Kevin, are there any 4TB or 8TB options that perform well in the Acasis enclosure on M1 Max/Pro? I don't see many Gen 4 4TB or 8TB drives yet - Sabrent and PNY are out there but no Sammy 980 4/8TB... What do you recommend for a 4/8TB max speed config?
So I’m trying to test some Sabrent options because from what I’ve heard from the community here, these SSDs seem to be doing well in these enclosures. Fledging stayed up to 4TBs while Acasis is up to 8TBs and they seem to continue to update their site with all of our findings because it wasn’t that populated before with what worked and didn’t work. Do you have access to Sabrent SSDs where you are?
@@KevinRossRN Reading more on the 8TB drives I was a little concerned with some of the owner comments on endurance and longevity. I have a PNY CS3020 2TB in an Avolusion TB3 passive enclosure, and it stays reasonably cool and runs quickly, albeit at TB3 speeds of course (2333MBs write /2333MBs read or thereabouts). I ordered the Acasis enclosure, and am trying to decide which 4TB Gen4 drive to pair with it. Looking for the best balance of performance and longevity - Sabrent Rocket Q4 or PNY XLR8 CS3140. I cannot find any Gen4 8TB drives yet though the Sabrent one has been announced (I'm sure it will be like $2K LOL, no thanks). Like you mentioned, I might also have a little buyers remorse since I went with 4TB on my M1 Max MacBook Pro instead of 8TB, but man that cost difference is a LOT (though maybe not as much as it seems considering the alternatives). I need to think it through a little more... :)
Are you wanting 4-8TBs just to work on active projects or is there a hope to have a little archiving on these SSDs. And yes, this is probably the first time where that internal SSD upgrade is pretty close to what you’d have to spend with an external solution…not to mention the screaming speeds.
@@KevinRossRN Well, a little of both actually - just considering the possibilities to be honest. Since going from a 1TB internal SSD on my previous 2019 Intel MacBook Pro to 4TB ridonk-u-lous fast internal, I can now keep all my plugins and sample libraries internally. I have a 96TB FreeNAS host I built for Time Machine and all my VMs are on an ESXi cluster, so if anything, a 4TB external SSD would be for portable overflow or maybe an important part of my 3-2-1 backup strategy for my music workstation here. I'm a network/security guy who likes to pretend to make music on his off time ;) I pulled the trigger on the Gen4 QLC Sabrent (price was nice), so we'll see how well that goes next week when it all arrives. You videos are great, man - I'm a new subscriber. Thanks for what you're doing - it's very interesting and helpful :)
That’s awesome! That’s a great setup and I too love the archiving capability of my NAS…Not to mention that I can also work off of it when editing video while I’m on the network. I haven’t had any issues thus far and have been rocking the same Synology since 2013. When that SSD comes in, let me know how it all goes. I really appreciate everyone here sharing their findings. It helps us all. Look forward to seeing you around here.
Thanks for the shout out Kevin! I'm glad that my reporting on the configurations of various cards with the Acasis Enclosure helped! I've been running the 980 PRO in the Acasis with no issues. Making sure there's plenty of thermal pad coverage and contact between the chips and the lid is great advice. After I applied the pads and let run a while, I removed the lid to make sure I can see a slight indention in the pads which confirms that a good contact is present. I ended up adding another layer of .5mm pads which leaves a nice impression of the chips. Great video and keep up the great work!
You bet my friend. It was because of you. That’s why I try to keep the comments section hopping because we can all help each other. And also the heads up on the thermal pads. Nice to hear they’re working out.
As I said in the video, it’s thanks to the community here for all the information being shared from your findings. It does still come down to real world performance and use, and your budgets of course. Keep rocking faces 🤘
I put a 850x in a Fedging thunder and I am getting 2700R x 2600W using ventura .Note Ventura was crashing a few times a day..Resetting the NVRAM/PRAM and SMC fixed my problem immediately running an M1 Mac ...Hope this helps the community ...
@@jaimeaugusto5538 So far excellent!!Never down always runs fast ... Resetting the NVRAM/PRAM and SMC fixed Ventura issues ...So make sure to do that ...
Thanks for the informative video once again. I picked up the ACASIS and Serbrent external drives matched with the SN750 and I'm very happy thus far with their performance 👍🏽👌🏽👍🏽👌🏽
By a lot on these drives. We’re only talking about a few hundred MB/s from an editing standpoint. There will be short bursts when applying effects or stabilization as an example, but we’re still talking way below the max of these SSDs. I used a Samsung T5 for years.
Hey Kid! Doing great. I actually took a real break at the end of the year. In the past I’ve typically tried to cram in as much as I could before Christmas and then never felt rested because I was trying to recover. Was away for a week on a snowboarding trip with my kids. Then decided to put in some new flooring in the studio and I’m also hanging my lights on a rail system to get my c stands out of the way. More upgrades coming in. Anyway, I have already recorded. I just need to edit 😁 How have you been?
Thanks Kevin, this was exactly what I was looking for! BTW, I also applied 2ml thermal pad to the 980Pro as well as the 0.8 sticker to the cover of the Acacis enclosure. The stacking of these two pads created the connection between the ssd and the aluminum cover, making a better thermal dissemination of the heat. The enclosure is still warm to the touch, but much cooler than with just one pad...
Yeah, I should have mentioned that this would potentially keep the enclosure cooler. It’s typically running about 46C give or take. I should have also mentioned the sticker…I forgot that those came with the enclosure. My Sabrent enclosure came with one already applied, which was kind of nice.
If anyone is looking for a great 4TB option, I'm using the Fledging Shell Thunder paired with a 4TB Sabrent Rocket Q SSD and I'm getting around 1900mb/s write and 2500 mb/s read on the 16" Macbook M1 Max. It has been fantastic for editing 4K seamlessly!
Hi! After watching your video explaining SSD with external hard disk box, I also bought the case of Acasis, the model is TBU405, which is backward compatible with 2.0 interface, which is a little different in appearance and chip from the TBU401 you used, and also bought the Samsung 980PRO 1TB, My computer is a Mac Studio Max basic 1TB hard drive. I tested it with the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test, and I have a few questions. 1. The speed test wrote more than 2300 and read more than 2700. I also watched some other channel tests, The writing speed exceeds this speed, and exfat is used for formatting, because there is still a windows pc to use, what format do you use. 2. The first test used the front usb-c port, the speed of reading and writing is more than 700, you are using the front usb-c or the rear Thunderbolt 4 port. 3. The temperature problem, the first time it is plugged in, it heats up before the test, and the temperature rises during the test. It feels very hot when you hold it in your hand, but it is not hot. It should be good to use this hand warmer in winter, and no software test is used. Temperature, I will write more than 300G of video material at a time in the future, which is really worrying. This is the first time I know and use this. I don’t know much about software and hardware. I hope you can give me an answer! Thanks!
Yeah I saw that there’s a slight update to the hardware, which the version I’m using has been out about (almost) two years. I typically use APFS as I don’t really connect these to a Windows machine. I always use the Thunderbolt ports. It will get warm and these are usually running warm at idle and of course get hotter as you’re transferring files. It’s the large file transfers where the heat does push those limits, but working off it (like when you’re editing) will maintain a reasonable temperature because the program isn’t reading and writing as fast. I still use these drives and in fact have purchased another 980PRO because they just work so well.
Thanks Kevin - very comprehensive- question ? I’m looking for a drive solution that is 4TBs with my new coming M1 max - my workflow is my A7S3 w| 4K 60p / 120p FCPX timeline 1080/4K Usually shooting about 200-500 GB per shoot - just need to know what is a good logical choice of a drive SSD encloser - Could you recommend an option that will work with my workflow- I do plan to use my system as more of a home system w/ New-LG 40 ultrawide monitor 5K/2k - it’s bsckordered right now 😞
So the Fledging is rated up to 4TBs and I’ve used SN750 and 850 as well as the 970 EVO Plus and this 980 Pro I reviewed. I will say that the 980 Pro is a bit “overkill” because we can’t get close to the advertised read and write, but I think that they’re finally addressing some of these thermal throttling issues, but I’d have to really test it in a PC. Do you want it as compact as this, or have you looked at something like the OWC Express M2?
Nah, I sure don’t. I’d like to test it as a network editing solution…or hardwired. I use the NAS I have to archive, but I can also work on it through the network and it does pretty well considering they are spinning HDDs.
Are you putting any kind of sustained load on your SSDs? Just curious. It’s definitely a balance and there’s a bit of tinkering with the balance of the enclosure and the SSD, although many of these 4.0 enclosures are using very similar controllers, if not the same.
I am planning to use it for loading media very constantly. I keep seeing people worrying about the heat trapped in these tiny enclosures would potentially shorten the life of the drive and cause data corruption. I am thinking, since I only use my desktop and never go mobile I might get a thunderbolt PCI expansion box + Nvme drive on PCI card combo. That I hope will solve the ventilation issue but man the total cost will be near doubled.
@PolluxChung that was going to be my suggestion. And you’re right. The cost is prohibitive for many, but I guess you have to decide whether the return is worth it based on how much you’re using it.
Hi Kevin, Thanks for the great video. I have macbook pro M1 and it crashes mostly when I edit my videos or use aftereffects. So I bought 980 pro. With which enclosure should I use it with? I've seen many reviews, which says, WD Black SN750 works best for M1 and Acasis as enclosure.
Is it crashing because it's AE, and on the internal SSD, or are you currently using another external SSD? As far as the 980 PRO, I still use it, and I'm currently using it with the Acasis on the video I'm editing today. I'd still recommend this combination, especially if you've already purchased the 980 PRO.
Sure thing. And I believe I tested on the M1 Max (I believe)…sounds silly, but I end up moving onto the next video and often have trouble remembering what I’ve tested 🤣 But I do love the mini. Still using it all the time.
Please test the models with Phison E16 based NVME SSD like FireCuda 520 2TB, Inland Performance 2TB, Sabrent Rocket NVMe 4.0 2TB, they are long endurance(for ex, 2TB TBW 3600) and is known to have better sustained write speed than most Samsung disks. If you install the OS in NVME and the cooling is the most important factor, without proper cooling,l it will fail even in the installation phase.
Yeah I’ve thought about that FireCuda, but honestly that SSD would be a waste in these enclosures because it would be limited to that ~3000-3200MBs, but I have considered these in a PC build.
Kevin, thank you again for the great review. Just got my Acasis and test it on a 2T WD 770. I test on my m1 mac air and the 1GB sequence read and write is about 3000/1600 (Mb/s). The only thing I'm concerned is it is noisier during reading/writing compared to Sumsung T7. It is not loud but still noticeable if listen carefully. Did you have similar issue?
@@KevinRossRN Hi Kevin, thank you for replying so promptly. It's just electrical white noise with occasional 'zhizhizhi' and cracking sound. The noise is very light thought, and I can only hear when the enclosure is within 30 cm in front me. I guess it is from the board and maybe some circuit design issue? Just don't know if it is common and will affect the durability.
@@KevinRossRN I just found Sumsumg T7 has similar 'noise' when it is close contacted with my ear >_< But the sound is gone if move the T7 10 cm away. I guess that sound is common and should be attribute to 'noise'. Sorry this is the first time I'm using an external exclosure and didn't know what to expect.
Gotcha. Well since there aren’t any moving parts I was wondering what you might be hearing. I haven’t really noticed, but will double check on my end. I’ve got good hearing, but may not be sensitive to that frequency. I’ll be offloading some footage here soon and will hold my ear up to it.
Ha! Finally someone out there can “hear” an ssd! It’s literally like a very subtle electrical interference. Like a static zapping in a rhythmic pattern. I wonder if very many people can hear that frequency because I have not heard of very many people describing that sound. When I swapped out my spinning hdd for an ssd on my old MacBook I had a moment where I thought I broke something because it was making that sound. Turns out that’s just the “sound” they make.
Hello Kevin, Just want to ask you and hope you can have an answer to my concern, I need help picking an SSD for the Acasis 40gbps enclosure. I plan to buy T-force z440 2TB for that Acasis Enclosure. But what I afraid of is that will the T-force z440 2TB have the problem same as the WD black sn850 ( drop the write speed around above 1000mb/s)?
Well the Acasis is still going strong as far as an enclosure. Fledging recently went out of business. If you’re looking for backup rather than to work off of the SSD I certainly would save some cash where you can. The PCIe Gen 3 SSDs are still performing quite well, and that extra read and write on Gen 4 SSDs wouldn’t be able to be achieved anyway. I’ve often gotten the 980 Pro SSDs on a deal and sometimes cheaper even though they are Gen4. I also like the 970 EVO Plus (still). Are you wanting more storage space? If so, then this may also be a deciding factor because some of the SSDs will only go up to 2TBs.
@@KevinRossRN Kevin, thank you for your input. I would like to take advantage of the new machine, but I WAS thinking that for Time Machine, absolute fastest drive isn’t necessary. For my photos / Lightroom I would like to make the most of what the computer can offer
Yeah, for Time Machine it doesn’t need to be the fastest. I like the DIY since they can be upgraded, but these pre-built SanDisk drives are really great. I use one of them as my Time Machine backup.
I have this Acasis enclosure with a 1TB Samsung 980 Pro on an M1 Mac Mini and while the benchmarks look good, I get random freezes for seconds at a time, as well as deleting is PAINFULLY slow (like 1 minute to delete a 5GB minute). Are you experiencing anything like this?
I have to say that I’m not experiencing the same. It’s been my daily for quite some time. Did you just recently purchase these? Also, any other issues that you’ve found?
@@KevinRossRN I tried a different SSD enclosure and it had these symptoms, so I bought this enclosure it was the same with the Samsung 970 Evo SSD so I bought the 980 Pro and it’s exactly the same. If you create a 5gb file and try to delete it, will it delete straight away? For me this takes like a minute (!!). Latest Mac version on M1 Mini with 16GB ram. Booting from the external SSD. Are you using it as a boot drive? When say installing XCode the mouse freezes for 10 seconds at a time and install takes like 3 hours, it’s very laggy/glitchy for whatever reason with both enclosures and SSDs on Thunderbolt. No such issue on USB3.2.
No issues on deleting files. I have plenty of 5GB+ files that I remove all the time. Not sure if this is an SSD issue, or a communication protocol problem. From what it sounds like it seems to be a communication protocol problem. Are you on Ventura?
@@KevinRossRN It sounds like protocol as this is with 2 different SSDs with 2 different enclosures (the 980 Pro and Acasis being brand new and purchased yesterday). I tried using different Thunderbolt cables too. I am on latest Monterey, do you think it's worth trying Ventura? - maybe this is some side effect of using this as a boot drive. I tried to use the Internal drive as boot and the external as just storage but there's no way to store iCloud files on external drives, symlink and mount do not work as expected, nor does moving the home directory. Also, how are you measuring the NVME SSD thermals?
I’m not sure I’d update to Ventura just yet. Just my opinion though. As far as storage though, is there a reason you want to store iCloud files locally? Just redundancy? I use iStat Menu to measure the thermals but I also have other tools such as iStatistica and TG Pro. I run virtual machines off of these, but haven’t run into those issues. It is sounding like a communication issue if this was replicated multiple times. It would take some work, but dialing back Monterey to a previous version to see if it can be replicated might be a way to gather more info. But I understand that might be more work than you’d want to get into. However, are you finding that a 3.1 Gen2 enclosure isn’t giving you what you need as far as throughput?
Yes. I’ve been waiting for this video. The data explained in this segment is what i needed as a definitive determining factor in my purchase option. Thank you.
Hey friend! Yes, all is great. I used to double down and just crush some videos before the holidays, but this year I decided to take an actual break. I have had to fill in during the uptick in COVID because my healthcare colleagues are just burnt to a crisp. But did take off a week to go snowboarding with my kids, which was awesome. I’m also redoing the studio and put in new flooring and need to get in some additional sound proofing as well as hanging a rail system in the ceiling for all my lights… Anyway, I did actually record a video today and I hope to finish the edit in between putting in some new flooring in our home…I don’t like to sit still for very long 😆 But yes, will have a video out soon and have some other gear on its way for testing, so I’ll be back with that as well. Appreciate you checking in. Really. I hope you are doing well.
@@KevinRossRN, I'm glad to hear you doing well, and congratulations in advance on the new studio. looking forward to seeing your new posts in your new studio.
A little bit confusing to follow. I appreciate all the testing but at 6:08 you just dropped a whole lot of numbers but not really linking things together to explain the full picture. On top of that I heard you say I’ll explain later so halfway through it really wasn’t saying much
Hey Kevin, thanks for the very informative video.. I'm an audio guy looking for some help... I was wondering whats been your experience with loading audio projects, kontakt banks, and exporting to songs .wav with the NVME drives? Is there a noticeable difference time wise?
The Samsung dont drive nice without a New Driver. Dont know why Samsung dont Developed there is also between the 990pro, bad Support from Samsung. It needs a new Specaly PCIE 4.0 driver for 990pro
So Kevin, are the M1 Pro and Max still having the same USB problems as the regular M1? (the slow speed / controller issue) I’m considering the binned M1 Pro MacBook Pro 14 inch, and the only problem i have is the bad reputation of the USB controllers in Apple M silicon. (I have a Samsung 970 Pro ssd inside an NVME enclosure, and I will assume it performs similarly as the 980 Pro depending on if its USB or TB)
So it seems the 980 PRO is handling this protocol, which is why there was that difference you saw in this video. The Pro and Max machines are doing better than M1 without any additional need to saturate those ports because the chips are able to deliver that throughput, however there’s such a wide variety of SSDs and enclosures that it’s hard to test them all, but I’ve gotten feedback on the Sabrent SSDs doing well, and the 980 Pro, but I do have the 970 and I just keep it in a 3.1 Gen 2 enclosure because it doesn’t perform like the 980. However what I will say is that I haven’t noticed any issues with any real world use with any of these enclosures and SSDs.
WD BAD? Even my 970 Pro gets 2800 read and 2000 write so might be a controller problem, the same manufacturer keeps having the same compatibility issue here. Transferring actual files yields 3110 read and 2130 write so Samsung is good at Apple stuff. As a plus, 970 Pro uses 2 bit storage so it stays 2130 for the whole transfer, the 980 slows to 1600 as you said
Combination of the communication protocol with some of these controllers and the M1. Not to mention that to your point some of these manufacturers have had to deal with “alternative” components. The 980PRO is great and likely a combo of falling back to Gen 3 speeds in the case and of course managing those thermals. But real world use (aside from large file transfers) there’s really no difference between the SSDs and enclosures.
Thanks for producing this series, Kevin. It's been clutch in helping me explore external SSD options for my 16" M1 Max. After watching your other video, I ordered an Acasis enclosure + the SN750, but I made the mistake of getting the 4TB variation not realizing that I the Acasis isn't rated for >2TB. Write speeds have been capping out at around ~1050mbps for me, so I may need to get the Fledging for that. Since I had also inadvertently ordered two enclosures, I went to grab the 1TB version of the SN750 for the second Acasis so I could test the difference and isolate the larger capacity as the issue in my setup and not some other enclosure issue...but then saw that there was a deal on the Sabrent Rocket 4.0 1TB that made it the same price as the SN750, so I snagged that instead. I get great speeds on that - around 2700mbps symmetric - not far off from what you're seeing on the more expensive gen 4 peers here, so that seems like a good option too. I also love my Sabrent XTRM-Q 2TB for the all-around value (though it's not as modular as the enclosure+drive route), and get around 3000mbps read &1800mbps write on that, and it has been a reliable performer for working FCPX libraries across machines.
That’s great that you’re getting that throughput on the Sabrent. I was just saying to someone else after all this time of reviewing these enclosures and SSDs that I still haven’t ventured into the Sabrent line up. At the time when I started reviewing these I had initially had my eye on the Sabrent TB3 enclosure and the Rocket, but it was at a time when there were several shortages and I actually couldn’t get them in hand. Anyway, really glad that it’s working out for your setup. As far as that larger capacity, that is definitely a known result, however it sounds like your workflow is still moving along. Glad to have you here with us. And definitely thankful for you sharing your setup and how it’s going.
Thanks a lot Kevin!! This is exactly what I was looking for. I bought the Acasis and put in a WD SN 750 with 2TB (I had this left). I did several tests with a folder of 960GB. I transferred the folder from my MBP M1 Max to the Acasis. It took 13:44 min and the temperature rises up to 51°C. No crashes. Then I transferred it back to the internal SSD. It took just 5:56 min with a max temperature of 41°C. The SN750 has transfer rates of Write ~1300MB/s and Read ~2850MB/s. Not bad. But to increase the write speed I’ll go with the Samsung Pro 980. Thanks again for your video. Of course the last videos as well. You helped me a lot!!!
Thanks so much for this info…and this just goes to show that a sustained (lower) write speed really takes it easier on those thermals, which for workflows like this that are moving 1TB+ might benefit from. But yes, the 980PRO seems to manage this pretty well. And certainly don’t be afraid of the thermal pad if you need it. 👊
@@KevinRossRN the first thing was to put on the thermal pad. I’m really curious about the performance of the 980PRO. For the sake of completeness, I’ve ordered a Sabrent Rocket to compare this as well. Let’s see who’ll be the winner 😄
This is the first video I watched from you, so this might have been answered already in the past: would I be getting similar results with a Samsung 970 Evo Plus, since the read/write speed is gated by the Thunderbolt 4 port, so I would be getting speeds no higher than 3000 MBps anyways?
On the M1 Macs, the 970 EVO Plus has different results. I’ve actually tested it in another video. For whatever reason the 980 PRO is better in the benchmark and thermals, however here’s the thing…In my other videos I’ve talked about real world use and put many of these up against each other and they all pretty much netted the same results. Partly because of the TB3/4 limitations. Honestly, if you can get the 970 EVO Plus at a good price, you’d be just fine. I really just did this test as there were several that asked about it specifically.
8-in- usb c hub with a 512gb sata 6gb/s model tm8p37512g ssd. brand team group m.2 when i connect it to my iPad 5th generation 256gb it does not read the drive? what am i doing wrong. my knowledge is small.
Thank is the brand name I will look a little closer, When I find the Picture of what I bought from Amazon then I will go from there. thank You so Much for the help.
Thanks for the testing Kevin. I tried several of the enclosures and they all got hot enough to throttle. My video transfer to the NVMEs is usually 1tb or more (I shoot BRAW). So after everything I tried, I actually went back to the OWC Express 4M2, which is slower and doesn't support the Samsung 920, but it stays cooler and is a more consistent transfer for my workload. I have 4 NVMEs in it at 2tb each. So 8tb to edit and a 24tb backup drive.
Oh we were just talking about the OWC NVMe enclosure. So as far as being slow, are you having any issues scrubbing through and working in the timeline?
@@KevinRossRN It's absolutely fast enough for 4k BRAW on the MacBook Pro M1 Max. Doesn't even get hot. I've edited on it now for a week or two and feel like it's plenty stable and fast enough for my workflow. I rendered a 22 minute video several times for a project and it rendered in just over 4 minutes each time. So I'm pretty happy with it.
Nice. I should really pick one up for review and although I can pull files from the NAS, I would get a lot of use out of the 4M2. Appreciate you following up on your use. It seems there are a handful of folks that are seeking out a similar setup.
I have a scandisk 4TB SSD extreme pro Which should run up to 2000MB/s but only getting 1000 MB/s with my mac Studio M1 Max plugged into Thunderbolt port in back?
It has to do with the communication protocol on these Macs. The 3.2 2x2 only runs at around 1,000 instead of the advertised 2000. Unfortunately it’s the Mac, not the drive.
I tested an external enclosure drive that tested at 2800MB/s plugged in same Mac Studio drive? Wondering why the sandisk drive would not get up to speed same Thunder bolt cable was used?@@KevinRossRN
@49ers49ers yeah, it’s not the cable, although you do need the right cable when using a USB 4.0 or Thunderbolt enclosure, but it has to do with the communication protocol. USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, which is advertised as 2,000MBs ends up falling back to 1,000MBs on these Macs. It’s a pain, I know.
Hello, it would be nice to have an Italian translation of the video with subtitles if possible! I would be very interested in the subject especially on thermal pads. Thank you
I am fairly late commenting on that but it think it's useful information. You may have found the information since. The throttling might not be only due to temperature Tomshardware have interesting graphs on that. The Samsung 980 pro 2tb can maintain a write speed of 6.2 gigabytes second for 238gb then fall back to 1.5 gbps after it filled up his slc cache. That's pretty close to the drop of speed you report. Their review report that 4tb ssd like firecuda 4tb or the rocket 4 4tb have much better substained performance in that regard. Even the 2 tb do have a larger dynamic cache than Samsung but they will fall back to similar speed than Samsung after roughly 600gb. The 4tb can maintain 3.5 to 3.8 up to somewhere after 3tb filled. I am opinion, many speed reported by users of those enclosures to be fairly misleading. A 5gb file with black magic do nothing but test the slc cache unless you slam the test tens of time in rapid succession. If you need Thunderbolt speed, it's not unlikely that a large quantity of data could be expected so i think that peoples should talk more about the speed of a ssd once it can't rely on it's cache. That's a reason that, while a great ssd, the 980 pro seem over-recommanded to me. For what it's worth, i have the same Accasis(Tbu401) enclosure but i am on pc and i have a Firecuda 530 4tb in it. At first, i had disconnection problems. I resolved them by updating my drivers. I have z690 pro art and z690-i for the motherboards which house the thunbolt controllers. Windows 11 drivers from windows update are obsolete. Doing a +- 1Tb backup, i start from 2.6 to 3tb for a short period of time then it seem to stay at 2,55 tb until the slc cache is full with a sharp fall in speed at around 800m/s for the portion of the data that are small images. After the cache is full, the transfer vary from 2tb to 2.5tb. I think the average speed is around 2,2 tb for that portion for me. My temperature are fairly good since i end the copy with a temperature at around 40c after the transfer(ambiant 19c) I judge that to be good since it's after hitting it with a 1tb transfer. I used third party thermal pads and made sure they have good contact though. If your ssd are so hot, i think it would be worth experimenting with thermal pads. I hope it's useful to you.
Yeah, it’s been a minute, but I’ve been meaning to revisit this. The 980 PRO, especially at the time, was (is) often a decent SSD for many use cases for the money. For that sustained read and write speed for larger files the throttling may become a problem to that particular workflow. However, I do still want to test that FireCuda and may just pick one of those up as I’ve been looking to get another SSD for this enclosure. I appreciate you taking the time to share. Truly. Thank you for the information you’ve shared.
The name is OSETUB 8-in-1 usb-c says it supports 2019 MacBook pro not a 5th gen iPad pro will just find one that supports iPad Pro 5th gen Thank You for your Support.
Figured that might be the case. We’re finding quite a few of these hubs/docks that need to be updated. Sending my best on your setup. Double check Anker. I believe they have some updated options.
Ok so I ran the Fledging thunder with sn850x.....Using Black Magic I got 2700 read and 2700 write running@142 F. avg. with NO lid on ..No real difference with lid on or off..... using Ventura OS....I didnt mod the box yet but I did put a small fan that ran at low RPM at 500gb same test that was 140-145f now runs at 95....Huge difference ...Without an external fan my Fledge runs at 120 idle,but putting a fan next to the vent slots alone drops it to 109f ..If this internal fan was mounted as a true exhaust fan it would be a monumental differce ...Im looking into finding the right size fan to mount on the unit...When I do Ill post back ..Im also using testing this out as a boot drive but it seems to restart the computer when idle for really long periods of time ..I reset the PRAM and SMC to see if that resolves the issue ..Not sure if this is the Fledge issue or an Ventura issue ...
Appreciate you popping back with this data. I haven’t had any random reboots on previous iterations and I tend to keep my externals connected for days if not weeks. I’ve avoided Ventura, but may upgrade one of the machines just to check.
@@KevinRossRN Yeah I avoid updates like the plague ..I was 2 updates behind on Monteray intentionally..Updates are usually problems til proven otherwise ..
This is one of the weakest points of all M1 computers. The overpriced native storage and the lack of extra internal NVMe slots (or PCie slot equivalents) forces you to buy external thunderbolt enclosures and thunderbolt cables that cost more than the NVMe drives they hold. On desktops not even a miserable 5.25" slot for having an NVMe dock connected to a PCIe-4 / PCIe-5 motherboard, or a decent PCIe slot to purchase some extra NVMe at open market prices... And it will get worst every year, because you will see NVMe prices going down and down, bigger and bigger, faster and faster while you can't really take advantage because being stuck in the M1 ridiculous form factor locked to non upgradeable propietary hardware. This is planned obsolescence in the most pure state.
I have a few of these and I have one that I did upgrade the firmware while the others are still with the one that it shipped with. They perform the same for me.
You wouldn’t be able to get the lids to the enclosures back on. So basically you’d just have the SSD with the heatsink sticking out and the board exposed.
is it normal that the ACASIS enclosure is still powered when the macbook pro is closed? if I forget to unplug it from the computer it stays on all the time and never goes to sleep.
It’s possible, but I also think that the manufacturing issues are a big part of it. I think there are delays with the controllers, but the actual board and enclosure are likely ready to roll. 🤷♂️ It’s unfortunate. I’ve started to notice the “currently unavailable” status for awhile, and getting worse as of late.
It’s because these enclosures can only support this much bandwidth, and the Thunderbolt ports also only have the ability to support this much throughput as well. Basically a limitation of the SSD enclosure and the Thunderbolt ports.
In my testing, I’ve gotten slightly higher speeds with this USB4 enclosure, which is mainly due to the controller that’s used inside of the enclosure. But again, keep in mind that you won’t get that full 40Gbps throughput. You’ll get anywhere from 26-30(ish) Gbps.
Any update on this? I’d also like to know if the SN850X works in the Acasis TBU405, due to it being available in 4TB sizing compared to the 980 pro 2TB
If you can find a deal on the 850X it might be a good time. I did test it out on the 401 enclosure and was getting about 2800 (up to around 3,000) read and about 2800 write. It sustained some large file transfers. Unless you’re just moving data back and forth constantly then those speeds might not be as important, but definitely for sustained workflows of editing, running games, or a virtual machine, it should be great.
Thanks for the video! Have you checked SN770? It’s said to be much cooler than SN850. Would like to know how its thermal performance is compared to the 980pro.
I haven’t checked the 770 yet, but I’ve also heard mixed reviews on this SSD. I can’t speak specifically to the issues, but some have said that the speeds were not “acceptable” however I’d have to test this myself. I did however order another 980 PRO to add to the collection. I’ll see if I can look into the 770 a little further to evaluate what might be going on with this particular model.
The difference with the 405 is that they tried to work on better thermal management with the case itself. Otherwise you’ve got the same chipset in both. I personally have the 401 and both are still working well. If you are performing tasks that create a high thermal load, then maybe consider the 405.
....Its a game all the way to sell way more macs than they normally would ...The 1st scheme was to stop offering updates for older macs ,but great hacks came out and fixed that game quick..Which proved the old macs can in fact run of new OS's...That was macs 1st failure to try to create more sales and turnover ...... U will pay dearly for mac mini with lots of memory and ssd space so you buy the cheaper one ..Of course people like me who are mac lovers and want the newest tech they produce runs out and buys it to try it out ..Then we are like ok we need more ssd space ..Go out and buy an ssd ...Then to our surprise it runs like a snail compared to what its supposed to do ...So then we sell these macs(ebay) and buy the newer one and the cycle starts all over again.. Mac sells tons of these machines now cause of the turnover .. .Its not right at all...Its almost like mac is causing the ssd slowdown on purpose til its depleted its stock of M1's then all of a sudden they will put a patch in to fix the issue after the market is saturated .. ..Meanwhile that mac has been sold 3 times on ebay from dissatisfied customers ... I used to have the power macs and they would last you forever cause of the expand ability...Their were guys out there like myself with a 12 yr old power mac running strong with tons of memory and HDD space we put in it over the years ...Now its all gone and we are gonna pay dearly every few years ... If it wasnt for the Kevin Ross's we would be screwed and buying up half the store for ssd and enclosures ...
I still have two 2010 MBPs that run and a 2009 iMac, Mac mini and MacBook that are still moving along (slower of course). But one of the best parts was that upgrading RAM and storage in the initial purchase was really expensive when you knew you could just upgrade it later, which I always did. I’d buy base RAM and storage and just pop these things open and install some Crucial RAM and whatever deal I could find on SSDs and HDDs. One of the reasons why my older machines are still running. If Apple truly believed in recycling and renewables then they’d push to not have disposable devices. Although I know with silicon the memory is what we’ve got, but at least upgrading the SSD internally should be an option.
@@KevinRossRN lol I have a early 2009 imac still rolling..I ripped it apart and put an SSD in it and put High Sierra and its works great but gets blazed by my m1 obviously lol ..I had a power mac 9500 I rebuilt cause MB was burned .That computer had 7 pci ports lol I had It had for a real long time til it was obsolete ..Scuzzy drive anyone lol ...
Nice! That’s awesome. I actually run windows on my iMac and it runs it better than most of my PCs I’ve had over the years. Funny. But that’s great you still have that thing going.
@@KevinRossRN Well do I use it lol thats another story ..Once you try these M1's you just cant go back..I only use my laptop to program Race ecu on motorcycles and I have no idea how anyone likes Windows OS's they are so overly complicated for no good reason..Macs have come a long way since Macintosh 512k lol ...
Yeah, I remember the days when there were so many workarounds needed or no software options for MacOS. I just keep Windows around for testing, but otherwise it’s primarily MacOS in my personal and corporate environment. And yes, with M1 I don’t think I’ve ever experienced a jump in performance and efficiency like that.
I’ve got one that I really love: M1 Pro and M1 Max | Choose The Fastest External SSD? ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-aTJ_l52e0aQ.html It’s from Sabrent.
Just improved benchmarks and transfer speeds of large files, however as far as editing and working of these drives, the results will be pretty close. I still use the 750 and in fact, even edited my latest video on it.
I really loved ur videos and i need ur help here i need ssd for heavy video editing through MacBook pro 14 what is good and lag free ssd for that + enclosures?
Well I will have another video coming out on this subject that’s not directly tied to video editing exclusively, but I personally have not experienced a better performing SSD than the 980PRO. I’ve purchased more of them since this video’s release. The Acasis enclosure seems to take advantage of the bandwidth that the Thunderbolt port allows. In this test I was moving large files around which isn’t necessarily someone’s day to day, and for video editing you’re not going to get near those thermals because the bottleneck is the GPU.
Really helpful video. Just bought an M1 Mac Mini and wanting to expand storage through nvme and an enclosure but been finding the whole thing a minefield in terms of selecting the right enclosure.
No, it’s not as fast. The internal is still going to give faster read and write, but these external setups still have great performance for real world use cases since the programs can only read and write so fast.
You are doing amazing work. These reviews and breakdowns are exactly what I'm looking for. Very tired of running into issues with USB 3.1 3.2 etc speed vs reality for external SSDs. Time to just build my own.
Great video again! I think, i‘ll get the 980 PRO and put it in my Samsung X5 case! 😁 (there is only a 500 GB SSD in it) I‘ll report back here when i receive the SSD and had run some tests. MacBook Air M1 Thank you for your great videos wich helps a lot! Stay safe and i‘ll be back. 😎😁 Many greetings from Austria!
Received my X5 and the 980 PRO yesterday. Installed them in the X5 case today and ran some tests with Blackmagic Disk Speed Test. Directly connected to the MBA M1: Write: 2642 MB/s Read: 2528 MB/s My 970 Evo Plus in it (and some other cases) Write: 1.156 MB/s (what’s that - very poor!) Read: 2600 MB/s (ok for external solution) SSD‘s connected to my Anker Thunderbolt Dock: About 300 MB/s slower (write and read) So, hope this helps someone! Merry Christmas and a happy new year Kevin (and to all others here!) Keep up the good work, i like your videos A LOT! 💪🏻😊🤙🏻
Hey, really appreciate you following up here with those results. Really glad “we” are all finding a working combination here. And super thankful for those details for the rest of the community trying to make that buying decision. Great to have you here. 🤘
can you make a comparison between the ORICO case and acasis case with different ssd? Because I don't understand which ssd is fully compatible with the different enclosure. Thanks very much for your work.
As per the video it’s the 980 PRO when comparing it to the 850. At least when it comes to the benchmarks and those large transfers. But as far as the Orico enclosure, is it that you already have that one?
@@KevinRossRN no I have to buy one and with many review online doesn’t seems all similar or compatible. Some review with the same hardware of what you tested make different benchmark and results.
Well, I’ve got several videos on these external drives. Both the Acasis and the Fledging. I use them all, but again, the 980 PRO performs well, but it’s a Gen 4 SSD and so there’s no way you’ll get close to the advertised read and write.
Thank you for sharing your testing. Have you evaluated the ORICO M.2 Enclosure for NVMe SSD, USB4.0 40Gbps Type-C to M Key B+M Key 2280 Aluminum External SSD Case Compatible with Thunderbolt 3/4 USB3.2/3.1/3.0/ Type-C-M2V01. I’m using them with Samsung 980 Pro 2TB SSD. Would like to find a 4TB drive though. Any help would be appreciated.
The ORICO was on my list to test. I do have a USB Gen 2 enclosure that’s used on an Xbox. However I just haven’t tested the USB 4.0. What’s been your primary use for this setup?
@@KevinRossRN I’m using the USB4/Thunderbolt 3 on my M1 Mac Mini, M1 MacBook Air and 2019 8 core i9 iMac. Also put one inside my Trebleet MacMini hub that connects with Thunderbolt IO the M1 MacMini. It’s one of the few hubs that attaches with true Thunderbolt that also supports a 2.5” SATA III SSD where I use a Samsung 870 EVO 4TB but that is a slow interface. With the Orico M2V01-C4 and 980 Pro I get ~2800 MB/s read/write.
I can vouch for firecuda 530 4tb in a Acasis tbu401 enclosiue with Z690 pro art and z690-i motherboards. Yeah, i am that snowflake using thunderbolt on pc. A selling point for the Firecuda 4tb is that it have a better speed once the cache is full vs the Samsung. That's noteworthy only if you run out of dynamic cache on the Samsung though. It's around 220 to 238 gb on an empty drive. It will probably be less if the drive have a lot of data on it. If you use it on windows 11, get the most recent driver from intel. That will avoid you some disconnection headache. I hope it's useful to you.
Great work and info Kevin! I just got the Acasis enclosure paired with the gen4 Sabrent Rocket 4.0 2TB ssd on a M1 Max. It's quite speedy. 2400-2600+ write speeds/2000-2700+ read speeds. I tested transferring 370gb. It starts up with a speedy 2.5gb and drops a little but picks back up to 1.7-2.4 and seems to maintain it for the most part. Once it gets really hot the speeds drops like a rock. The Sabrent gets super hot even with a thermal pad. It totally crashed my M1 during the first or second transfer tests. If I leave the case open it really helped with the heat and doesn't crash as much.
Yeah, the pinned comment from Pete seems to be having some similar issues I believe. Sabrent makes great SSDs. I’m just not sure that the Acasis is communicating well with some of these SSDs and in some cases not really able to maintain that thermal throttling and then it just ejects. I still use the Acasis though and haven’t ever had an issue with editing or playing games on the enclosure. Appreciate you sharing this info. Are you performing other tasks on this combo such as video editing?
I’m a graphic designer. Mostly use it for photo editing and design with photoshop, illustrator and backing up to the enclosure. The Sabrent just runs extra crazy hot, even idle. I’m thinking of either getting Sabrent heat sink or returning it and getting SN750, which won’t great the bank. From your tests, SN750 seems pretty fast and does well with the heat.
So I can see why you’d need that for large file/folder transfers. So with the Acasis, even idle, you’ll notice some heat, but to your point it can also depend on the SSD as well. I’ve got a couple SN750s and love them. I even installed one in an enclosure for my son’s gaming console, although it’s not reading and writing at a very high clip all the time, however he does do some pretty large transfers of games. And as far as the benchmarks, I wouldn’t worry too much about the difference in those numbers with the 750 because I just haven’t really noticed any issues when editing and working on them.
@@KevinRossRN I may do that. Depending on ssd and which enclose. The results are so varied. I tested it with a gen3 SK Hynix 1TB ssd in the Acasis. The heat is much much better plus cheaper $124 vs Sabrent $260. The speeds were 2100 write/2400 read. The SK Hynix in a Trebleet Thunderbolt 3 enclosure. The results were slightly faster with 2200+ write/2700 read.
You know I looked at that SSD awhile back and ended up getting a Silicone Power, but I would also say that the Hynix is great if you’re getting those results.
Thanks! I got a question. I am still thinking of getting Adobe Premiere Pro or Final Cut. I need a effect called Spherize. Do you know if this isn't only in adobe Premiere Pro? Is it also in Final Cut Pro? You would really help me.
So there’s already a built in fish eye effect in FCPX and there should be one in Premiere that would work. In FCPX it’s in the effects section in distortions, and then fish eye. You can adjust the radius and get the pinch/punch look.
The 850X will work in an enclosure, but as I’ve said in many of these videos you won’t get the advertised read and write speeds. Although it’s at a great price right now, so that’s really hard to pass up.
@@KevinRossRN yeah, i got a sabrent enclosure but might upgrade to a faster/more serious enclosure down the line. Luckily the enclosure is the cheapest part of the setup so far. Thanks a bunch for confirming that it'll work for mac, difficult to find info on that. For me the 2400 TBW on the 4TB's won me over.
Sure thing. And I know the Sabrent enclosures have been questionable for some, but I also think that much of that is because of the synthetic bench tests. What’s your primary use case?
Hi Kevin, I've settled on getting a Samsung 980 PRO, either 1 or 2TB, but not yet sure between the ACASIS or the Fledging Shell Thunder. Running 16" M1 Max, but I also still use my 2010 17" with internal NVMe and 16 GB for certain things-I do have a Thunderbolt 2 to 3 Apple adapter just to do transfers of old and archived material(not concerned about speed there) Acasis direct from their store(not sure where it's shipping from-perhaps it's the most versatile of the two? Fledging Shell Thunder-company based in the US(Alabama, and I like supporting US based companies). Shell Thunder supports up to 4TB which seems to be an advantage) Thnx 👍
So as far as Acasis, I’m in the middle of editing something right now and using their enclosure. I do like it because I can also use this on non-Thunderbolt devices (so far). I will say that Fledging does have a great customer service, although Acasis also remedied an issue I had previously. I purchased both enclosures and so I always reach out to them as a customer and not a creator. Fledging does reach out periodically to check on things, but I certainly don’t get paid by them in the least. Anyway, I really do like both and use both of them. Fledging does seem to have confirmed support for up to 4TBs and I haven’t heard of any issues with this combo. As far Acasis shipping from their store I’ve purchased one from Amazon and the other did come directly from them in China, whereas my Fledging products did ship within the U.S. and they do have a growing team that’s certainly interested in making sure the customer is happy…but I know mileage may vary. I will confirm though that I’m loving the 980PRO and editing on it all the time.
Only if it’s installed directly onto a motherboard that can support that advertised throughput. Otherwise it’s based on the controller that’s in the external enclosure and the bandwidth of the Thunderbolt port, which typically a portion of that bandwidth is held back and you’re only getting about 26 Gpbs…and this lands at around 3250 MB/s.
Still Fledging is out of stock as well as all their SSDs...Im wondering if they packed it in...Im going to look if theres another company that sells something similar with the same controller and fan ...Ive been waiting too long for the fledge ..Also anyone on here try the 990 pro ???Its either that or Im going to run my enclosure in my mini fridge lol ...
What’s your current workflow for the enclosure? Not sure if Fledging has halted production. I know they were hiring and building out a team, but also know that this can change quickly.
@@KevinRossRN Thank you..Ive never been one to shy away from pulling out the dremel&sodering iron and putting fans to mod anything..So I might consider throwing a fan on another enclosure ..
Thanks Kevin! 10/02/2022: I have a Refurbished M1 Pro 14 inch [10c/14c/16GB UM/512GB SSD] finally! I mentioned in another video comment about my NVME enclosure from Orico [10GB] and WD SN570 NVME... well? I tried to use the enclosure and got mixed results! When transferring to the SN50, a 100gb & 500gb ProRes file, it takes more than 5 minutes, but copy/move from the SN570, no issues! Doesn't matter if formatted APFS or Mac OS Extended Journaled... Should I bit the bullet for the SN850 or 980 Pro? I can get the Fledging TB3 Enclosure first to see if the Orico/SN570 combo isn't working properly? Shutter Encoder app, is recommended for transcoding footage or audio. Quicker and simpler than Handbrake or VLC. I can output from FCP in ProRes 422, then use Shutter Encoder to crunch down into H.265 with great quality and small file size... double the work, yes, but I have not gotten Compressor to come close to what Shutter Encoder has done! Donationware...
Yeah the only way I use compressor is actually within FCPX during my export to a custom setting for RU-vid. And you may be hitting up against an issue with the compatibility of that enclosure, which isn’t unheard of (as you know). Have you found any deals on the 980PRO?
@@KevinRossRN I Have to say: Compatibility issue with the M1 Pro... M1 Mac Mini? Works Great!!! So, I need the Fledging & 980 Pro... Check Amazon again: $140 1TB & $235 2TB as of 10/02/2022... I'm getting the 1TB tomorrow and will test with the Orico, just to make sure. But Compatibility seems to run with the 980 Pro and TB3 or TB4/USB4 enclosures.
@@KevinRossRN I've done more testing! I will use the SN570/Orico on the M1 Mac Mini, no issues in/out with files larger than 75GB. On the M1 Pro though? Very slow write speeds! I will get thermal pads but I've just watched several of your videos, where I agree with you about the Chips inside the M1 Pro 14 inch.
@@KevinRossRN I saw that. I am testing a Jeyi ThunderDock Mini (it has a fan and thermo pads) which it was advertised as having NMVe 1.4 PCIe 4 with FireCuda 530 1Tb on a Macbook Pro MAX and getting around 3000 Mb/s read and 2800 Mb/s write. So the limitations are a mix of drivers and the NVMe interface on the dock from what I understand from the video. Btw great videos!
Thanks! If I’m not mistaken, that ThinderDock has a Titan Ridge controller in it (TB3) which is the same one I’m reviewing in the Fledging. So it’ll fall back for any Gen 4 PCIe SSDs, but won’t have that full Gen 4 throughput. Now if there’s a different ThunderDock mini I’m not seeing, then I could look into that one.
@@KevinRossRN I got it on Aliexpress, search for JEYI ThunderDock. When I got it they advertise it as PCIe 4 and Thunderbolt 4 but I do not think it supports either. Is still a great dock, everything else works.
Does yours say it has the JHL7440? Just looked. It’s the only one I saw on Ali. I’m sure it’s a great enclosure. We unfortunately haven’t gotten to the point where PCIe Gen4 throughput will be fully supported. And there’s also a limitation of the Thunderbolt protocol. Max would be 5000MBs, but that’s only if the full 40Gbps could be allocated for that task, but the protocol really gives us about 26Gbps, which is about 3250MBs 🤷♂️
You know that’s the enclosure I haven’t tested the SP on, and my current one is in a gaming PC, but I really like it and have considered getting another one. I just haven’t seen another creator testing this combo.
@@KevinRossRN Hey Kevin! So I went the the Samsung 970 pro eco and the acasis But I have one more question if you don't mind lol what is the best format for the ssd. APFS or Mac extended journal. I plan on only using this drive with my M1.
@@KevinRossRN I hope that they’ve added a 4TB version by the time the Mac Mini M1 Max (or whatever Apple introduces) is available. But I’m not holding my breath.
Gotcha. Yeah, these M1 chips have been interesting as far as getting that throughput dialed in. I’ve had quite a few folks reporting terrible thermal management with the Gen 4 Sabrent SSDs in these setups. They’re still great drives though. Use them internally in PC builds.
