Question Problems with M.2 SSD in USB enclosure ?

[HasseM]

I have got a Samsung 970 EVO NVMe M.2 1TB SSD that I have placed in an USB3 Enclosure as the ultimate portable drive. However I experience lot's of problems. Especially during longer operations (eg making a backup) and even more during write operations. Suddenly the drive is not recognized anymore by Windows 11. The drive is only slightly warm. I tried 2 other enclosures (all chinese brand but also very different) and experience the same kind of problems. It's very frustrating.

I need some more insights in this matter as ordering one more enclosure does not seem very sensible from here on. So I was wondering if people have similar experience with M.2 NVMe drives in USB3 enclosures? Both positive (tell me the brands you use) and negative.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Probably overheating.
Can you show a photo of the enclosure?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

 

[HasseM]

Probably overheating.
Can you show a photo of the enclosure?
(upload to imgur.com and post link)

Im now working with this one:
https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005005197051956.html?channel=twinner

but before that I also tried this one: https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/33056180218.html?channel=twinner

Overheating.... that was my thought as well but it isn't really warm only a little.

 

[SkyNetRising]

Did you install thermal pad properly?

 

[HasseM]

Yes, I did. But it is not getting hot at all.

 

[dwd999]

I have got a Samsung 970 EVO NVMe.M2 drive of 1TB that I have places in an USB3 Enclosure as the ultimate portable drive. However I experience lot's of problems. Especially during longer operations (eg making a backup) and even more during write operations. Suddenly the drive is not recognized anymore bij Windows11. The drive is only slightly warm. I tried 2 other enclosures (all chinese brand but also very different) and experience the same kind of problems. It's very frustrating.

I need some more insights in this matter as ordering one more enclosure does not seem very obvious from here on. So I was wondering if people have similar experience with NMVe drives in USB3 enclosures? Both positive (tell me the brands you use) and negative.

Normally for enclosures at that 10Gbps speed I use the Sabrent EC-SNVE which performs well and has never caused me a problem. For faster speeds at 20Gbps I use the Orico M2PAC3-G20 which is obviously more expensive since its higher speed. My Samsung 970 EVO Plus 1TB is installed in that and performs flawlessly.

 

[Bob.B]

I have got a Samsung 970 EVO NVMe.M2 drive of 1TB that I have places in an USB3 Enclosure as the ultimate portable drive. However I experience lot's of problems. Especially during longer operations (eg making a backup) and even more during write operations. Suddenly the drive is not recognized anymore bij Windows11. The drive is only slightly warm. I tried 2 other enclosures (all chinese brand but also very different) and experience the same kind of problems. It's very frustrating.

I need some more insights in this matter as ordering one more enclosure does not seem very obvious from here on. So I was wondering if people have similar experience with NMVe drives in USB3 enclosures? Both positive (tell me the brands you use) and negative.

Test the ssd in a pc m.2 slot.

 

[mdd1963]

USB3 is not all that fast, hard to see where it'd tend to overheat at 800-1000 MB/sec transfers...

Maybe it's one of the 970's from last year with firmware issues/data corruption, etc? (Check for firmware updates in Samsung Magician, but in an M.2 NVME slot, not in a potentially problematic enclosure?)

 

[HasseM]

My personal feeling is that it is the controller chip overheating from poor chinese design skills. As @mdd1963 says, USB3 isn't fast enough to overheat the drive and it just isn't hot at all only slightly warm.

It's good to know that @dwd999 has a positive experience with the same manufacturer but at a higher rated speed (which USB3 never reaches) and this attributes to my chinese controller hypothesis.

@Bob.B installing it in my system is not an easy job as I have a custom waterloop with cooling even over the NVME's, VRM's and even on the active backplate of my RTX. So for me to go in that direction I need more reasons to believe it is a failing drive.

@mdd1963 It is actually a replacement for a failing 970's from last year.... lost a big amount of data because of it. My system now runs a 2TB 980 and the replacement is now an external drive as an ultimate, easy to carry, external drive.

So what's next from here on? Hopefully people can share more positive / negative results and maybe we can find a common cause?

I opened up my Orico 10GB/s and it has a RTL9210B controller inside and I also opened up my other one (see links above) and this one also contains a RTL9210B controller. So 2 out of 2 failing is a RTL9210B controller.

Hopefully people are interested enough to share their experiences and controller type.

Edit: It seems to be more complicated then just the controller brand/model. There is a long read here about but already most info is a few years old but many problems are similar.

meanwhile I found out that I have another enclosure laying around in a box:
https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005001809792729.html?channel=twinner
It has a RTL9210 controller (without the B).

What would be a good way to test it? Problems only arise after longer transfer sessions (eg 100GB+). I would like to keep the data that is already on it. (I do have a backup, but it took me a very long time to get everything on it that I wanted to be on it, without errors).

 

[dwd999]

So what's next from here on? Hopefully people can share more positive / negative results and maybe we can find a common cause?

Transfer speed is controller dependent which is why I use the higher 20Gbps Orico model even though its more expensive. That Orico M2PAC3-G20 model uses an Asmedia 2364 controller which is designed for speeds up to 20Gbps. It helps that I have 2 USB Gen 3.2x2 20Gbps ports on my motherboard (1 back panel and 1 connector for case front panel). With those I get transfer speeds of 1.2 GB/s from computer to Orico usb drive with Samsung 970 Evo Plus m.2 inside and 1.8 GB/s from usb drive to computer where the internal receiving drive is faster. The Samsung m.2 in the Orico case maxes out at 72 degrees C during 100GB transfers but there is no reduction in speed and transfer speed is consistent.

 

[Bob.B]

My personal feeling is that it is the controller chip overheating from poor chinese design skills. As @mdd1963 says, USB3 isn't fast enough to overheat the drive and it just isn't hot at all only slightly warm.

It's good to know that @dwd999 has a positive experience with the same manufacturer but at a higher rated speed (which USB3 never reaches) and this attributes to my chinese controller hypothesis.

@Bob.B installing it in my system is not an easy job as I have a custom waterloop with cooling even over the NVME's, VRM's and even on the active backplate of my RTX. So for me to go in that direction I need more reasons to believe it is a failing drive.

@mdd1963 It is actually a replacement for a failing 970's from last year.... lost a big amount of data because of it. My system now runs a 2TB 980 and the replacement is now an external drive as an ultimate, easy to carry, external drive.

So what's next from here on? Hopefully people can share more positive / negative results and maybe we can find a common cause?

I opened up my Orico 10GB/s and it has a RTL9210B controller inside and I also opened up my other one (see links above) and this one also contains a RTL9210B controller. So 2 out of 2 failing is a RTL9210B controller.

Hopefully people are interested enough to share their experiences and controller type.

Edit: It seems to be more complicated then just the controller brand/model. There is a long read here about but already most info is a few years old but many problems are similar.

meanwhile I found out that I have another enclosure laying around in a box:
https://nl.aliexpress.com/item/1005001809792729.html?channel=twinner
It has a RTL9210 controller (without the B).

What would be a good way to test it? Problems only arise after longer transfer sessions (eg 100GB+). I would like to keep the data that is already on it. (I do have a backup, but it took me a very long time to get everything on it that I wanted to be on it, without errors).

You will need to figure out how your going to approach this based on the parts/tools and what you have access to.

Check the power plan/selective suspend and disable it.
Check device manager/usb hubs/properties and turn off the power option.

Use crystal disk mark and run a couple of passes see if that makes the problem happen.

 

[dwd999]

So what's next from here on? Hopefully people can share more positive / negative results and maybe we can find a common cause?

So I disassembled the Sabrent EC-SNVE case and saw that it has the same 10Gbps Realtek RTL 9210B chip as your other drives. I transferred a 50GB file and got 780MB/s onto the drive and 980MB/s off of the drive going into the Gen3.2x2 port on my computer. I even use one of these cases for the 2TB m.2 hooked up to my Samsung TV and it runs for hours without any problems. So this may be an Orico-only problem which surprises me considering how well their 20Gbps model performs.