Question Why won't my new NVMe SSD work in an external enclosure?

[Wheel in the Sky]

I bought an Addlink Addgame A95 NVMe SSD, 4TB (https://www.amazon.com/addlink-Internal-Heatsink-Compatible-Solid-State/dp/B09HJVDW69?th=1).
I also bought an external enclosure for it: MAIWO M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure Adapter (https://www.newegg.com/maiwo-k1689p-enclosure/p/0VN-00D8-00037).

I hook it up via USB port and cable that I use all the time, and when I go to initialize the SSD in Disk Management, it give the error "The request failed due to a fatal device hardware error." I didn't know which product didn't work, so I tested a different SSD in the MAIWO enclosure, and that worked, so I assumed the enclosure was good, and the Addlink SSD was bad. I returned it for another 1, same error. So now I'm wondering if it's a compatibility issie. The SSD enclosure worked with a different SSD, but won't work with this Addlink SSD. The enclosure says its supports NVMe, and up to 4TB, and the SSD connects into the enclosure because they are M-key. Is that not enough to ensure compatibility? Do I need to match chipsets or controllers or something? I'm not very familiar with that. Surely it's not 2 DOA SSD's in a row!

 

[turtletarget111]

That particular NVMe enclosure only supports drive capacities up to 2TB. You will need to grab one that can support your drive. You might want to try this one from Sabrent, as opposed to a random brand on Newegg.

Addlink is also a SSD manufacturer I've never heard of, and there are better priced 4TB NVMe SSDs out there. I would only buy data storage devices form recognizable brands, as there are thousands of fake products on Amazon, and reviews can be easily faked. Return that while you can and get this one from Samsung instead.

 

[Ralston18]

Where are you purchasing the Addlink SSDs?

Noted the Amazon link; however, that does not specifically indicate the true or real source/seller.

Then again, the SSD could be still be counterfeit or from a defective production run.

Amazon would not necessarily be aware of that.....

Take a close look at the SSD and its' packaging. Counterfeit products often have some telltail clues.

 

[Wheel in the Sky]

That particular NVMe enclosure only supports drive capacities up to 2TB. You will need to grab one that can support your drive. You might want to try this one from Sabrent, as opposed to a random brand on Newegg.

Addlink is also a SSD manufacturer I've never heard of, and there are better priced 4TB NVMe SSDs out there. I would only buy data storage devices form recognizable brands, as there are thousands of fake products on Amazon, and reviews can be easily faked. Return that while you can and get this one from Samsung instead.

Crap, you might be right. I bought the enclosure from Amazon, and it states "4TB" in the title, and at least 4 times on the page. Seems like that might be the issue though.

I got the Addlink from Amazon for $243. It was a good deal, the price returned to the much higher norm after that. It's sold by the Addlink company on Amazon. I think it's fine, and the crappy enclosure I bought was the issue. We'll see how it goes.

I'm trying to upgrade the 2TB NVMe SSD in my desktop to this 4TB one. So I figured buy an enclosure, and clone onto it. But I guess I'll clone onto a HDD, swap the 4TB SSD into the motherboard, boot from the HDD, and clone onto the SSD while it's in the motherboard, no enclosure needed. But if this SSD also doesn't work directly in the motherboard... I guess it will have to go back.

 

[Wheel in the Sky]

Oh ughhhhhh I'm booted off a HDD right now. That took like 10 minutes to get into Windows. But this time when I initialized the SSD in Disk Management, it actually worked instead of giving the error. So it works in my motherboard's NVMe slot, just not in my crappy USB enclosure that's possibly limited to 2TB. Now that I was able to initialize the SSD, I'm cloning onto it from the HDD I'm booted from.