Question NVMe SSD enclosure slow on one PC and fast on another ?

[ERSorrow]

Hello!

I have a problem with Silicon Power PD60 NVMe SSD enclosure. It's very slow on my main computer - transfer speeds only ~40 megabytes per second on USB 3.1 gen 1 ports (Front and back). I tried it on other computer, and it worked fine (~200-300 megabytes per second transfers). It doesn't matter which type - c cable I use on the main computer - the speeds remain the same. I checked with USB Device Tree Viewer and found out that enclosure only runs at USB 2.0 mode even in USB 3.1 ports, therefore it explains why speeds are so slow. How can I change it to USB 3.1 mode? Is there an issue with a motherboard, drivers?

For example, I tried to use a standard external 2.5 HDD with USB 3 - USB 3 Micro B cable and speeds were as it should be (~100-120 megabytes per second). Another example - standard 2.5 SATA SSD connected with SATA - USB 3 adapter worked perfectly fine as well. It's strange why computer detects NVMe SSD enclosure in USB 2.0 mode.

The SSD inside the enclosure is Silicon Power A60 512GB.
Motherboard: GA-A320M-H (rev. 1.x).
OS: Windows 10 with latest updates, all drivers are updated as well with Avast Driver Updater (Maybe updater downloaded some bad USB drivers?).

I'm looking forward to a solution.

 

[hedwar2011]

According to the Compatibility section of their website the enclosure can only reach full speed when using in a USB 3.2 Gen 2 port. It is backwards compatible with all previous versions. If they don't provide a utility or something to allow you to control the version it identifies then there is no way to force it to USB 3.1 like what you are wanting to do.

 

[ERSorrow]

Thank you for your message. The thing is, that enclosure works fine on the other PC, which also has USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports on the motherboard. My main PC also has USB 3.1 Gen 1 ports, but enclosure speeds drastically drops. Also, I don't use an original type-c cable, which came with the enclosure, because it's type-c to type-c and my mobo doesn't have a type-c port. For this reason I was using, I believe, a USB 3.1 Gen 1 or 2 cable, which came with other enclosure for M.2 SATA drives. Using that cable, I still managed to reach 200-300 megabytes per second on other PC with that NVMe enclosure.

 

[Moonstick2]

When I've had this type of problem it's always been a driver issue. I would suggest installing the latest drivers from the Gigabyte website yourself. You might even need to update the BIOS.

Does Device Manager show USB 3.1 at all? It shouldn't need a USB3 device plugged in to do that.

 

[ERSorrow]

When I've had this type of problem it's always been a driver issue. I would suggest installing the latest drivers from the Gigabyte website yourself. You might even need to update the BIOS.

Does Device Manager show USB 3.1 at all? It shouldn't need a USB3 device plugged in to do that.

Installed latest bios, but nothing changed. Device manager shows USB 3.0 and 3.1. https://www.part.lt/img/a935f2d243dca6c8571bf09c8d22fb67858.PNG

 

[Moonstick2]

Installed latest bios, but nothing changed. Device manager shows USB 3.0 and 3.1. https://www.part.lt/img/a935f2d243dca6c8571bf09c8d22fb67858.PNG

Well, I'd be inclined to try removing and reinstalling the USB drivers (using ones directly downloaded from Gigabyte). Before that, maybe this Reddit post can help? You haven't said how you're getting from USB C to USB A, but that thread suggests that the cable quality can make a difference, and even the orientation of the USB-C plug, with turning it 180° fixing things (!)

I didn't realise, and only just discovered, that USB-C isn't exactly identical in either orientation. Basically it has two orientations, the plug defines which is which and the socket is supposed to detect which orientation has been inserted and adapt accordingly. So depending on what adapters/cables you're using, it could be that they're not doing this correctly and so flipping the cable over might actually help...

 

[ERSorrow]

Well, I'd be inclined to try removing and reinstalling the USB drivers (using ones directly downloaded from Gigabyte). Before that, maybe this Reddit post can help? You haven't said how you're getting from USB C to USB A, but that thread suggests that the cable quality can make a difference, and even the orientation of the USB-C plug, with turning it 180° fixing things (!)

I didn't realise, and only just discovered, that USB-C isn't exactly identical in either orientation. Basically it has two orientations, the plug defines which is which and the socket is supposed to detect which orientation has been inserted and adapt accordingly. So depending on what adapters/cables you're using, it could be that they're not doing this correctly and so flipping the cable over might actually help...

I saw that post and tried cable rotations, but it didn't help either. Talking about original gigabyte usb drivers... I don't know how they are exactly called in gigabyte page, because I can't find anything that could be named as USB drivers in there. Can you help me with that? I tried to download Gigabyte APP Center and download auto updates from there, but no luck.

 

[Moonstick2]

I don't know how they are exactly called in gigabyte page, because I can't find anything that could be named as USB drivers in there. Can you help me with that?

If you go to the page for your motherboard and click on Support and Chipset, you get here. The oldest AMD Chipset Driver (Win 7) says "include chipset/USB driver". Although it doesn't say that on the other chipset drivers, I'd think it pretty likely that they include the USB driver as well. Download and install the latest one for your version of Windows.

 

[ERSorrow]

If you go to the page for your motherboard and click on Support and Chipset, you get here. The oldest AMD Chipset Driver (Win 7) says "include chipset/USB driver". Although it doesn't say that on the other chipset drivers, I'd think it pretty likely that they include the USB driver as well. Download and install the latest one for your version of Windows.

Thank you for the suggestion, but I've already tried the latest AMD chipset driver, got some errors while installing. One thing caught my eye, that the latest driver has much smaller file size than older ones. Maybe my computer is missing some files and I need to install the older one first (548.85 MB) and only after that the latest one (50.41 MB)? By the way, I reinstalled Windows just to get default drivers and see if that helps, but no luck there as well.

 

[Moonstick2]

When you connected the enclosure, did it install a driver for the enclosure itself? If so I would probably uninstall the enclosure driver, reinstall the USB motherboard driver, then try attaching the enclosure again so the enclosure drivers reinstall.

Are you connecting to the rear USB3 ports directly, not front panel ports or via any hub/extender? Have you tried all the USB3 ports? Disconnected any other devices connected to USB3 ports?

The fact it works fine on one PC but not the other makes it almost certainly some kind of driver conflict, where during the connection negotiation the motherboard decides that the device it's talking to can only run at 2.0 speeds. Getting it resolved is easier said than done though. It might turn out to be a driver problem that's not been fixed yet.

 

[ERSorrow]

Yeah, I tried all ports, but never mind, I fixed it! Turns out everything was fine and there was a stupid mistake - I didn't plug the USB 3 connector all the way in the motherboard port, therefore it was recognized as USB 2.0... As I see that USB 3 - Type-C cable, which came with SATA M.2 enclosure required much more force than other USB 3 cables I have for external HDDs or SATA SSDs. Thank you for all suggestions as well!

 

[Moonstick2]

Weird that the cable didn't require the same amount of force on the other PC, but glad it got sorted anyway!

 

[ERSorrow]

Probably not worn out USB ports on the main motherboard or something with the port / cable design, maybe tighter placement of pins, edges. Ports on the back were not actively used since the purchase as well. Not the first time with that, some USB cables plugging in easily and some requires some force.