Question *STABLE* NVMe - USB Adapter?

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cyberjedi

Junior Member
Apr 4, 2010
23
13
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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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ubercool

Junior Member
Apr 10, 2021
2
0
6
Uhmm... I'm a bit ignorant on the Thunderbolt scene, so my words have to be taken with a grain of salt: isn't Thunderbolt a proprietary type of connection made only by Intel? And thus the chipset are done only by them?

Yes, so it's either an Intel DSL6340 (Alpine Ridge) or Intel JHL7440 (Titan Ridge).
 

pinoli

Junior Member
Apr 14, 2021
1
0
16
hello everybody, I just got a USB NVME enclosure with RTL9210 controller.
this is my dump

Code:
**************************************************************
Device : Realtek RTL9210 NVME #0
**************************************************************
U2PHY : 02 f4 9b e0 e1
U3PHY : 02 d4 09 00 d5 00 80
VID : 0x0bda
PID : 0x9210
MANUFACTURE : "Realtek"
PRODUCT : "RTL9210"
SERIAL : "012345678955"
SCSI_PRODUCT : "RTL9210 NVME"
SCSI_VENDOR : "Realtek"
CFEXPRESS : 0x00
LED : 0x01
PINMUX1 : 0x00070000
PINMUX2 : 0x00000000
U2_MAXPWR : 0xfa
U3_MAXPWR : 0x70
ASPMDIS : 0x00
PCIE_REFCLK : n/a
PCIE_PWRCUT_THRES : 0x01
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 : 0x01
FORCE_SATA_NORMAL_DMA : n/a
UART_DBG_PIN : 0x05
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 : 1.21.17
FW Build Date : 2020.04.14
IC Ver : 0xa0010001
IC Pkg Type : PCIE
UUID : ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff

Disconn_ForceUSB2 : 0x00

As you can see, firmware version is 1.21.17, so I was wondering if it was worth it to upgrade it to 1.23.15. This is the product page on Amazon US. I bought mine on Amazon.it, but they are the same item, just different vendor.

Thanks
 

Mr_Resetti80

Junior Member
Dec 22, 2020
17
3
41
As you can see, firmware version is 1.21.17, so I was wondering if it was worth it to upgrade it to 1.23.15. This is the product page on Amazon US. I bought mine on Amazon.it, but they are the same item, just different vendor.

Thanks

Firmware updates are needed only if you're experiencing some kind of problem, otherwise better leave untouched.
 
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realbadpainting

Junior Member
Apr 18, 2021
1
0
6
Anyone have a recommendation for an external adapter? I've now gone through 3 of them trying to get my 2 spare NVMe drives working. Samsung 960 Evo 250gb (previously my C drive) which doesn’t appear in Disk Management at all. And also a Dell OEM (made by Toshiba) 512gb NVME ssd. The Toshiba drive does appear, but it shows incorrectly as 960gb and I’m unable to open the drive or format it - error message says that it did not complete successfully.

This behavior occurs both on an x570 Ryzen 5800x system as well as an x99 i7-6800k, and an Alienware Area-51m over Thunderbolt. The external enclosures are “Sokiwi SSD Enclosure - 10Gbps Enclosure for M.2 NVME SSD (PCIE-based)" and I've also tried "Sabrent USB 3.2 Type-C Tool-Free Enclosure for M.2 PCIe NVMe and SATA SSDs (EC-SNVE)" and "NexStar M.2 NVMe to USB 3.1 Gen 2 Type C Enclosure"
 

olavrb

Junior Member
Mar 21, 2021
2
2
51
Thanks for all people that have contributed to this thread, I've learned a lot.

Just want to add my experiences to the discussion, as it might be helpfull for others.

I currently have three M.2 adapters

Following SSDs have been used with NVME adapters:
  • Samsung 970 Pro 512gb
  • SK Hynix PC601 512gb
  • Kioxia (Toshiba) XG5 512gb
Noname JMicron JMS583. As pointed out by others here, JMS583 gets super hot. So the noname one from Ebay without any thoughts into heat dissapation what so ever, gets blazing hot. It works, but get's so hot I don't want to use it, in case it damages the SSD itself. I updated it with 2.0.9 firmware, made no noticable difference. It works for both regular file transfer, but I've also booted an existing Windows install off of it, so that worked too.

RaidSonic Icy Box IB-1817M-C31. Same controller, but it's made of much more material (aluminium) and has a thermal pad. I would prefer a sandwich design like the Orico, but this seems to work well enough. It also has a physical switch for enabling read only, which is nice. This one is my go to right now, only used for file transfer so far. I asked RaidSonic about firmware for this one, they said firmware update is not neccessary, but sent me the following tool "External Storage FW Update Utility v133.01.00.03". Mine was already up to date and worked as expected, so didn't bother checking up on what firmware this really is vs. 2.0.9 and what not. But will upload the tool here, just in case others need it.

Following SSDs have been used with SATA adapter:
  • LiteOn CV3-8D512 512gb
Orico M2PF-C3. As this thread also states multiple places, JMS580 seems to be maybe the best for SATA M.2. It works very well. Orico sandwich design with thermal pad to a block of aluminium works great. Has been used for just file transfer, and installed Windows To-Go using Rufus for troubleshoot/ NVME reset/ fw update of NVME M.2 SSDs using the only internal slot in my laptop. Super happy with it.


Will I bother get something better than JMS583 for NVME in near future? No, I don't think so. I don't use external storage that much, and I rather see what the future brings in terms of new USB to NVME controllers. Current best ASMedia or Realtek chips would be nice to test, but I don't think it's worth it for me.
 

kennethrc

Junior Member
May 10, 2021
3
1
51
I just got a USB NVME enclosure with RTL9210 controller ... As you can see, firmware version is 1.21.17, so I was wondering if it was worth it to upgrade it to 1.23.15.
Firmware updates are needed only if you're experiencing some kind of problem, otherwise better leave untouched.
That is worthwhile advice, but FWIW I just bought two of a similar device with an RTL9210B controller, and until I'd upgraded the firmware to 1.23.15 (per the link above) I would get disconnects under Linux (5.13-rc1, even) under heavy load, so I'd recommend it anyway.
 

kennethrc

Junior Member
May 10, 2021
3
1
51
BTW, if anyone wants to get these enclosures to support TRIM under Linux, make a udev rule (/etc/udev/rules.d) similar to this:
Code:
$ cat /etc/udev/rules.d/10-uas-discard.rules
# Turn on "unmap" mode to allow "fstrim" et al. on USB-C/NVMe adaptors
# UGreen NVMe-to-USB-C adaptor
ACTION=="add|change", ATTRS{idVendor}=="174c", ATTRS{idProduct}=="2362", SUBSYSTEM=="scsi_disk", ATTR{provisioning_mode}="unmap"
# ID 152d:0562 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. External
ACTION=="add|change", ATTRS{idVendor}=="152d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0562", SUBSYSTEM=="scsi_disk", ATTR{provisioning_mode}="unmap"
# ID 152d:0562 JMicron Technology Corp. / JMicron USA Technology Corp. External
ACTION=="add|change", ATTRS{idVendor}=="152d", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0583", SUBSYSTEM=="scsi_disk", ATTR{provisioning_mode}="unmap"
# Samsung T7 Touch 1TB SSD
ACTION=="add|change", ATTRS{idVendor}=="04e8", ATTRS{idProduct}=="4001", SUBSYSTEM=="scsi_disk", ATTR{provisioning_mode}="unmap"
# 0bda:9210 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. RTL9210 M.2 NVME Adapter
ACTION=="add|change", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bda", ATTRS{idProduct}=="9210", SUBSYSTEM=="scsi_disk", ATTR{provisioning_mode}="unmap"
Those VID/PIDs are just the ones I've tried; it'll probably work with most others.
 
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lucas_t

Junior Member
May 16, 2021
5
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Hello!

I've been using for 4 months an WD 1tb Blue SSD with the Orico NVME enclosure, model M2PV-C3 with the RTL9210 chipset. It worked great for some time but recently it started loosing connection, and now it won't stay mounted for more than a few seconds.

Anyone know what can it be the problem? I've tried swapping cables already, so I think the problem it's in the enclosure itself.
 
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Mr_Resetti80

Junior Member
Dec 22, 2020
17
3
41
Hello!

I've been using for 4 months an WD 1tb Blue SSD with the Orico NVME enclosure, model M2PV-C3 with the RTL9210B chipset. It worked great for some time but recently it started loosing connection, and now it won't stay mounted for more than a few seconds.

Anyone know what can it be the problem? I've tried swapping cables already, so I think the problem it's in the enclosure itself.

Hi there.

Your post is a bit too generic.

Is the chipset inside the enclosure already running the latest firmware (1.23.15. See this post to flash it eventually: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/stable-nvme-usb-adapter.2572973/post-40461927 )?

Under which OS are you using the SSD?

Is it possible that you already flashed a firmware and modified something on the config (.cfg) file that made the enclosure behave like this?

Can you put the SSD on a motherboard to see if there are any problems?

or

have you tried, if possible, to either use a different SSD and/or enclosure, so to pinpoint the exact culprit?

EDIT: WAIT! I checked the Orico model you are referring and is the same as I have, and that has an RTL9210 chipset, not an RTL9210B one. Is it possibile that you flashed a wrong firmware on it, making it unstable?
 
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kennethrc

Junior Member
May 10, 2021
3
1
51
WAIT! I checked the Orico model you are referring and is the same as I have, and that has an RTL9210 chipset, not an RTL9210B one. Is it possible that you flashed a wrong firmware on it, making it unstable?
My experience with the flashing tool is it queries the device before flashing to determine the proper firmware to use, so that's unlikely.
 

lucas_t

Junior Member
May 16, 2021
5
0
6
Hi there.

Your post is a bit too generic.

Is the chipset inside the enclosure already running the latest firmware (1.23.15. See this post to flash it eventually: https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/stable-nvme-usb-adapter.2572973/post-40461927 )?

Under which OS are you using the SSD?

Is it possible that you already flashed a firmware and modified something on the config (.cfg) file that made the enclosure behave like this?

Can you put the SSD on a motherboard to see if there are any problems?

or

have you tried, if possible, to either use a different SSD and/or enclosure, so to pinpoint the exact culprit?

EDIT: WAIT! I checked the Orico model you are referring and is the same as I have, and that has an RTL9210 chipset, not an RTL9210B one. Is it possibile that you flashed a wrong firmware on it, making it unstable?

Hi, Thanks for the answer!

You are right! the chipset is the RTL9210 not the B one. I didn't changed the firmware, I don't even know how to look the atual version.

I'm manly using a Macbook Pro with Mojave, but I have windows installed in this external SSD aswell. I bought the enclosure, put the SSD inside and was using without any problems since January.

I can't put the SSD on a motherboard because I don't have one, I might be wrong but I believe that the problem it's in the enclosure itself, because when the SSD is mounted the files are acessible, I can copy, paste etc.. until it drops the connection.

I'm thinking about buying a new enclosure to test it, what would be the best option? is the Asus Rog Strix Arion more reliable? I can't find any info about the chipset.
 

Mr_Resetti80

Junior Member
Dec 22, 2020
17
3
41
My experience with the flashing tool is it queries the device before flashing to determine the proper firmware to use, so that's unlikely.

I have no experience in trying to flash a wrong firmware, but it might be possible. Probably it needs some tinkering and surely it's unlikely to do by accident, but men can do things machines cannot expect. :grin:

Hi, Thanks for the answer!

You are right! the chipset is the RTL9210 not the B one. I didn't changed the firmware, I don't even know how to look the atual version.

I'm manly using a Macbook Pro with Mojave, but I have windows installed in this external SSD aswell. I bought the enclosure, put the SSD inside and was using without any problems since January.

I can't put the SSD on a motherboard because I don't have one, I might be wrong but I believe that the problem it's in the enclosure itself, because when the SSD is mounted the files are acessible, I can copy, paste etc.. until it drops the connection.

I'm thinking about buying a new enclosure to test it, what would be the best option? is the Asus Rog Strix Arion more reliable? I can't find any info about the chipset.

Ok, so you run it both as a storage device for Macbook and as a system disk for Windows (10, I assume) on the same Macintosh (with bootcamp)?

Do you experience the same behaviour with both OSes?

I have little practical experience with Macs, but i know they are quite picky with peripherals and I'm trying to understand if this can be the case.
Windows should have less problems.

But since you don't have any other option to try, my only advice with what you have now is to download the firmware I pointed to you in my first reply and see if that solves the problems.

As said before in this post by
kennethrc : https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/stable-nvme-usb-adapter.2572973/post-40503683
you might be experiencing the same problems Linux user are.

As for the Asus Strix Arion, it could be a viable option. It has a different chipset brand, ASMedia, and on the product page it says that support MacOSes until 10.15

 

lucas_t

Junior Member
May 16, 2021
5
0
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Ok, so you run it both as a storage device for Macbook and as a system disk for Windows (10, I assume) on the same Macintosh (with bootcamp)?

Do you experience the same behaviour with both OSes?

Yes, one partition for working with the Macbook, and another as system disk for Windows 10 on the same Macbook with bootcamp.

When I try to boot from the SSD sometimes it won't even show up as a option for booting, and when it shows a few seconds/minutes later the Windows shut down when the SSD unmount.

I have little practical experience with Macs, but i know they are quite picky with peripherals and I'm trying to understand if this can be the case.
Windows should have less problems.

I don't think that's the case because I've been using in both OS with no problems for 4 months, I didn't changed anything and only now I'm having problems.

But since you don't have any other option to try, my only advice with what you have now is to download the firmware I pointed to you in my first reply and see if that solves the problems.

As said before in this post by
kennethrc : https://forums.anandtech.com/threads/stable-nvme-usb-adapter.2572973/post-40503683
you might be experiencing the same problems Linux user are.

As for the Asus Strix Arion, it could be a viable option. It has a different chipset brand, ASMedia, and on the product page it says that support MacOSes until 10.15

I will try to update the firmware, by the way, how do I do that?

And about the Asus, the ASMedia chipset is as good as the RTL9210? it gets hotter or have any problems with unmounting as I am experiencing?
 

Mr_Resetti80

Junior Member
Dec 22, 2020
17
3
41
Yes, one partition for working with the Macbook, and another as system disk for Windows 10 on the same Macbook with bootcamp.

When I try to boot from the SSD sometimes it won't even show up as a option for booting, and when it shows a few seconds/minutes later the Windows shut down when the SSD unmount.



I don't think that's the case because I've been using in both OS with no problems for 4 months, I didn't changed anything and only now I'm having problems.



I will try to update the firmware, by the way, how do I do that?

And about the Asus, the ASMedia chipset is as good as the RTL9210? it gets hotter or have any problems with unmounting as I am experiencing?


Ok. So, as you report these symptoms, it seems that the culprit is the enclosure.

To do a firmware update, you have to be under Windows, as there is an executable to be run (there are two actually, the mini version has just less thing to tinker with). Point is, if the enclosure suddenly disconnect itself, the firmware could be badly written, bricking the unit. No harm will happen to the SSD, but the enclosure will be done forever. It also true that in this state, the enclosure is pretty much useless anyway. Your choice.

As for the ASmedia chipset, it is reported by many as a little slower than both JMicron and Realtek, hotter than Realtek but cooler than JMicron and more compatible the Realtek, in line with JMicron. So yes, it should behave better than the RTL9210. It needs a good thermal dissipation (while JMicron needs active cooling and Realtek could be slapped in any case and not worry about) and the Asus enclosure should provide it.
 

trOl

Junior Member
Jan 5, 2006
7
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66
A quick heads up -- my Orico RTL9210 adapters arrived today from Amazon and they're running firmware 1.24.2. Both support TRIM out of the box without flashing anything. Discard operations don't appear to be supported on Linux without udev hackery.

Is there a tool to dump the running firmware? I'd be happy to post it since it's newer than 1.23.15.
 

lucas_t

Junior Member
May 16, 2021
5
0
6
Ok. So, as you report these symptoms, it seems that the culprit is the enclosure.

To do a firmware update, you have to be under Windows, as there is an executable to be run (there are two actually, the mini version has just less thing to tinker with). Point is, if the enclosure suddenly disconnect itself, the firmware could be badly written, bricking the unit. No harm will happen to the SSD, but the enclosure will be done forever. It also true that in this state, the enclosure is pretty much useless anyway. Your choice.

As for the ASmedia chipset, it is reported by many as a little slower than both JMicron and Realtek, hotter than Realtek but cooler than JMicron and more compatible the Realtek, in line with JMicron. So yes, it should behave better than the RTL9210. It needs a good thermal dissipation (while JMicron needs active cooling and Realtek could be slapped in any case and not worry about) and the Asus enclosure should provide it.

Hi, I've tried to update the firmware, and it didn't solve the problem, in fact, it caused another one. The enclosure still drops connection but I can't mount my HFS(mac) partition anymore, even with my new ASUS enclosure. Only the Windows partition mount, anyone knows anything I can make to get the partition working again? It appears in the disk utility but it won't mount.
 
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Mr_Resetti80

Junior Member
Dec 22, 2020
17
3
41
Hi, I've tried to update the firmware, and it didn't solve the problem, in fact, it caused another one. The enclosure still drops connection but I can't mount my HFS(mac) partition anymore, even with my new ASUS enclosure. Only the Windows partition mount, anyone knows anything I can make to get the partition working again? It appears in the disk utility but it won't mount.

I'm sorry to hear that you still have problems with these enclosures, but I sincerely doubt that an update to the firmware of the enclosure can cause issues with the mounting point of a partition. The firmware is written on chip that is not connected by any means to the SSD itself. A mounting point of a partition is written on the SSD's memory cells, not even on the controller chip.
The fact that you cannot mount said partition even when the SSD is used in another enclosure proves that.

More probably, it is possibile that with all the disconnection problems you experienced, some data on the SSD might have been corrupted.
But since the problem is only the mounting point, it means that all the data is not lost.

If you search on Google "how to repair mounting points on macos" I'm sure you'll find something that works for you.
 

lucas_t

Junior Member
May 16, 2021
5
0
6
I'm sorry to hear that you still have problems with these enclosures, but I sincerely doubt that an update to the firmware of the enclosure can cause issues with the mounting point of a partition. The firmware is written on chip that is not connected by any means to the SSD itself. A mounting point of a partition is written on the SSD's memory cells, not even on the controller chip.
The fact that you cannot mount said partition even when the SSD is used in another enclosure proves that.

More probably, it is possibile that with all the disconnection problems you experienced, some data on the SSD might have been corrupted.
But since the problem is only the mounting point, it means that all the data is not lost.

If you search on Google "how to repair mounting points on macos" I'm sure you'll find something that works for you.

thanks for the answer! I mounted the partition in Windows with the Paragon software and now it's working with MacOs too. And about enclosures, to me the ASUS Rog one seems much better and reliable than the Orico.
 

PurpleClaire

Junior Member
Jun 1, 2021
2
0
6
I have both the orico, the rtl9210 and the jms583. And let me tell you, the jms583 was hot AF.
Did upgrade the firmware on the jms583, it fixed the disconnecting problem though, but no improvement on thermals. Even put 2 thermal pads. The aluminum case didn't even do its thing.

So I'd rather use the realtek one for daily driver, and the jmicron one for permanent storage purpose.
 

White7561

Junior Member
Apr 17, 2020
20
2
51
Anyone using ASM2362? I'm using the Strix Arion and my warranty is gonna expire soon so I might as well upgrade the firmware in it to the newest. It works fine on my 2013 MBA and Asus TUF c to c 10gbps laptop. But on my 2014 MBA it's weird. Sometimes it freezes sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes when idle only sometimes when copying data. Thought it's my SSD since it happens recently. But checked on windows etc and it reads every sector without any slow downs or any freezes.

Although. I did had an unmounting issue when I used my Strix Arion as a temporary game drive for the TUF. It was mounted and after downloading a game overnight it might have been idle and ,does windows automatically try to sleep devices? If it does then that's prob it, Because at the morning I saw that it had ejected .

I'm hoping the latest firmware will fix that sorta stuff. Is the latest version : 191009_81_0B_20??

Anyone have experience with flashing asm2362? Thanks!!
 

luongkimlong

Junior Member
Jun 3, 2021
2
0
6
:sweatsmile::sweatsmile: well, good thing i hate giving up.

I managed to un-brick it.

Flash chip unsoldering - reading - hex editing - reprogramming - resoldering involved (so not for the novice) but its doable.
Happy to share the procedure with anyone.


PS
One more very interesting thing i found.
After all the fuss to unbrick the Orico, i thought i can fool around with a cheapo AM8180 i had bought for $12 off Ebay (problematic, hence the purchase of the Orico).
After viewing the flash contents from the AM8180 i realized that the AM8180 controller is just a rebranded RTL9210 chip.
(just much lower firmware version and different chip revision (IC Ver : 0xa0010002 for the Orico adapter, 0xa0010001 for the AM8180).

It so happens that you can update the firmware on the AM8180 with the Realtek RTL9210 firmware tool (TESTED) and if desired, change the USB ID which causes problems to people.
You just have to rename the "RTL9210_Lite.cfg" to "AM8180_Lite.cfg" for it to work.
You end-up with a perfect RTL9210 clone.

Here is a ready file set (v1.23.15) i made.
Hey bro, I've just brick my Orico by trying to update the firmware. Can you share with me the steps to un-brick it :( Thank you very much!
 

White7561

Junior Member
Apr 17, 2020
20
2
51
To those Crucial X8 users, here's how I resolved the issue with Rest Mode of PS5:

1. Since Crucial X8 is using ASM2362 chipset, I have updated it's firmware to the latest version available. I have modified the config file so it will still show as Crucial X8 SSD. You can download from the link below:


2. Extract asmedia_asm2362_fw.zip to C:/Temp/asmedia_asm2362_fw.

3. Run as Administrator the MPTool.exe. You can unlock the tool, if you want to modify some config by using password: asmedia

4. Plug the Crucial X8 SSD to the machine. The tool should detect and list of supported devices to update.

5. Press the Start button and wait until it finishes flashing the firmware. You will see if result is Pass or Fail.

NOTE: I have also replaced the included USB 3.2 Gen 2 cable as it is not working if inserted to the back USB type A port of PS5.
Hey. I found out from a reddit thread that linked to your post here. That this firmware works with Strix Arion too. So I'm trying to flash it but I want to preserve all the "metadata" of the drive if that makes sense. To make sure that the rog lighting app still recognize it. I can change the product and vendor Id. And the serial number etc. But I can't seem to find the exact product name etc since for vendor and product name there are 2 for each. And looking the name from windows and Macos (system profiler) shows different things. Do you have a trick to extract those informations from the drive? That way I can flash it and preserve all the drive "metadata"

Thank you!

Anyways does the config automatically disables the sleep or not? Since i don't think strix Arion shows the time before sleep on their website too...
 

luongkimlong

Junior Member
Jun 3, 2021
2
0
6
Ok. So, as you report these symptoms, it seems that the culprit is the enclosure.

To do a firmware update, you have to be under Windows, as there is an executable to be run (there are two actually, the mini version has just less thing to tinker with). Point is, if the enclosure suddenly disconnect itself, the firmware could be badly written, bricking the unit. No harm will happen to the SSD, but the enclosure will be done forever. It also true that in this state, the enclosure is pretty much useless anyway. Your choice.

As for the ASmedia chipset, it is reported by many as a little slower than both JMicron and Realtek, hotter than Realtek but cooler than JMicron and more compatible the Realtek, in line with JMicron. So yes, it should behave better than the RTL9210. It needs a good thermal dissipation (while JMicron needs active cooling and Realtek could be slapped in any case and not worry about) and the Asus enclosure should provide it.
Hi there, it looks like that I bricked the enclosure by flashing a new firmware. Do you know you to fix it?
 

Mr_Resetti80

Junior Member
Dec 22, 2020
17
3
41
Hi there, it looks like that I bricked the enclosure by flashing a new firmware. Do you know you to fix it?

Sorry, but the info I have are the same you have. Reading what Asxetos wrote, I'd say that is no easy feat at all. Not for a beginner, not for a faint of heart. It requires proper equipment and a lot of skills.
 

PurpleClaire

Junior Member
Jun 1, 2021
2
0
6
A quick heads up -- my Orico RTL9210 adapters arrived today from Amazon and they're running firmware 1.24.2. Both support TRIM out of the box without flashing anything. Discard operations don't appear to be supported on Linux without udev hackery.

Is there a tool to dump the running firmware? I'd be happy to post it since it's newer than 1.23.15.
I have 1.21.10 out of the box. Same orico, model M2PJM-C3. And yeah, dump or firmware upgrade tutorial might be helpful. Or if ever someone differentiate the benefits on upgrading on the latest one, that might be helpful