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!

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

Hi, i have the same enclosure M2PJM-C3, and is very unstable, did you manage to find a firmware that is stable? For mine i have tried 1.23.9, 23.15, 25.7 and 27.24 but always have disconnecting issues. I tried using my Teamgroup MP33 Pro 512GB for cloning of my internal laptop ssd, but has only passed 2 out of more than 20 tries. All other tries fail / eject / disconnect / unable to write even though connected.

It also seems like this has very bad design, the PCB is very loose inside the enclosure and keeps rattling around, and there is back and forth movement causing the usb C port to move in and out. I think this has caused issue where the drive is very sensitive to being moved about after plugging it in, like it only works at certain angles.

I think i will be purchasing a generic adapter from aliexpress, tool-less design and much cheaper than the orico which i bought for about 30USD, also seems more secured and screwed down PCB.

US $14.78 29%OFF | SSD M2 NVMe Case,Dual Protocol M.2 NVME PCIe NGFF SATA M2 SSD Adapter Case HD Externo for 2230 2242 2260 2280 M.2 SSD RTL9210B https://a.aliexpress.com/_m0S6AWC

Or is there other suggestions?

I just ordered an SSK HE-C370 to replace my faulty Orico.

It ticks all the right boxes for me: has thermal pads, isn't an Orico, and it supports both nvme and sata.

I'll update my experience with it once it arrives.

 

[tomyummmm]

I just ordered an SSK HE-C370 to replace my faulty Orico.

It ticks all the right boxes for me: has thermal pads, isn't an Orico, and it supports both nvme and sata.

I'll update my experience with it once it arrives.

Unfortunately i bought the orico 2 years back, out of warranty and no return period in my country. Even the SSK isnt available on amazon or aliexpress, i'd have to buy from taobao direct haha.

Is the thermal pads really required? I don't really want to waste any more money on this if i can get away with the generic enclosure. I don't even think i can sell the orico second hand for cheap to recoup some losses.

 

[tomyummmm]

Sometimes when i plug in the orico, it shows up as a Realtek RTL9200? and shows there is no firmware installed, and that my drive is unaccessible. Other times it shows up as per normal, but disconnects when running a program or a copy halfway through.

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

Sometimes when i plug in the orico, it shows up as a Realtek RTL9200? and shows there is no firmware installed, and that my drive is unaccessible. Other times it shows up as per normal, but disconnects when running a program or a copy halfway through.

View attachment 55816

How odd. How about this, you try just connecting the mainboard itself to the usb port of your PC, see if it stays connected. In my Orico, it won't stay connected for long, it will just disconnect on its own after a few minutes, and Windows would say that the usb device has malfunctioned.

Unfortunately i bought the orico 2 years back, out of warranty and no return period in my country. Even the SSK isnt available on amazon or aliexpress, i'd have to buy from taobao direct haha.

Is the thermal pads really required? I don't really want to waste any more money on this if i can get away with the generic enclosure. I don't even think i can sell the orico second hand for cheap to recoup some losses.

some nvme drives can get rather hot, so a thermal pad would be good to have.

 

[tomyummmm]

How odd. How about this, you try just connecting the mainboard itself to the usb port of your PC, see if it stays connected. In my Orico, it won't stay connected for long, it will just disconnect on its own after a few minutes, and Windows would say that the usb device has malfunctioned.



some nvme drives can get rather hot, so a thermal pad would be good to have.

I can get it to replicate it sometimes, as seen below, just shows n/a for fwver and Build date, everything else shows up the same, but it still recognises as RTL9200 in the usb controller. Sometimes it doesnt show up in the utility, but the LED is lit and doesnt flash, just static. Sometimes it works as normal and also flashes the LED.


Edit: it seems like i can trigger any 1 of these states by putting a tiny bit of force on the cable either up or down, its quite random though. Goes to show either poor soldering by orico, or just loose port.

My orico will also disconnect on its own and say usb device has malfunctioned from time to time, so it isn't just you.

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

I can get it to replicate it sometimes, as seen below, just shows n/a for fwver and Build date, everything else shows up the same, but it still recognises as RTL9200 in the usb controller. Sometimes it doesnt show up in the utility, but the LED is lit and doesnt flash, just static. Sometimes it works as normal and also flashes the LED.
View attachment 55817

Edit: it seems like i can trigger any 1 of these states by putting a tiny bit of force on the cable either up or down, its quite random though. Goes to show either poor soldering by orico, or just loose port.

My orico will also disconnect on its own and say usb device has malfunctioned from time to time, so it isn't just you.

Very similar symptoms as mine, but mine shows up at RTL9210. But yes, it will just randomly disconnect at any given time, without warning.

Anyway I also have an Asus Strix Arion Lite, which has been rock-solid so far.

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

Sometimes when i plug in the orico, it shows up as a Realtek RTL9200? and shows there is no firmware installed, and that my drive is unaccessible. Other times it shows up as per normal, but disconnects when running a program or a copy halfway through.

View attachment 55816

Here's how it shows up for mine.

 

[tomyummmm]

Very similar symptoms as mine, but mine shows up at RTL9210. But yes, it will just randomly disconnect at any given time, without warning.

Anyway I also have an Asus Strix Arion Lite, which has been rock-solid so far.

Seems like the ASM2362 is the most stable then?

View attachment 55818

Here's how it shows up for mine.

Oh hmm maybe u have a different model? Mine is RTL9210B-CG IC model, it does recognise as RTL9210 when it works, when it hass issues it will be RTL9200 or none at all.

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

Seems like the ASM2362 is the most stable then?


Oh hmm maybe u have a different model? Mine is RTL9210B-CG IC model, it does recognise as RTL9210 when it works, when it hass issues it will be RTL9200 or none at all.

From initial impressions, the ASM2362 seems pretty alright.

My Orico is this -> M2PV-C3. Uses RTL9210 chip.




Speaking of which, when it was connected just now, i tried touching the USB connection on mine, moved the usb-c cable a bit, it seemed fine. how odd. i also managed to flash the latest 1.27.24 firmware.

at this stage, i'm too cautious to put my nvme drive inside. the last time i did that, the files inside got corrupted. maybe when i got a spare drive to play around, i can experiment a bit more.

 

[tomyummmm]

From initial impressions, the ASM2362 seems pretty alright.

My Orico is this -> M2PV-C3. Uses RTL9210 chip.

View attachment 55819


Speaking of which, when it was connected just now, i tried touching the USB connection on mine, moved the usb-c cable a bit, it seemed fine. how odd. i also managed to flash the latest 1.27.24 firmware.

at this stage, i'm too cautious to put my nvme drive inside. the last time i did that, the files inside got corrupted. maybe when i got a spare drive to play around, i can experiment a bit more.

Yeah, my ssd got corrupted a few times in testing, luckily it still got picked up by aomei partition assistant for me to delete and repartition.

Mine is also on latest 1.27.24 as of now, still with the same issues for usb connection. I probably ended up with a dud. Sad that i only got to use this 2 years after i bought it and found out it has so many issues

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

Yeah, my ssd got corrupted a few times in testing, luckily it still got picked up by aomei partition assistant for me to delete and repartition.

Mine is also on latest 1.27.24 as of now, still with the same issues for usb connection. I probably ended up with a dud. Sad that i only got to use this 2 years after i bought it and found out it has so many issues

At least you got 2 years. I got my Orico last year and it failed me this year. I got less than a year out of it and Orico is outright refusing my warranty claims.

What a crappy company.

 

[tomyummmm]

At least you got 2 years. I got my Orico last year and it failed me this year. I got less than a year out of it and Orico is outright refusing my warranty claims.

What a crappy company.

Oh nono, I meant that i bought it 2 years ago, been sitting in my cupboard until just recently when i actually needed it for the first time to do cloning and swapping of SSD for laptop. So i got effectively 1 week out of this LOL.

Well... At least i got it to successfully clone and swap the SSD in the laptop. Expensive 1 use tool lol

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

Oh nono, I meant that i bought it 2 years ago, been sitting in my cupboard until just recently when i actually needed it for the first time to do cloning and swapping of SSD for laptop. So i got effectively 1 week out of this LOL.

Well... At least i got it to successfully clone and swap the SSD in the laptop. Expensive 1 use tool lol

Now i understand your frustration. that has gotta suck, paying that much money for a one-use tool.

anyway, back to your question. would you want to go for realtek again? the drive u linked in aliexpress is RTL9210B.

 

[tomyummmm]

Now i understand your frustration. that has gotta suck, paying that much money for a one-use tool.

anyway, back to your question. would you want to go for realtek again? the drive u linked in aliexpress is RTL9210B.

Well it is a cheaper generic model that has been mentioned before in this thread, i hope that it works long term as i only recently bought the 512gb m.2 nvme ssd for use as an external ssd. Only issue is the user has not been active since his last post, so i cant ask for long term review of stability.

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Also the next cheapest and highly recommended RTL9210 is the Jeyi i9 GTR at about 20USD, 5usd more than the generic. And that only has the NVME function, so i dont mind trying the generic version i guess. Are there even cheap versions of the asm2362? I see ugreen nvme asm2362 models being about 20usd. Their version of the dual protocol which i assume is RTL9210B is about 26USD.

15.78US $ 35% OFF|Ugreen M2 Ssd Case Nvme Sata Dual Protocol M.2 To Usb Type C 3.1 Ssd Adapter For Nvme Pcie Ngff Sata Ssd Disk Box M.2 Ssd Case - Hdd & Ssd Enclosure - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

a.aliexpress.com

Ugreen has generally been quite good for me, many of their stuff is even used during live audiovisual shows/conerts because of their quality for cables and many other things.

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

Well it is a cheaper generic model that has been mentioned before in this thread, i hope that it works long term as i only recently bought the 512gb m.2 nvme ssd for use as an external ssd. Only issue is the user has not been active since his last post, so i cant ask for long term review of stability.

Page 28 - Question - *STABLE* NVMe - USB Adapter?

Page 28 - Seeking answers? Join the AnandTech community: where nearly half-a-million members share solutions and discuss the latest tech.

forums.anandtech.com

Also the next cheapest and highly recommended RTL9210 is the Jeyi i9 GTR at about 20USD, 5usd more than the generic. And that only has the NVME function, so i dont mind trying the generic version i guess. Are there even cheap versions of the asm2362? I see ugreen nvme asm2362 models being about 20usd. Their version of the dual protocol which i assume is RTL9210B is about 26USD.

15.78US $ 35% OFF|Ugreen M2 Ssd Case Nvme Sata Dual Protocol M.2 To Usb Type C 3.1 Ssd Adapter For Nvme Pcie Ngff Sata Ssd Disk Box M.2 Ssd Case - Hdd & Ssd Enclosure - AliExpress

Smarter Shopping, Better Living! Aliexpress.com

a.aliexpress.com

Ugreen has generally been quite good for me, many of their stuff is even used during live audiovisual shows/conerts because of their quality for cables and many other things.

Here's one from Kingspec.

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/1005003336956298.html

Alternatively you could try ugreen. I too have a few ugreen products and they've proven to be reliable.

 

[amanoai]

I've been going through most of this thread. Perhaps I missed it but I'm wondering if anyone has used these enclosures connected to a hub that provides power?

I'm currently looking for a nvme and also an enclosure and with all the posts about random disconnects affected by all 3 different controller chipsets, got me thinking if it is some sort of stable power supply issue? I've had issues in the past with 2.5 ssd randomly disconnecting when connected direct to usb on back of motherboard. Random disconnections were solved when I used the ssd with an adapter that supplies power itself.

Does anyone have such powered hub with wall adapter to try out?

 

[The Chief]

I'm running firmware 1.23.15. Which .cfg file did you use from the downloaded package and did you have to make any modifications to it?

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

VID = 0xbda
PID = 0x9210

MANUFACTURE = "JEYI"
SCSI_VENDOR = "JEYI"
PRODUCT = "i9-GTR NVME"
SCSI_PRODUCT = "i9-GTR NVME"
SERIAL = "631345678948"

CFEXPRESS = 0x0
LED = 0x1
PINMUX1 = 0x70000
PINMUX2 = 0x0
U2_MAXPWR = 0xfa
U3_MAXPWR = 0x70
ASPMDIS = 0x0
PCIE_REFCLK = 0x3e

;10 minutes of idle time will disable pcie power
;PCIE_PWRCUT_THRES = 10

;EN_UPS = 0x0
;PD = 0x0

;CUSTOMIZED_LED is 15 bytes
;CUSTOMIZED_LED = 00
CUSTOMIZED_LED = 01 01

 

[tomyummmm]

I've been going through most of this thread. Perhaps I missed it but I'm wondering if anyone has used these enclosures connected to a hub that provides power?

I'm currently looking for a nvme and also an enclosure and with all the posts about random disconnects affected by all 3 different controller chipsets, got me thinking if it is some sort of stable power supply issue? I've had issues in the past with 2.5 ssd randomly disconnecting when connected direct to usb on back of motherboard. Random disconnections were solved when I used the ssd with an adapter that supplies power itself.

Does anyone have such powered hub with wall adapter to try out?

I don't have a powered hub to test, and 2.5" SSD and NVME ssd have pretty similar power consumption, if using a powered hub solved your disconnection issues, thats great, mine is definitely not, its due to loose connection for my specific enclosure. Like i said, it managed to complete 3 full clones of SSDs, meaning there is more than enough in terms of power supply, just disconnection issues.

Just stay away from Orico for m.2 ssd enclosures i guess, my 3.5" and 2.5" hdd enclosures from orico work fine. So far chinese forum chiphell (yes im chinese, i can read) have said that Jeyi, Acasis, SSK, hikvision are pretty good, and that orico has a bad reputation for "eating up SSD/HDD" due to bad PCB designs or something, literally frying the SSD/HDD.

You can read it here through google translate i guess:

旧帖归档 - Chiphell - 分享与交流用户体验

旧帖归档 ,Chiphell - 分享与交流用户体验

www.chiphell.com

The Asus Strix Arion Lite mentioned above by YabbaDabbaDoooo and its non-Lite version are also heavily praised on chiphell, but its a LOT more expensive.

 

[tomyummmm]

Here's one from Kingspec.

https://m.aliexpress.com/item/1005003336956298.html

Alternatively you could try ugreen. I too have a few ugreen products and they've proven to be reliable.

I managed to buy the Ugreen Dual Protocol locally off Lazada for approximately 15usd after using many vouchers and stacking with other purchases, down from about 26usd. I am very sad that i can now buy a "branded" enclosure for half the price of what i paid for the Orico

Oh well, hopefully this one works as well as the reviews i've seen. Won't be buying the ASM2362 based enclosures for now. I am also communicating with Orico through email regarding the issues, hoping I can convince them to replace it for me even though it is out of warranty, and maybe try to sell it off for cheaper and recoup some losses.

Here is their reply to my initial email about intermittent disconnections, I have replied to this with all the screenshots, lets see how this turns out. Not going to mention anything about firmware, don't want them to say its due to me playing with firmware LOL.

Dear value customers
Thanks for contatcing us and sorry for the late reply.
Please kindly check your hard disk and other devices according to these steps. If still wrong, it is a product problem.
The new hard disk needs to be formatted.
This product is for NVMe protocol.
Could you kindly change the cable or the port?
If you have other disks and computers, please change them.
Please go to the computer, screenshot your Disk Management and Device Management for us.
Kind Regards
ORICO

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

I managed to buy the Ugreen Dual Protocol locally off Lazada for approximately 15usd after using many vouchers and stacking with other purchases, down from about 26usd. I am very sad that i can now buy a "branded" enclosure for half the price of what i paid for the Orico

Oh well, hopefully this one works as well as the reviews i've seen. Won't be buying the ASM2362 based enclosures for now. I am also communicating with Orico through email regarding the issues, hoping I can convince them to replace it for me even though it is out of warranty, and maybe try to sell it off for cheaper and recoup some losses.

Here is their reply to my initial email about intermittent disconnections, I have replied to this with all the screenshots, lets see how this turns out. Not going to mention anything about firmware, don't want them to say its due to me playing with firmware LOL.

Heh, i ordered my SSK from Lazada's rival. Ordered it a few days ago and it just arrived the sorting centre. Should be reaching my hands next week.

Over the next few weeks, maybe I'll try my luck with some JMicron enclosures haha, just to test them out. Some forumers said that with the 2.0.9 firmware, most of the bugs got ironed out anyway.

 

[tomyummmm]

Heh, i ordered my SSK from Lazada's rival. Ordered it a few days ago and it just arrived the sorting centre. Should be reaching my hands next week.

Over the next few weeks, maybe I'll try my luck with some JMicron enclosures haha, just to test them out. Some forumers said that with the 2.0.9 firmware, most of the bugs got ironed out anyway.

Shopee? are you SG/MY? haha I only managed to find 1 listing on there that has the dual protocol version, and its really expensive at about 37usd.

Wah you have a lot of money ah, buy so many enclosures. All that aside, are the USB Type C to A cables included with these kind of enclosures sold anywhere? Can't seem to find any 10gbps cables, all I see are type C to C cables. Or are these C to A cables just standard USB 3.0? but that doesn't really make sense if even this shitty enclosure can hit 1000MBps.


Sadly this case only comes with a C to C cable, I can use the cable the Orico comes with in the meantime. I also accidentally fat fingered and accidentally ordered 2 USB A to C charging cables instead of 1...

Hmmm this picture seems to be telling me otherwise... even ugreen claims the cable is USB C to USB 3.0 ...

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

Shopee? are you SG/MY? haha I only managed to find 1 listing on there that has the dual protocol version, and its really expensive at about 37usd.

Wah you have a lot of money ah, buy so many enclosures. All that aside, are the USB Type C to A cables included with these kind of enclosures sold anywhere? Can't seem to find any 10gbps cables, all I see are type C to C cables. Or are these C to A cables just standard USB 3.0? but that doesn't really make sense if even this shitty enclosure can hit 1000MBps.

View attachment 55867
Sadly this case only comes with a C to C cable, I can use the cable the Orico comes with in the meantime. I also accidentally fat fingered and accidentally ordered 2 USB A to C charging cables instead of 1...

Hmmm this picture seems to be telling me otherwise... even ugreen claims the cable is USB C to USB 3.0 ...
View attachment 55868

There are some cheaper dual protocol ones. SSK has one, less than 20 usd. Run on the RTL9210B, the same one i ordered.

Generally the cables included with the enclosure should work up to their claimed speeds, i think

 

[tomyummmm]

There are some cheaper dual protocol ones. SSK has one, less than 20 usd. Run on the RTL9210B, the same one i ordered.

Generally the cables included with the enclosure should work up to their claimed speeds, i think

Can you share the link for the SSK one? i want to see, cos i looked through the listings for your model but didnt see.

I mean the Ugreen dual protocol i ordered comes with C to C cable only. I want to buy a A to C cable. When i message Ugreen themself and ask if can buy the A to C cable by itself, the person say they don't sell it...

 

[YabbaDabbaDoooo]

Can you share the link for the SSK one? i want to see, cos i looked through the listings for your model but didnt see.

I mean the Ugreen dual protocol i ordered comes with C to C cable only. I want to buy a A to C cable. When i message Ugreen themself and ask if can buy the A to C cable by itself, the person say they don't sell it...

There you go

https://shopee.com.my/product/574217781/10865432290?smtt=0.56887992-1642081640.9

Ah, about the cable, i think any decent A-to-C cable should work, but don't quote me on that. I too, am curious how fast regular A-to-C cables can go. Gotta test with my Arion Lite soon i guess.

 

[tomyummmm]

There you go

https://shopee.com.my/product/574217781/10865432290?smtt=0.56887992-1642081640.9

Ah, about the cable, i think any decent A-to-C cable should work, but don't quote me on that. I too, am curious how fast regular A-to-C cables can go. Gotta test with my Arion Lite soon i guess.

ah no wonder, you are in neighbouring country, i sinkie cannot see the listing available in SG, also dont have that seller. Thats why i say the only listing super expensive in Shopee SG lol.