Question *STABLE* NVMe - USB Adapter?

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cyberjedi

Junior Member
Apr 4, 2010
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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!
 
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Andalu

Member
Jun 25, 2020
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@kaefers
Glad to know that no other disconnection occurred. As a future owner of this enclosure, that's really good news :)

I realize only now that I was not clear in my previous question about the ASM2362 enclosure:
using the command "Safely remove hardware and eject media" from the traybar area, my AMS2362 enclosure remains with the led always ON (and it is warm too so still powered) even if I got the message "The USB attached SCSI (UAS) mass storage device can now be safely removed from the computer". Have you noticed this issue?
 
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kaefers

Junior Member
Jun 12, 2020
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@Andalu

With the RTL9210, after my borked downgrade, the enclosure does not disconnect at all, is cold to the touch at idle, but it is still there accessible in Explorer. I cannot however tell you exactly how I downgraded it since I tried like many cfg versions and randomly it happened.

The Arion stays cool unless in operation, but I did not really check it during idle periods much yet, as I really like the Orico. The Asus is just massive. Will put the Evo Plus in the Asus and leave it in over night and see in the morning how it went.

Did not notice any error messages at all, aside from cannot remove drive via safe remove (all types of enclosures) b/c some process wouldn't let go, but nothing aside from that.

With the JMS583 Sabrent Rocket Nano, the drive just sometimes just cut itself off without any notification.
 

Andalu

Member
Jun 25, 2020
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@kaefers
thanks for the info ;)
Unfortunately, your confirmation about failed disconnection for the ASM2362 via safely remove command is a point to its disadvantage. In my case the enclosure remains still warm even many hours after the system has been shut down.
 

kaefers

Junior Member
Jun 12, 2020
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@Andalu
Asus Arion: 36C idle, 40C with Crystal Disk Info Auto Refresh at 1min, 49C after 9x CDM7 runs. I will leave the device connected with CDM off and see tomorrow.

But with the Asus also comes the LED / Asus Aura Lightning service - not sure if that plays into it.

Also, I had the not being able to safe remove for all Sabrent, Orico, Asus enclosures, likely because something else was still accessing it on OS level.

Is the ASM2362 known to run hot at idle or something like that?
 
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Jun 10, 2020
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My orico (jmicron 583 with Polycarb... Enclosure with 2 heatsinks, one was added to test heat difference) has an idle temperature about 64, standby refused to get activated after running and closing the crystal apps. Dual heatsink seems to lower temp by 5oC. Previously high temp was 68-69 (as sold and with same conditions Crystal apps running and or later closed since as previously noted standby fails to kick in, even having those 2 apps closed issue remains).

Still not acceptable to have high idle temperature (when standby does not get activated this high temp issue during idle becomes excessive similar to DHW boiling temp). Maybe if Orico creates a custom firmware, idle temperature issue can be resolved. But I am not hopping that they do release such a firmware. Last time I purchase an Orico product since they marketed a product enclosure that was bad designed (plus 5 Deg) and one that they do/did not support in firmware . In any case not running those 2 apps 5min standby keeps my enclosure cool (33oC) so I am not too worried with idle heat but I wish that Orico starts supporting their jmicron 583 152D enclosures with better firmware. diskmark is pretty much above advertised specs read about 1040mb/s and write 715mb/s (first raw)

I don't.think there is any hope:
"JMicron has released firmware updates to help solve some of them, but to fully resolve the known issues they needed to make internal changes to the JMS583 bridge chip. So, there are different versions of the JMicron JMS583 bridge chip on the market today."
If you purchase in the future enclosures with jms583 make sure it is A3 (2021) until all issues are resolved. Would be nice to test JMS583 A2 to see if idle high temp issue is resolved or not.
 
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Andalu

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Jun 25, 2020
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@kaefers
Both ASM2362 and JMS583 are known as very hot chipsets that require adequate dissipation. Another good solution would be to also achieve a low power state when these chipsets are in idle by setting a timer for the standby mode. In this sense the JMS583 seems to be better (with due distinctions) than the ASM2362 which does not provide it. Even worse the impossibility to actually shut down the ASM2362 if you do not manually unplug the USB cable. I noticed that the device is still warm even after shutting down the system and only in this case it seems to go into standby mode with a lower temperature.
No such problem for the JMS583 which shuts down properly by safe removal command (and cools down).
 
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Jun 10, 2020
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@Andalu Maybe setting standby timer to 2 minutes would solve the idle temp issue since it will behave as an idle timer with standby cool effect.

Will flash it today by setting the standby to 2 mins and see what happens in 2 mins when in use.
 
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kaefers

Junior Member
Jun 12, 2020
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@Andalu Can confirm re Asus Arion / ASM2362 - the device was still at 36C in the morning. Given my so far limited experience with JMS583 (Sabrent Rocket Nano) which was a little finicky with my X570, my personal faviourite right now is the RTL9210.

Also re Orico - so far no response from them, I'll give it a few days. The AliExpress seller however got back to me saying: "Auto Sleep - Enters sleep mode automatically after left unsused for 10 minutes" and "this is intelligent dormancy, it is normal" - to which I replied that sleep mode is great, but that I would have to unplug and replug the device and that is not normal - will see if and what they reply...
 
Jun 10, 2020
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I did bitlocker encryption for the full disk which took 15 mins. 5 mins standby did not get activated during bitlocker activity so even if one sets the standby to two mins should be ok.

However 5min standby feature works ok at the moment and cools my case so is the additional customised heatsink.

Not sure if I should change standby to 2 mins. Any ideas??

I conifrm that standby feature can be made to work as idle feature with the 2.0.8 firmware to keep the enclosure, JMS583 chip, board, and nvme card, cool and without disconnects.

(Jms583)
 
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Andalu

Member
Jun 25, 2020
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@apoelistasaudi @kaefers
Thanks for the helpful information ;)

I am looking for a way to prevent my ASM2362 enclosure from overheating when it is safely removed but still remains connected to a USB3.1 Gen.2 port. This also happens when the system is off. In this condition, I checked that the temperature reached is significantly higher than in idle mode during a windows session, it is too strange.

I also tried an Asmedia tool for firmware update (but in my case the firmware version still remains the same) with which it is also possible to set some parameters for the ASM2362 chipset. Unfortunately, by setting for example, the 'idle timer' directly in the tool or the 'low power state' in the .ini file, the enclosure will no longer be recognized as a UAS device but as a simple USB device.
I have tried so many times that then I had some difficulties in re-flashing the firmware to get the UASP device again, so I recommend to pay attention in its use. The only thing I got from my attempts is that now the device led turns off when safely removed but this is only a little result.
 
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mervincm

Junior Member
Oct 18, 2014
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Cables are making a big difference for me even on 2.08 firmware.
all testing on Asmedia USB3.1G2 ports on my ASUS PRIME x299-Deluxe-v1.

Samsung cables are stable speeds, and there is no difference if I rotate the USB-C end. TDBT cables were never as fast, vary slightly each time and I saw ~ 100MB/sec difference if I rotate the cable.
moving to the case mounted connector, everything was worse than the systemboard
TDBT cables

Crystal DiskMark 7.0 SEQ1M Q8T1 5/1GiB

Rear (systemboard) A port
Samsung A-C cable 984R/1032W
TDBT A-C cable 984R/842W then 699W then 635W

Rear (systemboard) C port
Samsung C-C cable 984R/1030W
Samsung C-C cable w high-end A>C adapter 982R/222W
TDBT#1 C-C cable 984R/1024W then 1014W then 1002W
flip cable 984R/873W then 928W then 898W then 912W
TDBT#1 C-C cable w high-end A>C adapter, unstable
TDBT#2 C-C unstable then 983R/267W then unstable

Front (Fractal Designs R6) C port
Samsung C-C cable 808R/809W then 498W then unstable
TDBT#1 C-C cable unstable
 
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cyberjedi

Junior Member
Apr 4, 2010
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Today finally all 3 enclosures of mine have arrived.. With 3 different chipsets, for testing purposes.

Preliminary testing results:

I only have USB 5Gbps ports as of now, so could not do a full stress test.

All 3 chipsets had similar speeds.

Jmicron: very hot.
Asmedia: has trouble disconnecting when HD Sentinel is running, and also did not recognize the SSD first, had to disassemble and reassemble first. Tricky.
Realtek: runs cool, no problems with connecting and disconnecting - so far it seems to be the best.

Will continue with 10Gbps connections.
 
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Charlie22911

Senior member
Mar 19, 2005
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I’d REALLY like to fine a Realtek enclosure that’s compact, understated, and solid aluminum like the Sabrent or Yottamaster. Unfortunately they all seem to use the JMS583 chipset...
 
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razel

Platinum Member
May 14, 2002
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The Orico PFM2-C3 NVME-USB adapter is very sleek and uses the RTL9210. Not sure if it's aluminum, but it's case is metallic. Impressions are earlier in this thread. Only bad thing is I needed to update it's firmware unofficially to give it TRIM.
 

kaefers

Junior Member
Jun 12, 2020
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Quick update on my four enclosures:
JEYI i9 GTR (RTL9210) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33035709205.html ,
JEYI i9 NVME (JMS583) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32874418125.html
ORICO M2PJM-C3 (RLT9210) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001137870584.html
Asus Arion (ASM2362) - https://www.asus.com/Optical-Drives-Storage/ROG-STRIX-ARION/

- The most stable for me is the Asus, not one disconnect or single odd behaviour, plug-in (different cables) and works. But heavy, bulky, and does not go into a proper standby, and does not safe-remove well at all.
- The Orico is nice, a little light-weight thus not that cool, the DIY update works so it does sleep, but had a few times it seemed to slow down, manually ran TRIM. Orico support is abysmal. They literally dgaf at all, basically: "no firmware, the stock auto-disconnect is nice, why do you bother us?" more or less.
- Jeyi RTL9210: works well, good case, but LED does not work with the case. The LED on the board works, but literally does not sit on the side where the LED hole in the case is..
- Jeyi JMS583: I cannot get it to work at all on my Asus C8I X570 board. Slows down the whole Explorer when connecting, tried the FW update, also the one from Sabrent and Plugable, no difference. Will randomly disconnect and randomly run CDM8 at some ~45MB/s sequential...

Right now I am between the Asus (added a bunch of thermal pads to dissipate the heat as best as possible) AND a combination of Jeyi GTR board + JEYI NVME case = RTL9210 + sleeker case (filled all gaps with thermal pads and runs very cool, just has no led at all). I feel the Orico is a bit off with its half-broken FW update, and the Jeyi JMS583 board I honestly think is either DOA or extremely allergic to my system.
 
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Charlie22911

Senior member
Mar 19, 2005
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Quick update on my four enclosures:
JEYI i9 GTR (RTL9210) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33035709205.html ,
JEYI i9 NVME (JMS583) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32874418125.html
ORICO M2PJM-C3 (RLT9210) - https://www.aliexpress.com/item/4001137870584.html
Asus Arion (ASM2362) - https://www.asus.com/Optical-Drives-Storage/ROG-STRIX-ARION/

- The most stable for me is the Asus, not one disconnect or single odd behaviour, plug-in (different cables) and works. But heavy, bulky, and does not go into a proper standby, and does not safe-remove well at all.
- The Orico is nice, a little light-weight thus not that cool, the DIY update works so it does sleep, but had a few times it seemed to slow down, manually ran TRIM. Orico support is abysmal. They literally dgaf at all, basically: "no firmware, the stock auto-disconnect is nice, why do you bother us?" more or less.
- Jeyi RTL9210: works well, good case, but LED does not work with the case. The LED on the board works, but literally does not sit on the side where the LED hole in the case is..
- Jeyi JMS583: I cannot get it to work at all on my Asus C8I X570 board. Slows down the whole Explorer when connecting, tried the FW update, also the one from Sabrent and Plugable, no difference. Will randomly disconnect and randomly run CDM8 at some ~45MB/s sequential...

Right now I am between the Asus (added a bunch of thermal pads to dissipate the heat as best as possible) AND a combination of Jeyi GTR board + JEYI NVME case = RTL9210 + sleeker case (filled all gaps with thermal pads and runs very cool, just has no led at all). I feel the Orico is a bit off with its half-broken FW update, and the Jeyi JMS583 board I honestly think is either DOA or extremely allergic to my system.

Your experience with the JMS board mirrors my own, so maybe we both got duds.
Tangentially related, I have a dual 2.5in raid enclosure that has random disconnects. Opened it up to find... a JMicron chipset, color me surprised /s.
 
Jun 10, 2020
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Your experience with the JMS board mirrors my own, so maybe we both got duds.
Tangentially related, I have a dual 2.5in raid enclosure that has random disconnects. Opened it up to find... a JMicron chipset, color me surprised /s.
Yes right. However third party firmware sorts out disconnect issue and brings JMS583 to custom standby (5 10 30 or 60 mins) to cool off. Happy with 5mins standby and no disconnect issues so far but not 100% yet.

Maybe with 2-3 mins standby I will be 99% happy (haven't tried yet) but for 100% I will need a different enclosure.
 
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Andalu

Member
Jun 25, 2020
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I did other tests for ASM2362 and JMS583 enclosures connecting them on a PCIEx (4x) to USB 3.1 Gen.2 card with ASM3142 chipset and also this time I got bad results in Crystaldisk Mark benchmarking for JMicron.
Here its "best" result on three tests:
JMS583+970evo (USB C to A cable).png

Here the results for the ASM2362 chipset tested in both type A and type C USB 3.1 Gen.2 ports on the PCIEx card:
ASM2362+970evo (USB C to A cable).png ASM2362+970evo (USB C to C cable).png

I can confirm that the standby function for the JMS583 also fails to work even if connected on the ASM3142 card when the Crystaldisk software was used.
I'll make a try also with the Asmedia usb3.1 driver. I tried to install the Asmedia 3.1 drivers in Win10 but it seems that it is not possible to enable the UAS protocol so the tests would be useless.
 
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Spicedaddy

Platinum Member
Apr 18, 2002
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I updated the firmware of my Orico JMS583 enclosure to the 2.0.8 JEYI (5 minutes standby) and it's usable now on my 10G USB port. It used to disconnect all the time.

I also have a RTL9210 adapter (just a pcb with a USB type A male attached to it) that I updated to the latest firmware on station-drivers. This one was working perfectly before and still does.

I just use these for data recovery, cloning, etc. I use the Realtek first, but good to know the JMicron can actually be used now in case I need it. I'm looking to buy a Samsung T7 that uses the ASM2362, looks like a good chip also.
 
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Charlie22911

Senior member
Mar 19, 2005
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So I found something interesting... Out of the 12 or so USB C cables I have (including 2 TB3 cables and the one this enclosure came with), there is only one cable that is working reliably; the Apple Thunderbolt 3 cable. It seems to me that the JMS583 chipset is very picky about what cables it will work with.

It's mildly infuriating because the one cable that works seems to be made of the same low quality sheathing that the iPhone cables are, which yellow and crumble over time.
I'm still on the hunt for another minimalist enclosure. Not a fan of all the plastic\finned enclosure I'm seeing so far though.

jms583bench.png

TLDR; use a high quality cable.

Do they sell just the enclosure??

No, the T7 series is a single integrated PCB from what I've seen (photo near the bottom).
 
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