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!

 

[Insert_Nickname]

[NVME] RaidSonic Icy Box IB-1817M-C31 (JMicron JMS583), slide design with heat pad

Just splashed and got one of those. Runs newest firmware out-of-the-box. Works without hiccups so far, but the included cables were questionable at 10Gbit. Had some disconnects with it. A quality cable solved that right away.

 

[peroko]

Looks like new firmware is available for RTL9210/B, version 1.25.7

Realtek RTL9210 NVMe/USB 3.1 Controller firmware Version 1.25.7

Windows

www.station-drivers.com

Flashed it it on my Orico M2PV-C3 , works great.

Wasn't able to make Orico show my disk name instead "Realtek", tried to edit Scsi parameters in the config but stil, it shows as "Realtek"

 

[razel]

Looks like new firmware is available for RTL9210/B, version 1.25.7

Downloaded the file and just as it describes it contains files for 9210B. I have 9210A and luckily the flash tool didn't detect the firmware bin after you point the folder containing the 1.25.7 firmware.

For those wondering whether you have A or B, on the flash tool, it appears that the last letter of the IC model identifies it. Mine is RTL9210-VA.

 

[peroko]

As i said i have Orico M2PV-C3 which is their 9210 base plastic model. The mini flash tool detected my drive without any problems, flashed it and had no problems whatsoever. All three versions mini lite flashtool and the miniflashtool detected it no problems. My IC is RTL9210-VB

Works witouth any problems at all, and i was able to make it show my disk name.

Oh yeah an just a little bit of info, enclosure was bought this year and arived with 1.24.2 FW stock.

 

[peroko]

2 days ago, I received another NMVE case, this time a generic one from AliExpress with RTL9210B IC RTL9210B-CG. It had slightly older 1.24.16 firmware so I flashed 1.25.7 on it. Works fine, no problems. My theory is that both B and non-B 9210 chips share the same firmware but the configs differ slightly. One difference I noticed that RTL9210B uses this value PINMUX2 : 0x00000070 while non-B chip had it set to 0.

Here is the original config file before flashing..

**************************************************************
Device : [Port5] : Realtek RTL9210B NVME #0
**************************************************************
U2PHY : 02 f4 9b e0 e1
U3PHY : 02 d4 09 00 d5 00 80
VID : 0x0bda
PID : 0x9210
MANUFACTURE : "Realtek"
PRODUCT : "RTL9210B-CG"
SERIAL : "012345679030"
SCSI_PRODUCT : "RTL9210B NVME   "
SCSI_VENDOR : "Realtek "
DISK_HOTPLUG : 0x00
LED : 0x01
PINMUX1 : 0x00000000
PINMUX2 : 0x00000070
U2_MAXPWR : 0xfa
U3_MAXPWR : 0x70
ASPMDIS : 0x00
PCIE_REFCLK : n/a
DISK_IPS_THRES : 0x05
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
EN_U1U2 : n/a
FORCE_USB_QUIRK : n/a
FORCE_PCIE_QUIRK : n/a
FAN : 0x00000001
DIS_SHOW_EMPTY_DISK : 0x01
FORCE_SATA_NORMAL_DMA : n/a
UART_DBG_PIN : 0x05
FINGER_PRINT_EN : n/a
RM_INTERNAL_RD : n/a
HS_AUTO_SWITCH : n/a
FP_UART_BAUD_RATE : n/a
CUSTOMIZED_DISK_IDENTIFY : n/a
HW_LED_CFG : n/a
CDROM_CFG : n/a
SUPPORT_HID : n/a
LATE_INIT_DISK : 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 : 1.24.16
FW Build Date : 2021.01.26
IC Ver : 0xa0010002
IC Pkg Type : PCIE_SATA
UUID : ffffffff-ffff-ffff-ffff-ffffffffffff

Disconn_ForceUSB2 : 0x00

 

[The Chief]

My theory is that both B and non-B 9210 chips share the same firmware

My theory is that 9210-VB and 9210B-CG are the same chip, factory-configured with one-time fuses. So firmware is the same for obvious reason. 9210-VA is an older chip, not manufactured anymore.

JEYI i9 GTR case, for example, in 2020 batches had 9210-VA («A» f/w) chip inside, and in 2021 batches has 9210-VB («B» f/w).

 

[dream3]

As i said i have Orico M2PV-C3 which is their 9210 base plastic model. The mini flash tool detected my drive without any problems, flashed it and had no problems whatsoever. All three versions mini lite flashtool and the miniflashtool detected it no problems. My IC is RTL9210-VB

Works witouth any problems at all, and i was able to make it show my disk name.

Oh yeah an just a little bit of info, enclosure was bought this year and arived with 1.24.2 FW stock.

hey I was wondering how were you able to make your case show the actual name of the drive? I have the exact same one, latest FW and it still shows realtek.

 

[The Chief]

hey I was wondering how were you able to make your case show the actual name of the drive? I have the exact same one, latest FW and it still shows realtek.

You have to comment out two parameters in config file and update f/w once again. For example:

;SCSI_VENDOR = "JEYI"
;SCSI_PRODUCT = "i9-GTR NVME"

These need NOT to be empty, but totally commented out!

 

[peroko]

hey I was wondering how were you able to make your case show the actual name of the drive? I have the exact same one, latest FW and it still shows realtek.

Where does it show realtek? I mean you can comment Scsi vendor and product as chief mentioned and you can modify "Product" field as well

 

[The Chief]

Where does it show realtek?

I think his PC (assuming Win10) shows disk/partition label to him.



Sorry, russian Win10, but I think you know what I'm talking about…

 

[dream3]

Where does it show realtek? I mean you can comment Scsi vendor and product as chief mentioned and you can modify "Product" field as well

Oh ok, I thought it would get the name automatically from the drive. So I can come up with name?

 

[peroko]

Oh ok, I thought it would get the name automatically from the drive. So I can come up with name?

You still didn't answer my question?

 

[dream3]

You still didn't answer my question?

when ill eject the drive, it says realtek but not the drive name as usual. WIth another enclosure it says the full model name, which is better I guess.

 

[phil1c]

Does anyone here have experience using an enclosure with the ASM2362 chip (such as the ASUS Arion) and plugging it into a port with the ASM3142 chip?

I've got an ASUS Arion that works no problem plugging into my motherboard (ASUS Strix x570-I Gaming) but, when plugging into my cases USB-C port going through an M.2 to USB-C 3.1 gen 2 Type E adapter that uses an ASM3142 chip, I can write but not read without it disconnecting before finishing.

Doesn't seem to be heat of the enclosure, SSD, or adapter, and it works fine with a Sabrent EC-NVME (JMS853 chip). Firmwares haven't improved or worsened the situation. I'm just hoping to find someone else using this combo to compare to, and/or if they have ideas/solutions/firmwares that I haven't found.

 

[peroko]

when ill eject the drive, it says realtek but not the drive name as usual. WIth another enclosure it says the full model name, which is better I guess.

Yeah, you need to rename Product field in the config and then flash. Note that you should not comment the "Product" field, just rename the value, commenting could brick your device.

 

[dream3]

Yeah, you need to rename Product field in the config and then flash. None that you should not comment the "Product" field, just rename the value, commenting could brick your device.

awesome, thanks.

Do you know if this case supports TRIM? And if so, how do I activate it?

 

[The Chief]

Do you know if this case supports TRIM?

Any RTL9120(B) case supports TRIM when in UASP mode. No need to activate it, Windows 8.1 and 10 support UASP out-of-the-box. As for LInux, search 'unmap' in this thread for manual TRIM enable how-to.

 

[tgavara]

I bought a Orico M2PV C3 enclosure in India, got it with 1.24.2 firmware. Thanks to you guys I updated it to 1.25.7. I am getting around 945 MBps read and write on my 970 Evo Plus. With the thermal pad installed it feels solid, there are no parts moving around. Nice enclosure but I've had to pay double the US price to buy it here.

Small doubt is it necessary to remove the SSD before flashing the firmware?

 

[peroko]

I bought a Orico M2PV C3 enclosure in India, got it with 1.24.2 firmware. Thanks to you guys I updated it to 1.25.7. I am getting around 945 MBps read and write on my 970 Evo Plus. With the thermal pad installed it feels solid, there are no parts moving around. Nice enclosure but I've had to pay double the US price to buy it here.

Small doubt is it necessary to remove the SSD before flashing the firmware?

Yes, to avoid corruption. AlmosT every manufacturer recommends removing the drive first-

 

[tgavara]

One more, is it important that the drive powers down before physical removal from port? Because as mentioned in this thread, my drive does not power down immediately post "eject".

 

[White7561]

Does anyone here have experience using an enclosure with the ASM2362 chip (such as the ASUS Arion) and plugging it into a port with the ASM3142 chip?

I've got an ASUS Arion that works no problem plugging into my motherboard (ASUS Strix x570-I Gaming) but, when plugging into my cases USB-C port going through an M.2 to USB-C 3.1 gen 2 Type E adapter that uses an ASM3142 chip, I can write but not read without it disconnecting before finishing.

Doesn't seem to be heat of the enclosure, SSD, or adapter, and it works fine with a Sabrent EC-NVME (JMS853 chip). Firmwares haven't improved or worsened the situation. I'm just hoping to find someone else using this combo to compare to, and/or if they have ideas/solutions/firmwares that I haven't found.

A new firmware for ASM2362 just got released today. You could try that one ..

210527_81_3A_20

Asmedia ASM-2362 NVMe/USB 3.1 Controller firmware Version 210527_81_3A_20

Windows

www.station-drivers.com

And it seems that the Fw is released by the website admin or something. So it should be fine.. if you do try it , let us know if it fixes it or not.

Edit : Do Not!! I repeat Do Not!! Install the latest fw .. I'll explain the problem but I don't know if this is because of the fw incompatibility with my NVMe drive (Addlink S70 1TB with Phison E12S)

AS_PCIE_191009_81_0B_20.bin - Works Perfectly, but if you change the serial number, it'll go randomized or something. It just won't apply it correctly
AS_PCIE_210527_81_3A_00.bin - Can Be Used But, Product Name Etc Reverts To "M.2 Series SSD". Tho, Serial Number Works Perfectly.
AS_PCIE_210527_81_3A_20.bin - Don't Use !! My Addlink doesnt show up.

I'm personally staying at AS_PCIE_210527_81_3A_00.bin since i kinda don't care that much about the naming etc (I don't use Asus' RGB software thingy which will prob check for those)

Again, it might be an incompatibility with my SSD, please if anyone tries this let me know if it happens on you guys' SSD or not.

 

[Charlie22911]

Honestly I wish at this point we could just have a summary on the first post, or a sticky thread, summarizing our findings to help others who get here via Google. Mainly: avoid JMicron, and just by an off the shelf solution from a trusted brand if reliability is a must and the data is important.

Since my last update my 2TB Samsung T7 has been flawless, and my 1TB Samsung SSD+Realtek based Orico DIY solution has been mostly okay but not trustworthy for critical data. And I didn’t really save anything over just buying off the shelf from the start with that last one.

 

[cyberjedi]

Honestly I wish at this point we could just have a summary on the first post, or a sticky thread, summarizing our findings to help others who get here via Google. Mainly: avoid JMicron, and just by an off the shelf solution from a trusted brand if reliability is a must and the data is important.

Since my last update my 2TB Samsung T7 has been flawless, and my 1TB Samsung SSD+Realtek based Orico DIY solution has been mostly okay but not trustworthy for critical data. And I didn’t really save anything over just buying off the shelf from the start with that last one.

Dear Charlie, I was the OP-er, but because of all kinds of reasons, I was away often from this board. I would be glad to put a link in the OP to a summary that you write and possibly maintain. Just write it and let me know. I hope this helps.

 

[vanpelt2003]

Hi,
I bough this Orico USB M.2 NVME -adapter a few weeks ago. Used it with an Samsung 970 1TB EVO PLUS.
EDIT: According to the packaging, it is the M2PV-C3 model
I only used it for maybe 10 file transfers between a few PCs, until it the SSD or the adapter suddenly stopped working.

Now it is shows up like this in my "Devices and drives" when connected.
The drive gets warm when connected, so I assume it is not completely dead.
I don't have anywhere else to plug the M.2 drive in so I cannot use it without the adapter.

View attachment 40428

Has anyone had the same problem? Any ideas how to troubleshoot this?

EDIT:
For others searching for a solution to the same issue:
The error message: "*:\ Is not accessible. Incorrect function."
The solution: Plug the SSD straight onto a compatible motherboard, and the drive can be used as normal.

I ran into this exact same issue with the Sabrent EC-SNVE but was unable to revive my Adata XPG SX8200 Pro 512GB using this method.
I tried plugging it into my laptop's mobo but it didn't help. My laptop takes a significantly longer time to boot up with the ssd, which isn't detected by Windows after boot-up.

Any suggestions on how to fix this? I tried upgrading the firmware but it didn't help...

 

[GoOrange]

Hi, this is my first post on this forum.

I've just bought my copy of the Orico m2pv-c3 enclosure, put an ADATA XPG SX8200 Pro 2TB drive in it.
Everything worked great for the first few hours, but now the drive is randomly losing connection to the computer. I am using a Macbook Pro M1.

Do you think a software update will solve this problem?

Do you guys have any advice for me?

Thank you in advance for your help and sorry for my English.

Greetings