that might help. If it doesn't, I'll try the 1TB SN750. Thanks for your help! Subscribed!

[@KevinRossRN]

Glad to have you here and unfortunate to hear about your experience, but please feel free to keep me posted. Sending my best on those change ups.

[@lighthackerslimited]

I got (following your review here) the Acasis USB4 with the WD Black 750 as you have here... OK the 2tb NVMe. I am getting GREAT READ speeds on my M1 Mini, BUT only 900 on the WRITE speed. I seem to find alot of others reporting the same with the M1 Mini.. (on another review I read that there is a difference when you use a HDMI monitor running at the same time as the THUNDERBOLT 3 being used for the Ext. enclosure when both are connected to the M1 Mini... So I am awaiting my new THUNDERBOLT 4 dock from OWC which I will run my HDMI monitor off). Back to my question.. How were you getting such high WRITE speeds off the Acasis from the same set up as mine? Thank you.

[@KevinRossRN]

So I did a video here on those Thunderbolt 4 docks: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eZ2QiGNobtlngrM If you can saturate the ports then you'll get better (overall) performance. I've also been notified that the most recent SN750 SSDs seem to get throttled because the cache gets filled quickly. I have two of these SSDs and haven't experienced this issue, but others have. I'm looking into it, and I can't say with certainty that they may have had some manufacturing changes on these newer SN750s. As far as the HDMI trick, I meant to add this to my video as I found this out later in my testing. Have you tried to just plug in an HDMI cable right from the mini? It should actually get you some additional performance.

[@lighthackerslimited]

@@KevinRossRN thanks Kevin.. at the moment the HDMI is connected into the Mini where I think coming out the dock may perform better... as for saturating the ports.. sorry I am not that computer techie.. what does that mean?

[@KevinRossRN]

So in my latest video I mention that these ports need to be pushed because these chips are under powering the TB controllers. The dock helps push that a little, but in my testing I found that the more I had connected and actively doing something the faster the throughput….basically you should get a much higher write speed.

[@Sammy1970]

Would love to know how all this info equates to the new apple MacBook Pro’s , as I need an external SSD for the new 16” MacBook Pro I’ve just ordered 🤔

[@KevinRossRN]

Coming very soon friend. It’s the next video I’ll post.

[@Sammy1970]

@@KevinRossRN Ah thats great!👍🏽

[@KevinRossRN]

See you soon.

[@hollandfilmsofficial]

Hey, Very informative, straight to the point & beautifully presented videos! Has anyone ever told you that you look a bit like Rodney Mullen? .D at 09:44 you had test results screened for "Extreme SSD" - just to be clear, by that are you referring to Sandisk Extreme SSD that you linked in your description?

[@KevinRossRN]

Yep, the one linked in the description is the one I tested. And no, I haven’t heard that about looking like Rodney Mullen 😏😉 Actually yes, yes I have 🛹 Appreciate you hanging out 🤙

[@hollandfilmsofficial]

@@KevinRossRN haha, Maybe the hat+hair combo makes the similarities. Interesting, so ~500mb per sec drive is enough for such demanding export and does it pretty much at same speed as ~5000mb per sec SSD. Almost went nuts today with these numbers and research :D That real life comparison was really needed. Going with Sandisk Extreme and moving on with my life haha. Cheeeers! Keep it up!

[@KevinRossRN]

So the one I linked up...it should say it parentheses as far the product number, it’s the 1050MB/s read and write...but yes, real world use netted those results and I use all of these SSDs constantly and don’t really notice any difference. And yeah, I’m flattered. Quite a few have mentioned the resemblance. He’s a cool dude and an even better skateboarder than I am.

[@hollandfilmsofficial]

@@KevinRossRN Got it! ;) Cheers!

[@beatsbydawood9529]

I bought a SN750 and Acasis enclosure I only get half of the speeds you are displaying in a 2020 Mac mini M1 base model

[@KevinRossRN]

What results are you getting and which benchmark software?

[@Sixth6Sense]

Thanks for the video. Seems to be down to the enclosure. Apple are pointing to enclosure firmware over phone support. Seen USB 3.1 v2 working close to the 10Gb throughput at 850MB read/writes in another channel here.

[@KevinRossRN]

That’ll be interesting if it is. However, once the M1X comes out, I’ll be sure to test it against the M1 since the M1X is supposed to have a higher wattage chip. 🤷‍♂️

[@KEPOREVIEW]

Hi Kevin. I really like your videos. But I Have an issue here. What is the best enclosure for my WD BLACK SN 850 1TB Gen 4? I just bought it a couple of days ago (With Orico RTL9210 enclosure) and It really sucked. Lol. it only showed 500-800 Mb/s Read Speed in BLACKMAGIC Test. I have MAC MINI M1 and want to make it an external drive like you did and I'm really looking forward to your suggestion. Thx.

[@KevinRossRN]

So do you have access to the Acasis enclosure I reviewed? I have two of those now. I also have two SN750’s that perform well in those enclosures.

[@KEPOREVIEW]

@@KevinRossRN no I haven't actually. It seems Acasis is not popular in my country (indonesia) which is why its a not easy to get your hands on it. and its way more expansive too. My friend offer me YOTTAMASTER. But he told me the results will be still around 2GB/S and not more, even if I put the SN850 gen 4 in it which suppose to has 6Gb/s read speed as in their adv claim. What do you think?

[@KevinRossRN]

Well you’re going to be limited by the bandwidth of the enclosure and Thunderbolt. Now if you had that SSD installed internally, then you’d get closer to advertised speeds, but yeah, the boards in those enclosures only support just over 3,000 (give or take) and the bottleneck is the connection.

[@tardnick8932]

Great information. and video, Thank You. However, you didn't say which Intel Processor or the amount of memory in ether computer. As 'm looking to purchase a few of the M1 units for some testing I need to do myself and having just purchased a new MacBook Pro 16 with the Intel Core i9 with the TB3, I'm very curious as to which Intel CPU you're comparing. Please let me know if possible. Thank you in advance.

[@KevinRossRN]

The M1 has 16GBs of RAM and the Intel machine is 2017 13 inch MBP i5 with 16GBs of RAM as well.

[@TOShorts]

How does one find out the cache speeds of the various SSD options used with these external enclosures? Does this depend on the enclosure used, or the SSD?

[@KevinRossRN]

It’s the SSD. You can usually find that on the manufacturer’s specs listed on their site, depending on which one you’re interested in.

[@bilalahsan678]

Please Guide me with your knowledge which Enclosure to buy for my M1 Mac Mini !!!

[@KevinRossRN]

I use them both equally. Do you think you’ll ever use either one of these on anything other than the Mac?

[@bilalahsan678]

@@KevinRossRN mostly mac mini and occasionally pc, but speed is Important as I want to run parallels virtual machine from it

[@KevinRossRN]

Both will have plenty of speed. If you’re going with a PC as well, and you don’t have Thunderbolt on the PC, then the Acasis is the way to go because it’s USB4.

[@alfabravo80]

Hi Kevin, thanks for this video. With reference to the other videos you made later on in the summer of 2021, have ssd enclosures improved transfer speeds on the 1st Gen M1 Macs since February last year? Take care. Great stuff as always. Your channel deserves to grow much much more.

[@KevinRossRN]

You bet. So there has been some slight improvement with the communication protocol, specifically in my latest video where I tested the Samsung 980PRO. I was getting slightly better results with this enclosure as well as the Fledging with that SSD. I’d say that this isn’t the case with all SSDs on the M1, but I am still testing. Hoping to get some Sabrent SSDs to test because it sounds like some of them are providing better results now.

[@alfabravo80]

@@KevinRossRN Thank you Kevin!

[@KevinRossRN]

My pleasure.

[@HarikrishnanSrinivasan]

Great Detailed Video!!!!

[@KevinRossRN]

Thank you. This one took quite a bit of research.

[@fpdrum]

thanks for the video, Acasis produce a thunderbolt 3 only enclosure (not usb4), is it the same? same controller of the USB4 version? price is lower on aliexpress. have you tested it?

[@KevinRossRN]

I haven’t tested the TB3 version. Did you notice if it’s the same model number? I’d have to look into it, but I will say these TB3 enclosures are more than capable.

[@lutfiardiansyah4745]

i just buy TB3 version, all is good i use WD SN750 running same speed with usb4 version

[@jaredtangeman9669]

I just went on a similar long adventure just trying to figure out how to get 10gbps to work at full speed on Dell computers. The 10gbps port is actually USB 3.1 gen1x2. I couldn't find anything with those specs, so I moved up to a 20gbps enclosure and finally capped off over 1GB/s transfers. Two of my laptops have Thunderbolt 3 ports though, so now I'm looking at what might work best all around. Does the USB4 enclosure open up to the 40gbps speed on a Thunderbolt 3 port? The older TB3 enclosures seem to need multiple controllers built in, or they drop down to 5gbps on non TB3 ports, or don't connect at all. I tried to pay attention for most of your video, but it's a lot of information to hold onto for my ADHD brain. So, if you covered that, I apologize.

[@KevinRossRN]

So on TB3 ports you’ll find that the rated 20Gbps enclosures will only be supported at Gen 2 speeds of 10Gbps, which is just how they fall back on the communication protocol. And USB4 is supposed to give you theoretical speeds of 40Gbps on TB3 ports, but the actual throughput will be dependent on the machine’s TB controller. So in the M1 Macs we’re finding that these are a bit “slower” than advertised due to the low power chip, although they can be pushed much harder and ultimately faster. Now, depending on the board/controller in a PC, USB4 should still give you TB3 speeds, but I have updated videos on this subject and what we’ve been finding is that it really depends on the enclosure and the particular computer it’s connected to. Are you mostly looking for something for large file transfers?

[@normanrobson9957]

Great video, but Thunderbolt 3 and USB4, it’s confusing. I have an M1 iMac with 2 thunderbolt 3 ports. Do these ports support USB4?

[@KevinRossRN]

Yes. USB4 is compatible with Thunderbolt throughput and also falls back to USB-C Gen2. It’s just that the M1 TB ports are “slower” than the updated machines, but I’ve discussed this in previous videos as well that you can get that higher throughput if you’re really pushing them. But simple answer, I have two M1s and these work great.

[@Shelant]

Hey Kevin, Thanks for doing this! Subscribed... I tried 4 different 2tb drives with varying speeds in Acasis. The fastest so far is the Sabrent Rocket 4.0. WD SN750 write speeds can never get above 1190 in Black Magic or 970 in AJA... In addition, the enclosure gets SO hot it burns my hand to touch and it would disconnect in the middle of Carbon Copy Cloner task. The temps would get that hot without any activity within 5 minutes... Also, it never connects on the first try, I have to unplug/plug 3-4 times before it mounts. I have macOS Monterey on my M1Max MacBook Pro and 2018 Intel Mac Mini, both are Thunderbolt3 capable and both show the same behavior. I tried both the original and the Caldigit cables with same result. Any thoughts on that?

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s awesome you’re getting decent performance on that Sabrent. It was funny because originally those SSDs were the worst performers, but not sure if there was an update that helped that communication protocol. So as far as the heat, is that with the Sabrent in there? Also, when plugging in does the green light not illuminate, or is it lighting up but it’s just not mounting?

[@Shelant]

@@KevinRossRN Yes, enclosure is hot with the Sabrent Rocket 4.0. The green light stays solid while the drive is connected and it starts blinking when it mounts. Unfortunately this doesn’t always happen, it’s a bummer that it works so intermittently, it’s very fast when it works. I don’t really know which device to blame, I am on my second copy of the Sabrent NVME (still hot and not mounting) and the second copy of Acasis is coming on Monday…

[@KevinRossRN]

Interesting. I think it’s definitely unfortunate that these sometimes feel as if we’re beta testing them. I’ll be curious to see what you find when the enclosure comes on Monday. I think some of these drives don’t do well in these small enclosures because they run hot as it is, but in a PC you’ve got plenty of options for cooling. I think this is also one of the reasons we won’t be seeing full support for these Gen 4 SSDs in enclosures because the thermal management would be a nightmare. Some just run really hot even when they’re not even under full load. It would likely take an enclosure with a built in heat sink.

[@Shelant]

@@KevinRossRN I see, maybe I am better off putting a slower NVMe in this Acasis enclosure? The Sabrent Rocket 3 was my number 2 choice by speed (I believe it’s a PCI 3 version). In my testing, the SN750 was a distant last place in terms of the write speed, the Samsung Evo Plus came in 3rd with write speed in 1300s…

[@KevinRossRN]

Have you considered the Samsung 980? I need to find the comment thread , but someone on here said he got something like 2700/2800 on both read and write. I was pretty surprised to hear it.

[@stevenwaldstein2249]

Thanks so much. What enclosure / SSD combo is your overall recommendation for TB3/USB4 or TB4?

[@KevinRossRN]

My favorite right now is the Samsung 980PRO and the Acasis. Those might be linked up below. But in one of my recent videos I do show that external SSDs (for video editing) are still on par with the internal.

[@stevenwaldstein2249]

@@KevinRossRN in your later video your using Silicon Power vs Samsung 980. The Samsung is ~ $80 more for 2TB. Is it worth it.

[@KevinRossRN]

Only for very large file transfers, and actually performing this task often. Otherwise, save some cash and think about the Silicon Power or the Samsung 970 EVO Plus.

[@stevenwaldstein2249]

@@KevinRossRN Great service! Sorry to bother you but now that I’ve found your channel and subscribed I’m going through all your videos on DIY SSD. Thank you so much. Take care.

[@KevinRossRN]

Totally glad to have you here. Happy to help wherever I can.

[@KiaraHargrove]

Great video Kevin! 👊🏾🔥💯

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks so much. Appreciate having you here.

[@KiaraHargrove]

@@KevinRossRN No problem! 💯

[@TOShorts]

Can a SDD with a read speed of up to 7000mb/s (ex Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, Samsung 980 PRO) get to that speed on these enclosures? I see that the enclosures are rated for much lower read/write speeds.

[@KevinRossRN]

Exactly. They are much lower. Depending on the enclosure, possibly 2800 read and write give or take.

[@YoureNowOnTV]

I wish it was easier to buy a 40Gbps enclosure. So many models, so little in terms of specs on the controller chips used. So many models with bad thermal pad connectivity. Incorrect cables being shipped etc. Going from 4 days ago when I had no idea what a NVME SSD enclosure was or cost, to now where my head is about to explode, I just want a good price on a reliable performing enclosure. First World problems I suppose. It's a good and bad problem to have but still a rollercoaster. Thanks for what you do and share, it's appreciated! 😀👍

[@KevinRossRN]

And thank you for your time. I’m still using both of my Acasis enclosures, if that helps 🤷‍♂️

[@YoureNowOnTV]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks for the reply. I was about to order one but ACASIS aren't compatible with SK Hynix SSD's apparently. From what I understand it will kernel panic a Mac if used in that combination. Ouch, time to do more research. Interestingly while I was doing research I found out that the ANYOYO uses the same controller board as the ACASIS enclosure, just with a different aluminium case. When I went onto the ANYOYO web page I clicked on their contact us link and it was for an ACASIS email address.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah a lot of these manufacturers are using the same components and marketing/branding as something different. I looked into it a couple years back when I was going to launch my own. Do you already have that SSD, or just looking at it due to access and price?

[@YoureNowOnTV]

@@KevinRossRN I ordered a 2TB P41 Platinum last week when it came up for a deal on Amazon Australia too good to pass up ($178 AUD or $120 USD). It's still in the ordered state and not shipped though. Somewhat of a concern as there have been reports of some people receiving an empty sealed box. Why is it that most of the issues we have with IT equipment these days is the ordering and delivery rather than operational or warranty issues !? All part of the roulette wheel of online ordering I suppose. 😉

[@YoureNowOnTV]

Sorry to spam messages 😌 but I thought it might be of use for someone to know that I emailed SK Hynix directly and they said they do not recommend using their SSD's in an external enclosure regardless of the brand. Their recommendation is for internal computer use only. As a result I cancelled my Amazon order for one and will probably buy a Samsung 980 Pro instead.

[@felipeherrera466]

I love this video, thanks!, i have a question. ACASIS is or not compatible with iPad Pro 2020? In Amazon, descriptions says “not compatible with ipad”.

[@KevinRossRN]

As far as 2020 iPad Pro, I can’t speak to that, but it should be because my iPad Air 4 recognizes it. It was actually one of the first things I tested since it should be using the USB4 protocol.

[@robertstack7882]

WD has a new version of the sn750, and its appears to be drastically slower with io crashes in the Fledging shell thunder. We did inform Fledging of the issue and they failed to respond. The WD engineers were informed and did respond back. It seems to effect all M1 and Intel Macs using the latest sn750 version in a shell thunder enclosure. Presently there is no fix, nor any willingness to address the issue. Hopefully Kevin will post a notice to inform viewers. Best Regards

[@KevinRossRN]

Appreciate you dropping over with that update. I did actually pick up another SN750 last week and so I guess I’ll have to run a test on that one to see what’s happening. Will dig into this further.

[@robertstack7882]

@@KevinRossRN If you find any of the older 2tb sn750 versions please let me know. After trying a few places, I was only able to find one older version in stock. I purchased it, but still need one more for an array. Does any other nvme perform as well as the older sn750?

[@KevinRossRN]

I really like the Silicon power, but have you checked any of the Sabrent Rocket?

[@robertstack7882]

@@KevinRossRN I haven’t tried them. What’s the write speeds on them after the cache is full? Also the raid0 speeds at various chunk sizes?

[@KevinRossRN]

I’ve got a spreadsheet buried somewhere in my office where I need to input this data, but check out www.tomshardware.com/reviews/sabrent-rocket-4-plus-m2-nvme-ssd-review/2 I’m trying to procure the plus so I can pit it against the WD SN850 just to compare these two. There’s definitely some decent info out there where others have tested. I’m looking at popping on a heat sink just to test that throttling with and without. I don’t believe that would matter much in these enclosures, but I’ve also thought about “building” out a heat sink version just for kicks. I’ve been researching these though as I rebuild a NAS for video editing.

[@vibhorjambhulkar3932]

Thanks for the ton of info ! Will definitely help me buying ! However incase someone who knows his stuff reads my comment, I will share my problem. I have a macbook air with m1 chip and it's the base 250 gigs model. I am planning to buy a seagate firecuda 1 tb ssd but really confused on whether I should buy just the adapter chip without enclosure ( I would be fine with just ssd attached to an adapter without casing barebones) to save me a lot of money. Or will I have to invest in a good enclosure ? Thing is I am unable to find a legit adapter which supports thunderbolt 4 speeds and the firecuda will be bottlenecked if I don't do that.

[@KevinRossRN]

Maybe someone can chime in here that’s tried it. The Acasis is compatible with the FireCuda and they (Acasis) confirmed this themselves. I can’t speak to a non-enclosure setup and if you’re doing anything intensive then I’d be concerned with thermals because of lack of thermal management, but maybe your workflow isn’t that intense.

[@gabrielhunter8986]

What are your thoughts on the Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q? I think the price and performance kinda sits between the Sandisk and the enclosure package.

[@KevinRossRN]

I think the only thing that others have stated is that it randomly disconnects, but I haven’t tested this one. I’ve been meaning to take this one for a spin though.

[@gabrielhunter8986]

@@KevinRossRN Yeah it doesn't seem to be very stable now. Probably I'll wait for the next gen to see how it goes, because the enclosure + an ssd are still a bit expensive to me

[@KevinRossRN]

It might be best to wait or choose another. But if you can wait, then I believe we’ll start seeing more stability here.

[@gabrielhunter8986]

@@KevinRossRN Yes I'm not in a rush right now, just got a great deal for an used Mac mini so I'm looking into some storage options. Btw the new Apple event is happening in 3 days and I'm very excited to see if the new Mac mini rumors are true!

[@KevinRossRN]

That would be awesome, right? I love the M1 mini.

[@DonnieGQX]

Would love to know your thoughts on the Seagate FireCuda Gaming Dock for the M1 Mac, as a device for creatives with the m.2 slot.

[@KevinRossRN]

Great question. So I assume you’re talking about the TB3 version, which I did look at and would be interested to test. Where I think this dock could really shine for the M1 is that it isn’t bus powered, but rather has that power brick that can help push that throughput, and this is based off of some research that other creators have gotten better throughput if they run their SSDs through a powered dock.

[@DonnieGQX]

@@KevinRossRN Correct! I'm referring to the TB3 version. Maybe put an SN750 and then a PCIe 4.0 drive in there to test out the response. Curious about that throughput as well. :)

[@KevinRossRN]

I’ll see if I can get my hands on one. The options are ever growing😀

[@Joe__Tech]

Why is USB in an Apple Mac mini M1 always an issue and way too slow, giving between 300 and 800 Mbyte/s? I really was not able getting more then that, even with NVME enclosure and SSD.

[@KevinRossRN]

Which enclosure are you using?

[@georgetaylor4780]

absolutely awesome video thanks. Great job keep it up.

[@KevinRossRN]

Thanks! I do put a lot of work into these. Glad to help.

[@definingslawek4731]

wait so these usb 4 enclosures let a nvme ssd achieve similar speeds to internal, while being external? The 'usb 3.2 gen 2' nvme ssd enclosures on amazon seem to only get 1GB/s meanwhile if you stuck those nvme ssds inside your computer they'd be getting around 2.5 /3

[@KevinRossRN]

If they were in the computer and on the board, as long as the board would support that throughput (example would be PCIe Gen4), then yes. But there’s a bottleneck between the controller, the retimer, and then obviously the fact that it’s external and has to travel through that connection to the board and NVMe in the enclosure.

[@TOShorts]

@@KevinRossRN So, using a SDD with a transfer speeds of up to 5000-7000mb/s (ex Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus, Samsung 980 PRO) would be pointless since using an external enclosure will limit the speeds to about 1GB/s?

[@KevinRossRN]

In a USB-C Gen 2 enclosure it’ll limit them to about those speeds, but a USB4 or TB3 enclosure will be double that and then some, but yeah, you still won’t get the full read and write on that SSD in an enclosure.

[@JeffDavis73]

Great info, thanks!

[@KevinRossRN]

Many thanks. 🤘

[@f0t0b0y]

No one else adds the knives. Next time can you add some German steel as well?

[@KevinRossRN]

Ha! I think I can work something out on that German steel. Always need to throw something else in besides the benchmarks. 😉 Great to have you here.

[@artsketch2704]

Hi Kevin, I bought an Acasis USB 4.0 enclosure for my M1 MacBook Air. I get good speeds with a SanDisk Extreme Pro NVME SSD. 2400 write, 2700 read. But even when I don't access the drive or after I eject the drive, the enclosure stays warm and the green led is on. Is something like this normal?As if the SSD gets warm even when ejected. How do your enclosures behave?

[@KevinRossRN]

If you don’t fully unplug it from the device, there’s still a power draw occurring even if you don’t see it in your drive utility. It’s just something we’re seeing more often with these DIY enclosures.

[@artsketch2704]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks for your answer.Do you remember if the led on your Acasis case goes off after some time and if it goes into sleep mode? It is about 35-40 degrees Celcius idle. Maybe it's caused by the Sandisk Extreme Pro (identical to the WD SN750 Black). In the Sabrent case it also stays warm, but at less temperature.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, the LED typically remains on and it’s possible that the particular SSD could be drawing more, but these are definitely a little different than those pre-built solutions….based on my testing.

[@artsketch2704]

@@KevinRossRN It seems there is also no auto sleep mode as on some pre built external ssd like the Samsung T7. But the speed is stunning.

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, I use these for the speed and expandability.

[@Heij]

I am going to buy the new M1 iMac but want to buy the best/fastest external ssd with it. So I am looking for the Sabrent Rocket 4 Plus 2 TB or the Samsung 980 Pro 2 TB. But what casing do I need, is the Fledging Shell Thunder fast enough or do I need something else? Tips please!

[@KevinRossRN]

Big congrats on preordering the M1 iMac. So as per this video you're aware that the controllers/retimers with these M1's are a bit underpowered, so just be mindful of the NVMe you're getting because the Gen 4 SSDs are way more than you need. So I'm consistently using the Fledging and the Acasis. They both perform the exact same when it comes to transfers and video editing. The one difference with the Acasis is that I can use it on the iPad since it's USB/TB4. It really depends on what you're using the external drive for. Sabrent's NVMe is decent and that Rocket 4 Plus is great. The Sabrent enclosures however are hit or miss based on all of the feedback I've been getting from creators and others in the community. The Samsung SSDs are also super fast as well, but again depending on what you're doing you also want to make sure the SSD's cache is decent and doesn't create a massive bottleneck when that cache fills up. The 4 plus, the 980 and even the Western Digital 850 are pretty much at the top as far as the specs, but again these are also Gen 4 SSDs so definitely don't expect to get 5000-7000 read and write speeds.

[@Heij]

@@KevinRossRN ok, thx for your reply! I want to order today but the Acasis is not available in my country, I also have a iPad Pro so if it also can connect to that it would be great. Do you know some good alternatives? I am going to use the ssd for video editing in Final Cut Pro. You think the Sabrent or Samsung are overkill? What drive would you recommend? I am also looking at the Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q www.amazon.nl/Sabrent-Thunderbolt-Externe-3-2-modus-SB-XTMQ-2TB/dp/B08BZ2FXTF/ or the Samsung X5 www.amazon.nl/Samsung-Draagbare-Externe-Solid-State/dp/B07GL8NF14/

[@Heij]

@@KevinRossRN I eventually went for the iMac with 2TB storage ( yeah I’m ripped off) and 16GB Ram. Maybe I will need some extra storage in the future but for now I’m set.

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s awesome you got the iMac. Not ripped off if it works for you. Look forward to hearing what you think of it when it comes in.

[@Heij]

@@KevinRossRN Yeah I’m also very curious, I now have a 2013 27” iMac. So the speedbump will be enormous.

[@chrishaylett9084]

Hey Kevin, love the videos and just subscribed. I’m new to building enclosures and just bought a 2TB WD Black SN850. Was looking for an enclosure that would give tb3/4 speed and came upon the Acasis. When I went to buy it I noticed they had a disclaimer saying that the 850 and the 980pro were not recommended. I reached out to them and they said they will work but only at sub1000 mbps speeds and that these drives are not recommended. I asked for an explanation but got a reply that didn’t make any sense and they held firm that these gen4 drives will only max out at 900-1000 mbps. What are your thoughts on their specific response and can you recommend any enclosures that will be a good fit with the WD850. I’m planning on using it with a MacBook Pro max and Canon r5 5 and 8K raw files editing on fcpx. Appreciate any help bro.

[@KevinRossRN]

Welcome to the community. As far as the disclaimer, it’s kind of funny because they ended up embedding this video on their website…funny. I believe what was happening was that there was a combo of updates to the SN750 and 850 SSDs (due to the manufacturing delays), and some were experiencing these slow downs, but I didn’t experience these directly. Here is a video I did not that long ago that might help: Samsung 980 PRO vs WD Black SN850 External SSD | M1 Mac and M1 Max kzbin.info/www/bejne/oX-4goJ_qZeip7M

[@chrishaylett9084]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks for getting back. It seems your numbers on the video you recommended to me actually backs up Acasis' claim about slower write speeds with the WD850, certainly vs the 980Pro. I was confused as the WD850 is gen4 and the WD's claimed speeds appear to be in line with the 980pro. Is your sense that the WD850 is throttling because of the thermals perhaps?

[@KevinRossRN]

Nah, I don’t think it’s intentionally throttling. I think it’s the communication protocol that’s having issues with some of these Gen 4 SSDs. It’s as if they’re trying to be backward compatible, which they would be, but they’re just not taking full advantage of even the Gen 3 speeds.

[@michaelmarkus7085]

Hi Kevin, Thanks so much for doing this. I picked up a sandisk extreme pro usb 3.2 drive in hopes of getting the advertised 2kmb/s read/write speeds to address a bottleneck I was experiencing in my Logic Pro projects at higher track counts. Needless to say I did not achieve this and spent a good amount of time trying to figure out why before finding your video. Disappointment aside, I'm looking for the fastest possible disk i/o for multi-tracking in logic. I traditionally find myself writing 20-30 tracks simultaneously while playing back (read) dozens or even hundreds more. In the worse cases, tracks appear to bw randomly omitted from playback, or worse, the project simply stalls or stops. My bad for misunderstanding a very confusing spec I suppose. So, if I want the fastest possible external drive for heavy logic use (high number of simultaneous reads and writes) is there a specific setup you recommend? I'm going to review your more recent videos on this subject, but so far it sounds like the Samsung 980 pro with a TB4 enclosure might be the thing I need. If I'm missing anything I'd love to know. Thank you kindly!!

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, the Samsung 980 Pro is a fav for f mine, but one of the questions I have is do you know how fast your particular workflow is reading/writing to the drive? I used an example in one of my recent videos how the synthetic benchmark speed often times doesn’t translate to real world use. Also, I’ve been meaning to follow up again with a 3.2 (Gen 2) drive test to show that with these Macs and really the protocol that occurs through Thunderbolt that the drives rated for 2,000MBs will just default to under 1,000MBs. Anyway, just thought I’d inquire as to the details of your particular read and write if you happen to have that info.

[@michaelmarkus7085]

@@KevinRossRN Thank you so much for the reply! At the moment I'm seeing read & write speeds of about 950mbp/s using my Samsung Extreme Pro (2000mb/s USB 3.2 version) testing with Black Magic, which seems consistent with both your findings and my own. I'm not sure how to tell whether I'm getting those speeds in real situations using logic or not. What I do know is that the HD meter is usually pegged when my performance issues appear. If you've got any tips on how to test my real world read/write speeds while recording multiple tracks in logic I'll happily run some tests. If a TB4/USB4 (?) enclosure with a Samsung 980 pro will double my track count before I run into performance limitations, it's a no-brainer, but as you say, context matters, and I'd hate to spend even more money only to find my performance issues running logic persist. Thanks so much again for your reply! very kindly, Michael

[@KevinRossRN]

So I personally use a number of apps to get this information, and iStat Menus is one of them where I can see what’s happening with the SSD as far as that read and write while a program is in use. This is where I’ve seen the CPU or GPU being maxed out (you can also see this with iStat) and therefore the read and write wasn’t even close to the max speed of the actual drive because those were the bottlenecks vs. the SSD being the issue.

[@michaelmarkus7085]

​@@KevinRossRN Gotcha! will try iStat Menus and test while running a logic session to see if I can provide more info. I would really love anything even approaching the 2-3k read/write speeds I'm seeing in the (synthetic) benchmarks.. but I would also love to avoid spending hundreds on something that will not outperform my current setup. I've clearly reached my limitations with the samsung extreme pro v2 drive (rated for 2k mb/s, but performing at less than half of that).

[@jacktilou1107]

Hello Kevin, I just bought a new Mac Book Pro with M1 Pro, as of December 1st 2021, what would be your recommandation for the SSD and the enclosure?

[@KevinRossRN]

Congrats! What are you mostly using it for?

[@jacktilou1107]

@@KevinRossRN video Editing, back up, and would like to use the computer SSD for the APP/Software vs the external SSD to store and work on my files (photoshop, Lightroom, ADOBE PREMIER Pro AND Final Cut Pro)

[@KevinRossRN]

So I did an updated video last month on SSDs. I think you might be surprised by what I found…or maybe not. This Acasis drive I reviewed is still going strong in my rotation. I typically use the SN750 in it with good results, but someone from the community got a deal on the 980 Pro: amzn.to/31j4xHa And it’s working quite well. I also love the Sabrent enclosure: amzn.to/3ob1XMs But it’s not Thunderbolt, but I’ve been working off that as well with no issues.

[@jacktilou1107]

@@KevinRossRN thanks Again, really appreciate your generosity!

[@KevinRossRN]

No sweat. Glad to help.

[@scooter_nz]

I’m looking at the Fledging enclosure but I’m after a 4tb SSD for 4k editing. What SSD would be suitable?

[@KevinRossRN]

Well even though the Sabrent Rocket doesn’t get the highest performance, Fledging tested it with this drive. The SN750 is a good choice. They tested this one as well, and I have as well.

[@scooter_nz]

@@KevinRossRN I was perhaps thinking about the Sabrent Rocket gen4 4tb version as the WD 850 gen4 doesn’t come in a 4tb version

[@KevinRossRN]

And in the Sabrent enclosure?

[@scooter_nz]

@@KevinRossRN no in the Fledging enclosure. Will that still work?

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s the one that they should have tested and I believe is posted on their site. I’ve had great luck with their customer service. They’ve been responsive.

[@anthonyhuerta3432]

Great comparison!

[@KevinRossRN]

Much appreciated.

[@forced-induction]

I purchased the USB4 enclosure to use with a pcie 4.0 Sabrent Rocket 4 plus ans it didn't work. I'm not sure if it's a compatibility issue or if the enclosure was a fake, but it was purchased from Amazon UK

[@KevinRossRN]

I was actually considering testing this very SSD, however the community here seems to have mixed results with Sabrent SSDs in these enclosures. When you plug the enclosure in are you able to go into the system settings and see the enclosure plugged into the TB port?

[@forced-induction]

@@KevinRossRN it's weird on first try it will see it and allows me to format it. But then if I eject the drive and insert it - nothing, zilch. Even in system info it does not detect anything hooked up, even though the green led is lit up. This is on a macbook pro M1. This exact thing happened twice as I purchased both items again to rule out so I'm abut stumped going forward.

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s very interesting and frustrating at the same time. So when you go into system report and down to Thunderbolt/USB4, and then clicking Bus 0 or Bus 1, there’s nothing that shows up?

[@forced-induction]

@@KevinRossRN the Acasis is showing now in system report and correctly reporting as a 40Gps upstream but didn't work with the sabrent storage. I finally solved the issue by getting a TB3 sabrent case and it works fine albeit at much lower speeds due to the limitations of the case but is a higher quality construction. So to sum up the Rocket 4 plus and the Acasis do not play ball . Hope that helps other users.

[@KevinRossRN]

I really appreciate you updating the community here. I was about to purchase that SSD today, but decided to hold. This seems to be a common issue with some of these enclosures. Unfortunate because it seems Sabrent makes great drives.

[@blackestknights]

Ok so they are pretty similar in practice, hows it pan out cost wise?

[@KevinRossRN]

The SanDisk would be cheaper in the short term. The long term advantage and savings with the enclosure and NVMe SSD is that you can use that SSD in another enclosure, or a computer that can accept the NVMe. It could also be placed in a NAS setup that accepts NVMe SSDs. So, customizable, cheaper in the long run, but performance in this use case is pretty similar.

[@jmreagle]

I’m disappointed, my existing external SSDs (T5 and UGreen enclosure) crawl on the Element hub. It’s worse than my old USB3 hub. I suspect the USB3 tunneling is fixed at a low bandwidth. I hope the replacement works.

[@KevinRossRN]

Oh did you get the CalDigit Element hub?

[@jmreagle]

@@KevinRossRN Yes. www.reddit.com/r/UsbCHardware/comments/na3bdw/disappointed_in_caldigit_element_usb4tb4_hub/

[@KevinRossRN]

So they’re sending a replacement? I just reviewed the Anker TB4 hub and did get better results, especially when testing hardware/tasks that saturate that throughput. The bigger issue is the communication protocol with these chips. I hope Apple is paying attention for this next iteration of chip. I’m curious to hear if the replacement changes anything for you.

[@RoyLouden]

Have you tested the Sabrent Rocket XTRM-Q 1TB USB 3.2 / Thunderbolt 3 External SSD?

[@KevinRossRN]

Some here in the community have. Initially there were concerns about random disconnects, but I believe with the latest updates that this may not be occurring. But I haven’t personally tested.

[@RoyLouden]

Would something like that be overkill for someone who never edits anything over 4k? Would the T7 be the better choice? I plan to get the new M1 iMac.

[@KevinRossRN]

The T7 is going to be just fine. 🤙

[@RoyLouden]

What about the 8 vs 16 ram debate for not editing anything over 4k on m1?

[@KevinRossRN]

I always recommend 16 for any kind of editing, but if 8 is what you can afford, then certainly don’t break your budget or make that wallet cry too much. I’m not about spending money unnecessarily, but I am about making a lasting investment with a better return.

[@braynz4796]

Does it make a difference how fast your external SSD is when you are video editing? For example will it make the actual editing process smoother if your external SSD is 1000+mbps vs 500mbps? Or does it only make a difference to rendering/exporting times?

[@KevinRossRN]

It depends on what video editing software you’re using, but it depends. As an example a 1000MB/s has performed the same as my NVMe drives that are rated at 3000+MB/s because the editing program can only read and write the data so fast. You may notice a negligible difference in the 500MB/s as I do have these drives as well. On the M1 Mac I notice it more because the throughput is limited on the TB3 ports, so that 500MB/s is hanging in the mid 300s. For the price (based on what I’ve seen) many of the 1000MB/s drives are within a few dollars 20-30USD give or take. I consistently get about the same performance with editing on these 1000MBs drives as I do on the faster ones. I used the Samsung T5 for years without issue. Also, in my latest video, I was able to edit on an external spinning HDD without issue, but I wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for sustained work.

[@braynz4796]

@@KevinRossRN Thanks for the super thorough and rapid response. You're the man! I am new to editing and I am noticing that when I have more than a few tracks of video in my timeline in Davinci Resolve that it gets really glitchy and freezes quite a lot. I wasn't sure if that was because its in 4k 10bit 4:2:2, h.265 or if it had something to do with the media files being stored on my 500gb samsung t3. While its probably because of the codec, I was wondering if upgrading my SSD to one of these NVME's would make a significant difference? Thanks again Kevin!

[@KevinRossRN]

Happy to help. Are you editing in Davinci on the M1 Mac?

[@braynz4796]

@@KevinRossRN I am! Macbook air. 16gb RAM

[@KevinRossRN]

Gotcha. I have noticed that in resolve I am getting similar results as you. Interesting too that I was even getting some lag and chop when trying to cut BRAW 🤷‍♂️ Possible it’s a mix of the codec and the optimization of Davinci. I hope it gets better because I do like that editor.

[@Fer-mu3yq]

Great video! I got the Fledging TB3 enclosure with the Samsung 970 EVO NVME as main boot Mac OS in iMac 27 2019. I am getting great read speeds but the write speeds reach up 1500mb/s but rapidly drop to 500mb/s. Could you help with this issue? Thanks!

[@KevinRossRN]

Could be a number of things. What are you testing it on, benchmark that is? How about firmware? Have you looked into Samsung Magician so that you can assess the drive and get updates? What about the thermals? Fan spinning up? And do you have a way to test the thermal footprint? Keep in mind, these faster NVMe drives are going to run hotter. Have you actually tried to run a real world test against your internal…not a synthetic benchmark?

[@Fer-mu3yq]

@@KevinRossRN I testing only on BlackMagic Disk, the NVME firmware is up to date, the temp is around 40ºC and the fan sometimes spinning up but the maximum temperature reach was 52 ºC.

[@KevinRossRN]

Did you try another synthetic benchmark and/or any real world comparisons to measure against?

[@Fer-mu3yq]

@@KevinRossRN I tried AmorphousDiskMark with similar speed as Blackmagic.

[@KevinRossRN]

Not sure if you’ve found a solution. I’ve got a 970 coming in this week. I’ll try to test it as soon as I can and see what I find.

[@soundtoys795]

What's the fastest external boot drive for the M1. No one seems to be making vids addressing that.

[@KevinRossRN]

Well it’s because based on the internals of the M1 and those retimers/controllers, it doesn’t matter as much because they can’t saturated the throughput. These DIY solutions are typically going to be faster because of the SSDs you can put in them. But again, you won’t get the full theoretical speeds.

[@soundtoys795]

@@KevinRossRN When apple is gouging customers for storage, (check the latest imac SSD uprgrade prices) it become very important to find what works best as external boot SSD

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah and with these retimers/controllers being under powered that’s also not helping since we should be able to push that saturation. They’re going to have to address this with the next iteration, especially if they’re going to build a “pro” machine.

[@olsikarapici7937]

Hey Kevin, just found out your channel and I'm really liking your job. I just purchased the Acasis USB 4 and WD Black SN750 1TB. On my 2018 Intel Mac Mini I can't get write speeds above 1200MB/s. Did you experience the same thing from an intel Mac? Could it be a limitation on the Intel Mac Mini or MacOS Catalina? Anyone in the community had the same issue? Thanks and keep up the good work!!

[@KevinRossRN]

Welcome friend! Funny enough, I am running tests right now as I type this. I’m comparing the 970 EVO Plus to the SN750 in this enclosure on multiple devices. Which file format are you using and which benchmark software?

[@olsikarapici7937]

@@KevinRossRN I tried synthetic benchmarks Black Magic and Amorphous Disk Mark and the SN750 formatted as APFS and ExFAT but with pretty much the same results. Write tops at 1160MB/s and Reads at 2600+ MB/s. I noticed also that the acasis gets pretty hot to the touch and actually stays hot even when idle (DriveDX showing 60 degrees Celsius during benchmarking). It may be coincidence but it seems like the write speeds I get from the enclosure are pretty much identical to the write speeds I get from the internal 256GB ssd. Update . Just tested with a 10GB test file copying over from the internal ssd to the external enclosure. It was finished in ~8.8s so its around 1.135 GB/s , pretty much the same number I'm getting from the benchmarks.

[@KevinRossRN]

So I need to run a few more final tests, but on my MBP (2017) running Catalina I’m getting about 2795 read and 2572 Write on APFS. I’m going to be performing a large folder transfer of about 260GBs. I’ll report back.

[@JanoKugler]

So glad I found this Video, am looking for an external ssd to edit from on my M1 macbook air as I saved the extra money i would have spent on the disk space upgrade and instead got the 16 gb version. So I have just bought an ssd case that supports 2000mbps and connects with a usb 3.2 2x2 cable. After testing the speed on the blackmagic speedtester it only showed about 700 write and 900 read. Confused, because i thought the Thunderbolt 4 on my macbook is downwards compatible with usb3.2 2x2 I now have the suspicion that something is wrong with either the cable or the case as the ssd i have built into the case goes all the way up to 3200 mbps, so that is not the problem. As Sandisk has a discount on their external ssd's in my country at the moment, I am now thinking of getting their extreme pro version which goes up to 2000 mbps as well. Now my question after watching your video is does the M1 Macbook air throttle the incoming usb 3.2 2x2 connection to 1000mbps which causes my ssd to be slower? Because if that is the case, then the Sandisk Version would have the exact same problem as well. So the only way I can get a speed of 2000mbps would then be to get a thunderbolt 3 or thunderbolt 4 case and insert my ssd in there? is this correct or am I understanding that wrong😅. I will now continue to watch more of your videos on this topic and hope I can get a reply soon. Thank you for that in advance and by the way: you've got a happy subscriber in me😁

[@KevinRossRN]

Hi Julian, welcome to the community and congrats on your M1. So I recently did a test with a TB4 hub from Anker and there is definitely something happening with the communication protocol with these (M1) thunderbolt3/USB4 ports. These controllers on the SoC can definitely be pushed really hard, however this seems to be the issue (for most). The harder you push them, generally speaking, the better they seem to perform. The Gen 2 protocol seems to take a massive hit in synthetic benchmarks, however the write speed can also be tough on the TB3 NVMe enclosures as well, except when they get pushed a bit harder and then you'll notice that bump in performance. Here's what I'll say and I'm continuing to test. The M1 is really an amazing piece of kit for a lot of tasks, especially for editing. However, there does seem to be or has been some engineering oversight on the controllers and retimers when it comes to the full capability of what Thunderbolt 3 should actually perform at, but in this case isn't reaching out of the box without adding a hub or tasks that really push that throughput. Now when it comes to FCPX tasks the program is going to be limited by that read and write and it's not going to fully saturate that bandwidth. I've gotten peak read and write speeds when rendering of anywhere from 1,000-1,300 MB/s on the internal drive....I'd have to double check my notes, but that is also not sustained because the CPU and GPU are going through that timeline and settle somewhere in the neighborhood of let's say 400-500MB/s and sometimes lower. So in my testing I might shave a minute or a couple when using the internal. Sometimes it's more, but not a massive jump. However the interesting thing is that the more I pushed these drives when connecting the Anker hub, I was however able to get almost exact render/export times on the TB4 enclosure as I was on the internal because I was trying to saturate that throughput as much as possible with other tasks. But again, I'm still trying to find a USB-C Gen 2 external drive that actually gets close to the advertised performance, but haven't found that yet. The SanDisk extreme is a drive I use quite often, but synthetic benchmarks are much lower, however in real world it doesn't really impact my work. I would say however that if you have the SSD and if it's within your budget, I have continued to have great luck with these thunderbolt enclosures, but I can only speak about the Acasis and the Fledging. Every now and again the quality control on a cable or an enclosure may have missed something because I had someone reach out about a slower Fledging enclosure, but once they got the replacement sent to them then their results were the same as mine. A very long winded reply, and I wish I had THE answer here, but until we get these next chips I don't really have a similar (ARM) device to test this against. The early bluetooth issues certainly got more attention because it impacted more folks day-to-day whereas us "tech" enthusiasts seem to be focused on these controllers on the chip, which hey, I'm right there with you. WIth two dedicated lanes we should be flying on these machines. I was really hoping for a software update that could be address this communication protocol, but there is definitely something within the hardware that isn't allowing this throughput unless you completely stress the machine. Not sure if this is helpful, but wanted to just drop a bit of what I know so far.

[@JanoKugler]

@@KevinRossRN thank you so much for the detailed answer😊 although i am still not sure what I am going to get now, i surely am closer😁. Thanks alot

[@KevinRossRN]

Happy to help where I can. Best of luck on what you decide and that it works for you. 😉🤙🤘

[@mychanneltoletyouknow]

not sure if this is the right place to ask. is there a way to connect sata to thunderbolt? e.g. transferring video from wd blue internal ssd (i.e. atmos ninja v) to ipad pro (i.e. 2021 ipad pro m1) to edit via luma. any ideas? suggested tools/resources? if not, anyone among the community here have insight? forgive naivety here, i'm still learning. thanks. -colton

[@KevinRossRN]

You mean something like this? amzn.to/3jFBcxM

[@mychanneltoletyouknow]

@@KevinRossRN wow, thanks for prompt response! close but trying to find thunderbolt specifically. same connector but trying to speed up transfer time. usb-c is 10 Gbps while thunderbolt is 40 Gbps. stuck using ipad pro until the great gpu drought passes! lol

[@KevinRossRN]

Yeah, the issue is going to be the throughput with that SATA connection. I’d have to look into your particular situation of which SATA you’re dealing with, but that’s going to be your bottleneck. So even if TB 3 is 40Gbps, SATA is slower…again depending on your connection, maybe 3-6Gbps.

[@mychanneltoletyouknow]

@@KevinRossRN thanks again. really appreciate insight. have a good night.

[@KevinRossRN]

You as well my friend.

[@yohannsphotographyvideogra9542]

on my m1 mac mini one of the thunderbolt does not work properly it freezes my computer and freezes my ssd hd sun-disk pro. the other thunderbolt works well with my ssd sun-disk! pro! are both thunderbolt work in the same way?

[@KevinRossRN]

So these should be independent of each other. How long have you had the mini and have you tested any others or tested any other connections in that port?

[@yohannsphotographyvideogra9542]

@@KevinRossRN less than a month

[@yohannsphotographyvideogra9542]

@@KevinRossRN left thunderbolt works well the one to the right is Problematic

[@KevinRossRN]

Is this something you’re able to have diagnosed at an Apple store or certified Apple tech to make sure you don’t have a bad port? What I can share is that I’ve tested both of my TB ports thoroughly and haven’t seen any difference. I suppose you don’t have a USB-C monitor to test? Also, have you tried running a benchmark between the ports, or is it that if you plug that SSD in on that side your computer immediately freezes up?

[@yohannsphotographyvideogra9542]

@@KevinRossRN I will take it to the store to see if they can check it . I am new to Mac I used to edit with premiere pro now I can see that apple operating sys is quite complicated compared to windows that’s of course my own impression. Thanks for the help

[@FATpingu1990]

i bought this SSD WD Black SN750 1TB High Performance NVMe Internal Gaming SSD and only got 860mb/s on a transfer to my macbookpro 16gb 1TB M1. which is a bit disappointing because it should go beyond 3000mb/s. any advice? thanks.

[@KevinRossRN]

Which enclosure are you using? The one from Acasis? Transferring from M1 or to the M1? Formatted to APFS? And how big a file are you transferring?

[@FATpingu1990]

@@KevinRossRN transferin from or to m1 is the same speed. its set to EXFaT and the enclosure is from sabrent usb 3.2 TypC files up to 150GB in total

[@KevinRossRN]

ExFAT is going to be slower and that Sabrent enclosure is only going to allow up to ~1,000MB/s and you’re actually getting close to the speeds I’ve gotten with a 3.1 Gen2.

[@FATpingu1990]

@@KevinRossRN so i need APFS and an other enclosure to get max speed?

[@KevinRossRN]

To get the speeds in this video, you’re going to need a TB3 or USB4 enclosure.

[@zeuss1353]

So to be honest I didn’t understand everything because I don’t the needed knowledge. One question I have is what is the fastest option for a 2018 MBpro and what’s the fastest option with also the price in consideration? I really need extra storage en have seen 20 videos about ssd but really don’t understand what the best option is for me

[@zeuss1353]

The most important thing for me is data transfer and using the files stored in ssd fast like editing or gaming

[@KevinRossRN]

Well and the bigger question is that do you want a DIY (built it yourself) SSD where you pop it into an enclosure, or do you just want a set it and forget it (plug and play) solution? And, how much data are you think about transferring? But you’ll definitely be able to game or edit on just about most of these SSDs.

[@zeuss1353]

@@KevinRossRN my MacBook just has not enough space for me. So I am going to use the drive as like an extension of my laptop. I just use the laptop voor school en editing en sometimes light gaming. What kind of drive I want doesn’t matter. I just want the fastest one that I can use and isn’t like €500 for 1TB

[@KevinRossRN]

Well I’ve edited and games off of the USB-C Gen 2 drives without issue. The fastest will still be the TB3 and USB4 drives, but the apps/software will only read and write as fast as they’re able. I do like the DIY options because the SSDs in them are typically much faster than the enclosure allows, but then you’re able to upgrade the enclosure only.

[@zeuss1353]

@@KevinRossRN so it’s best to buy a ssd drive like the t7 (which I don’t know sure but I think is the fastest) and if I have the spare money I should buy a m.2 with an enclosure

[@tri-unetrl3966]

What do you think about the Samsung X5?

[@KevinRossRN]

I still haven’t tested that one. I’ve heard some mixed reviews on this one with M1.

[@tyrantwitness2482]

I'm going to keep this for when I'm struggling to fall asleep !

[@KevinRossRN]

That’s awesome! I made this one especially for you. 😉😴

[@Cencolor]

In your experience what's more reliable? SSD well known brands (Samsung, WD, etc) or enclosures with a SN750? I hear a lot about disconnections (G-drives), and just plain ssd's dying (Lacie), others slowing down (Samsungs X3)... I see a lot of opinions, but nothing concrete. Like if you need reliability, then get this path. If you need to save money, probably this is better (at the risk of...), or whatever.

[@KevinRossRN]

If you're looking to save money in the short-term, then an external SSD that's already built (like a SanDisk Extreme, Samsung T5/T7) are a great option. I've used them for years. The advantage of these enclosures is that the NVMe SSD that goes in them can be customized. So for instance I tested the WD SN750 which is a gen 3 PCIe SSD that is supposed to be "slower" than the Silicon Power PCIe Gen 4 SSD, which theoretically is faster, but in this case doesn't make a difference. But as a long-term example. I've purchased that WD SN750 and Silicon Power for these enclosures. And, when an updated enclosure comes out, or I'm actually able to take full advantage of the advertised speeds as these chipsets get updated, then I've always got the SSD (separate) that I can move to another enclosure. Another benefit with these SSDs and enclosures is that let's say I wanted to take that SSD and put it in a PC or NAS/Backup drive to be used there. So, the long-term return on the separate NVMe SSD can be better, but again, the prices of these pre-built solutions are great, they're usually really reliable, and will still be fine in most workflows.

[@mittalvideoranjitchauhan6180]

Sir Kingston xs2000 SSD usb 3.2 gen 2x2. use in mca mini m1 2000mbps speed possible?

[@KevinRossRN]

You’ll actually only get about 1000MBs on the mini because of the communication protocol with these Thunderbolt ports. However, with a Thunderbolt 3 or USB4 enclosure, you will get higher than 2000MBs. If you’re just looking at USB-C SSDs I’d stick with 3.1 Gen 2 at around 1000MBs.

[@mykhailoserhiichuk1300]

@@KevinRossRN does it make sense to buy acacias thunderbolt 40Gbps enclosure for my MacBook Air M1? Will it be able to achieve speed higher than 1000MBs?

[@KevinRossRN]

If you’re trying to achieve those speeds then yes, however it will also depend on the SSD.