Question *STABLE* NVMe - USB Adapter?

[cyberjedi]

I'm looking to buy a *RELIABLE* NVME-USB external adapter, that doesn't disconnect randomly, can keep up the close to 1GB/s speed.
So far all adapter's reviews contain frighteningly high % of reports of malfunction, random disconnects, sub-par speeds, falling to even under USB 2.0 speeds, etc.
There are 3 main chipsets in the market: JMicron JMS583, Asmedia ASM2362, and Realtek RTL9210 (no product has surfaced with the latter yet, so no REAL reviews, experiences yet UPDATE: it is on the market already).
Also ASUS has a new product, ROG Strix Arion, but there isn't enough feedback about it yet, and I mean real life feedback not just being able to run a few benchmarks, but real stress test to see if the device (adapter) can keep it up, without disconnecting or slowing down hard.
I would really appreciate any feedback from those who have GOOD experiences during stress-tests, like tons of random 4k writes with a stable speed, cloning 100's of GB-s at a stable high speed close to 1GB/s.
I know SSD's very well, so please stick to the point and don't start to educate me on how their speed falls after some writes, etc. I'm aware and this is NOT the point.
You can help if you can point me to a STABLE and RELIABLE NVMe-USB-C adapter that WORKS as expected.
Thank you in advance!

 

[kentilo]

ntfs same thing.

 

[apoelistasaudi]

Почему этот пакет не работает:
samsung 970 EVO Plus, Ugreen Asmedia ASM-2362 NVMe, ExFat, OTG Samsung Galaxy S20 Ultra. Пытается подключиться, но выдает ошибку.

Try it on a laptop. Phone support is a different thread.

 

[kentilo]

On MAC OS and W10, it works normally. I wanted to connect to the phone.

 

[kentilo]

Lack of power looks like. Connected through external power, worked.

 

[kentilo]

What is the newest firmware on Asmedia ASM-2362?
Found one like this

Asmedia ASM-2362 NVMe/USB 3.1 Controller firmware Version 181031_81_08_83

Windows

www.station-drivers.com

Any newer? If there is, please give a link.

 

[Andalu]

I got another RTL9210 with a metal enclosure (no brand) that had firmware v1.15.1. Updated to v1.20.12, sleep time set to 1 minute and no problems detected when restoring from standby mode even after more than 5 minutes of non-operation. Here the cfg file saved by MPTool v1.8.0.0108:

 

[HefaistoS]

Hi @Andalu
Can you please send me the link with the v1.20.12 that you have installed?
Also how do i verify if my ssd entered in idle state?

 

[Andalu]

Hi @Andalu
Can you please send me the link with the v1.20.12 that you have installed?
Also how do i verify if my ssd entered in idle state?

Hi,
you can find the firmware v1.20.12 here (on the bottom). There is also a readme file.

>>>>>>>> Use at your own risk!

About the idle state, I assume you are referring to the stand-by (sleep) mode. If so, you can simply see if the led of your enclosure is always ON or it goes to OFF after 1,5,10,30 minutes. You can also use the MPtool included in the firmware package using the 'Dump' button and see what reports the line "PCIE_PWRCUT_THRES".

 

[Andalu]

The RTL9210B enclosure (mod. M2PJM-C3) finally arrived after almost 3 months from the placed order.
The firmware installed is the version 1.21.10 with a stand-by mode set to 10 minutes .
Unfortunately to change it I would have to downgrade the firmware, not a great idea.

As I hoped it was, in the M2PJM-C3 enclosure it is also possible to perfectly fit the JMS583 pcb I already have so I was able to compare the two chipsets by trying them under the same conditions.
For the first two series of 4 consecutive tests, I plugged the enclosure to the USB 3.2 Gen.2 port (10 GBps) on my motherboard (Intel's USB controller) using a USB type C to USB type A cable.
Here the results (temperatures measured by CrystalDiskinfo at the end of four consecutive tests):

RTL9210B:


JMS583:


For other two test series I plugged the enclosure to the USB 3.2 Gen.2x2 of the Asmedia PCIEx to USB C card (ASM3242 chipset) using a Thunderbolt3 cable. Here the better results than the previous with the Intel USB controller (temperatures measured as before):

RTL9210B:


JMS583:


Regarding the performance, I don't see the real winner as the two chipsets are also equivalent in terms of heat emissions (which instead I assumed had to be lower for the RTL9210B).

I have also to report that during the tests the RTL9210B chipset suddenly disconnected twice in 4 attempts for both USB controller (Intel and Asmedia). No problem detected repeating the same 4 test series on another RTL9210 pcb with firmware v1.21.17 connected to the Asmedia PCIEx card using the 10GBps data cable with a USB A to USB C adapter.
So I think the RTL9210B chipset has some issues with firmware v1.21.10.

Another confirmed problem for the RTL9210 chipset is that the "safely remove" command doesn't work. The led remains always ON even if the OS gives the message "The device can be safely remove". Tried with all three RTL9210 pcb of mine on two different motherboards and in 4 Windows OS: same behavior. Not a good thing.

 

[apoelistasaudi]

Next, hoping someone makes this firmware available by uploading, will be to find 1.21.17. willing to test on ttl9210 without b. Thanks @Andalu for the comparison.

 

[HefaistoS]

I had successfully upgraded to firmware v1.20.12. i've found 3 issues with this:
1. The idle feature works (the led shut down) after 1 minute only in Windows OS but on my macOS it doesn't work. The led stay ON permanent.
2. i have the same problem as @Andalu with the "safely remove" command that doesn't shut down the led.
3. After my macbook enters sleep mode the chip (&led) shut down & after it wakes up the chipset force disconnects. In Win10 it works perfectly. So, considering that the idle function doesn't work at all for me, I decided to cancel it permanently. Now when it enters sleep mode, the chip stays permanently on. I hope that apart from draining the battery faster there will be no other extra problems.

On this forum (after google translated the page in english) http://jeyi.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=44 - i read that the "not standby" version for JMS583 would be recommended for Apple systems. Maybe there's a connection somewhere and that's why it doesn't worked for me either..
Are there other guys around here who have tested this chip on a macbook and can share some experiences?

 

[goropes]

Hello, my new Orico M2PJM-C3 arrived yesterday.. but it works little different than on screenshots here.
1) Cant be detected by CrystaldiskInfo
2) in Device manager I see RTL9210 USB Device, you all have there RTL9210 NVME

How can I find out what firmware version i have?
How to update to newer?
How to use cfg files you shared here?

Than you for advice

 

[razel]

1) Cant be detected by CrystaldiskInfo

What exactly can't be detected by CDI? Does the enclosure work with a drive installed? If the product doesn't work in the 1st place, I wouldn't continue to try and fix it and return it to get one that works 1st.

 

[goropes]

I installed samsung 970 EVO, drive works (i could create partitions, assign letter, read, write.. test speed in CDM, no problem), but in CDI this drive is not visible. When i connect any common usb hdd, it appear in CDI as next drive, but ssd installed in Orico enclosure is not visible, even i can access it in explorer.

 

[Andalu]

@HefaistoS
Thank you for your confirmation about the safely remove command. Unfortunately I do not have a Mac to try.

 

[Andalu]

Hello, my new Orico M2PJM-C3 arrived yesterday.. but it works little different than on screenshots here.
1) Cant be detected by CrystaldiskInfo
2) in Device manager I see RTL9210 USB Device, you all have there RTL9210 NVME

How can I find out what firmware version i have?
How to update to newer?
How to use cfg files you shared here?

Than you for advice

1) I don't think it depends on the enclosure but on something else. I had similar CrystalDiskInfo failed recognition for a M.2 SATA depending on the sata/ahci controller driver (in XP). But a failed CDI recognition is not a good reason to change a driver that works correctly.
2) it is not relevant what is reported in device manager that is picked up from the cfg file attached to the firmware.

In order to know the version of the installed firmware, you can use the MPTool contained in the above package. Once downloaded, launch UTHSB_MPtool_Lite and, without clicking on "Update Device", go to "Dump" > "Show Device Info" and on the bottom you can see the firmware version.

Have you encountered issues using the RTL9210B to need to update the firmware? The firmware contained in that package is for the RTL9210 chipset and may not be compatible with the RTL9210B, so be careful. We may have confirmation of this only when we get the .bin file of a firmware specially designed for the RTL9210B chipset and we can compare it with the same firmware version of the RTL9210 chipset.

 

[magi44ken]

ICY BOX IB-1823MF-C31 is a new enclosure uses the JMS583 A2 with a unique fan design.

Amazon.com: ICY BOX M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure with Gaming and Fan and Innovative Heatsink Design with USB 3.1 Gen 2 Transfer Speed for Connecting to Type-C and Thunderbolt 3 Ports: Computers & Accessories

Amazon.com: ICY BOX M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure with Gaming and Fan and Innovative Heatsink Design with USB 3.1 Gen 2 Transfer Speed for Connecting to Type-C and Thunderbolt 3 Ports: Computers & Accessories

www.amazon.com

 

[goropes]

I readed whole thread and now i little better understand what happened with my Orico M2PJM-C3 , it is absolutly same as happened to @kaefers in his post #166

Device was named Realtek RTL9210B-CG #0
I tried firmware update with same file for 9210 as kaefers, and the same way proccess failed after few %
Everything works the same after unfinished update, only difference is in device name shown, now it always show the name of ssd drive installed in enclosure (now Samsung 970 EVO 1TB) and firmware was downgraded to 1.17.4 in

Spoiler: dumpfile

**************************************************************

Device : Samsung SSD 970 EVO 1TB #0

**************************************************************

U2PHY : 02 f4 9b e0 e1

U3PHY : 02 d4 09 00 d5 00 80

VID : 0x0bda

PID : 0x9210

MANUFACTURE : "Realtek"

PRODUCT : "RTL9210"

SERIAL : "012345678907"

SCSI_PRODUCT : "n/a"

SCSI_VENDOR : "n/a"

CFEXPRESS : 0x00

LED : 0x01

PINMUX1 : 0x00070000

PINMUX2 : 0x00000000

U2_MAXPWR : 0xfa

U3_MAXPWR : 0x70

ASPMDIS : 0x00

PCIE_REFCLK : n/a

PCIE_PWRCUT_THRES : n/a

SWR_1_2V : n/a

EN_UPS : n/a

PD : n/a

CUSTOMIZED_LED : n/a

SUSPEND_LED_OFF : n/a

FORCE_USB_SPEED : n/a

FORCE_PCIE_SPEED : n/a

FORCE_USB_QUIRK : n/a

FORCE_PCIE_QUIRK : n/a

FAN : n/a

DIS_SHOW_EMPTY_DISK : n/a

FORCE_SATA_NORMAL_DMA : n/a

UART_DBG_PIN : n/a

FINGER_PRINT_EN : n/a

EFUSE :

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

-------------------------------------------------

0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

10 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

20 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

30 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

40 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

50 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

60 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

70 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

80 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

90 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

a0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

b0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff



Boot Mode : Flash NM

FW Ver : 1.17.4

FW Build Date : 2019.09.10

IC Ver : 0xa0010002

IC Pkg Type : PCIE_SATA

UUID : ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff



Disconn_ForceUSB2 : 0x00

But still i cant see no disk in crystaldiskinfo, before update and same after. No drive letter for ssd in enclosure, only my internal system disk, when i connect ext hdd or flashdisk, CDI show it properly.

Can I upgdate back to newest firmware?
How to make CrystaldiskInfo to work? I need to check detailed drive info for several different drives, so this is important for me.
And according @Andalu screens few posts above it works, and firmware downgrage wasnt the cause, it was same before.
Is anything else I could try?

 

[apoelistasaudi]

I readed whole thread and now i little better understand what happened with my Orico M2PJM-C3 , it is absolutly same as happened to @kaefers in his post #166

Device was named Realtek RTL9210B-CG #0
I tried firmware update with same file for 9210 as kaefers, and the same way proccess failed after few %
Everything works the same after unfinished update, only difference is in device name shown, now it always show the name of ssd drive installed in enclosure (now Samsung 970 EVO 1TB) and firmware was downgraded to 1.17.4 in

Spoiler: dumpfile

**************************************************************

Device : Samsung SSD 970 EVO 1TB #0

**************************************************************

U2PHY : 02 f4 9b e0 e1

U3PHY : 02 d4 09 00 d5 00 80

VID : 0x0bda

PID : 0x9210

MANUFACTURE : "Realtek"

PRODUCT : "RTL9210"

SERIAL : "012345678907"

SCSI_PRODUCT : "n/a"

SCSI_VENDOR : "n/a"

CFEXPRESS : 0x00

LED : 0x01

PINMUX1 : 0x00070000

PINMUX2 : 0x00000000

U2_MAXPWR : 0xfa

U3_MAXPWR : 0x70

ASPMDIS : 0x00

PCIE_REFCLK : n/a

PCIE_PWRCUT_THRES : n/a

SWR_1_2V : n/a

EN_UPS : n/a

PD : n/a

CUSTOMIZED_LED : n/a

SUSPEND_LED_OFF : n/a

FORCE_USB_SPEED : n/a

FORCE_PCIE_SPEED : n/a

FORCE_USB_QUIRK : n/a

FORCE_PCIE_QUIRK : n/a

FAN : n/a

DIS_SHOW_EMPTY_DISK : n/a

FORCE_SATA_NORMAL_DMA : n/a

UART_DBG_PIN : n/a

FINGER_PRINT_EN : n/a

EFUSE :

00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 0A 0B 0C 0D 0E 0F

-------------------------------------------------

0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

10 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

20 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

30 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

40 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

50 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

60 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

70 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

80 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

90 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

a0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff

b0 ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff ff



Boot Mode : Flash NM

FW Ver : 1.17.4

FW Build Date : 2019.09.10

IC Ver : 0xa0010002

IC Pkg Type : PCIE_SATA

UUID : ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff



Disconn_ForceUSB2 : 0x00

But still i cant see no disk in crystaldiskinfo, before update and same after. No drive letter for ssd in enclosure, only my internal system disk, when i connect ext hdd or flashdisk, CDI show it properly.

Can I upgdate back to newest firmware?
How to make CrystaldiskInfo to work? I need to check detailed drive info for several different drives, so this is important for me.
And according @Andalu screens few posts above it works, and firmware downgrage wasnt the cause, it was same before.
Is anything else I could try?

1.20.12 is latest we have (pluggable). At least install the latest one. No?? Where did you get 1.17.4?? Jeyi i9 GTR firmware is 1.18.1 which is also older.

Don't give up. Firmware update to 1.20.12 until we find 1.21.17.

 

[goropes]

I have no idea how i got to 1.17.4, it happened during unsuccessful update with 1.20.12 (pluggable). It failed after few percents probably because it is for RTL9210, but i have RTL9210B.
But nothing explains nonstandard bevavior, why i cant see drive info in CDI.

 

[apoelistasaudi]

Probably your firmware was 1.17.4 from the start.

 

[goropes]

@apoelistasaudi probably no, i repeated exact same steps as @kaefers described in post #172
Also I had 1.21.10 from new and after I tried flashing 1.20.12 (plugable, for RTL9210-notB) it failed and fw changed to 1.17.4

But still not idea how to make CrystaldiskInfo working. For me it wasnt working even before downgrade.

 

[SchneiderIS]

In reading through the prior posts, and thanks to everyone for the amazing amount of information shared, I am getting the impression that the JMS583 is abetter option if you are running an Apple machine and wanting to avoid the random disconnects. I have a device right now that I bought through Amazon and it has the RTL9210-B chip but there is no indication of the firmware version. The manufacturer of the enclosure is also not helpful for either telling me or offering a path to make any changes.

My interest is in stability, specifically in getting rid of the random disconnects. The stability is needed as I am trying to use the drive for a Virtual Machine that is needed, and requires a 500Gb virtual hard drive (preferably one file). Running the current enclosure it temporarily disconnects ono each attempted build somewhere between 170Gb and 250Gb. It simply never gets to the 500Gb, and the drive gets crazy hot. PS: I also bought a certified Thunderbolt 3 cable to eliminate that potential issue.

So the questions that I have Are:

1.) Is the switch to JMS583 likely to have the most stability?

2.) (this one deviates slightly) Or does the Thuderbolt 3 specification and implementation require a tighter construction so buying a true Thunderbolt 3 enclosure is a safer bet?

 

[SchneiderIS]

In reading through the prior posts, and thanks to everyone for the amazing amount of information shared, I am getting the impression that the JMS583 is abetter option if you are running an Apple machine and wanting to avoid the random disconnects. I have a device right now that I bought through Amazon and it has the RTL9210-B chip but there is no indication of the firmware version. The manufacturer of the enclosure is also not helpful for either telling me or offering a path to make any changes.

My interest is in stability, specifically in getting rid of the random disconnects. The stability is needed as I am trying to use the drive for a Virtual Machine that is needed, and requires a 500Gb virtual hard drive (preferably one file). Running the current enclosure it temporarily disconnects ono each attempted build somewhere between 170Gb and 250Gb. It simply never gets to the 500Gb, and the drive gets crazy hot. PS: I also bought a certified Thunderbolt 3 cable to eliminate that potential issue.

So the questions that I have Are:

1.) Is the switch to JMS583 likely to have the most stability?

2.) (this one deviates slightly) Or does the Thuderbolt 3 specification and implementation require a tighter construction so buying a true Thunderbolt 3 enclosure is a safer bet?

After buying a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure I can tell you that I have no issue creating +500Gb drive. No random disconnects.

 

[apoelistasaudi]

My rtl9210 new configuration file for testing on fw 1.20.12:
will report in a few days

My first impressions (so far) on 5Gbps usb laptop is that it always stays cool, no problems when running or when on standby, unlike jms583 which radiates high heat when running

I confirm that after disconnecting blue led status light stays on but only for 10 seconds.

My new configuration file is a combination of jeyi's and pluggable cfg files e.g. added PCIE_REFCLK = 0x3e, standby selected always 1 minute, and where it says partition I chose GPT.

More tests tomorrow on 10Gbps usb desktop.

Spoiler: Cfg file

;Configure Start
;=================FW Configure=================
U2PHY = 02 f4 9b e0 e1
U3PHY = 02 d4 09 00 d5 00 80

VID = 0xbda
PID = 0x9210

MANUFACTURE = "Realtek"
SCSI_VENDOR = "Realtek"
PRODUCT = "RTL9210"
SCSI_PRODUCT = "RTL9210 NVME"
SERIAL = "0123456789212"

CFEXPRESS = 0x0
LED = 0x1
PINMUX1 = 0x70000
PINMUX2 = 0x0
U2_MAXPWR = 0xfa
U3_MAXPWR = 0x70
ASPMDIS = 0x0
PCIE_REFCLK = 0x3e
;1 minutes of idle time will disable pcie power
PCIE_PWRCUT_THRES = 0x1

;EN_UPS = 0x0
;PD = 0x0

;CUSTOMIZED_LED is 15 bytes
;CUSTOMIZED_LED = 00
;SUSPEND_LED_OFF = 0x0
;FAN = 0x0

;DIS_SHOW_EMPTY_DISK = 0x1
;UART_DBG_PIN = 5

;=================Tool Configure=================
;DISCONN_FORCE_USB2 = n
;FORMAT_DISK = n
;INC_SERIAL = y

;PARTITION: GPT, MBR
PARTITION = "GPT"
;FORMAT: NTFS, exFAT
FORMAT = "NTFS"
;LABEL max allowed - characters
LABEL = "My USB"