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    ASUS ROG STRIX Arion M.2 NVMe SSD External Portable Enclosure Case Review

    Discussion in 'Hardware Components and Aftermarket Upgrades' started by Spartan@HIDevolution, Feb 12, 2021.

  1. Spartan@HIDevolution

    Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative

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    So I have two extra Western Digital SN730 SSDs (1TB each) from my previous Alienware Area-51m R2 then I came across this m.2 NVMe SSD enclosure so I ordered 2 of them and am really impressed by how sleek the design of the enclosure is. It includes thermal pads in the cover so you don't need to do anything other than pop in your SSD and screw it.

    ASUS ROG STRIX Arion Aluminum Alloy M.2 NVMe SSD External Portable Enclosure Case Adapter, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (10 Gbps), USB-C to C and USB-C to A Cables, Fits PCIe 2280/2260/2242/2230 M Key/B+M Key

    [​IMG]

    It has the nice ROG Lights as well

    Here are the benchmarks:

    While connected to the USB 3.2 port:

    CrystalDiskMark WD SN730 NVMe (SATA Connection).png

    WD SN730 NVMe Sequential Data (USB Connection).png


    While connected to the Thunderbolt Port:

    CrystalDiskMark WD SN730 NVMe (Thunderbolt Connection).png

    WD SN730 NVMe Sequential Data (Thunderbolt Connection).png
     
    Spartan@HIDevolution, Feb 12, 2021
    #1
    Aivxtla, custom90gt, Vasudev and 3 others like this.
  2. etern4l

    etern4l Notebook Virtuoso

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    Look good, but how unspartanlike of you not to get a TB3 enclosure and let the SSDs rip at full speed! :) last time I looked I found some starting around $130.
     
    etern4l, Feb 12, 2021
    #2
  3. win32asmguy

    win32asmguy Moderator Moderator

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    Interesting. I recently picked up the Plugable USB-C to NVMe drive enclosure, and am getting pretty decent speeds via the USB-C port on the MSI Alpha 17. The enclosure uses a Realtek 9210 controller. The drive was the stock 512GB from the Alpha, some OEM Kingston NVMe SSD using a Phison controller.

    CrystalDiskMark_20210211172511.png
     
    win32asmguy, Feb 12, 2021
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  4. Spartan@HIDevolution

    Spartan@HIDevolution Company Representative

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    Those are some insane speeds.

    Note: I noticed my 4K Random Read/Write speeds dropped by half when the SSD is in the enclosure.
     
    Spartan@HIDevolution, Feb 12, 2021
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  5. MyHandsAreBurning

    MyHandsAreBurning Notebook Consultant

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    The Realtek 9210 has been a solid performer for me. I have two of them by Jeyi and Orico that I got off AliExpress, both of which easily saturate the 10Gbps. They aren't the prettiest things around but they get the job done on the cheap (15-20 USD), and I have never had problems using them for cloning/moving terabytes of stuff around.

    For 40 USD you can get a 20Gbps enclosure; I havn't tried those personally but I expect pretty good performance from them.
     
    Last edited: Feb 12, 2021
    MyHandsAreBurning, Feb 12, 2021
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  6. Aivxtla

    Aivxtla Notebook Evangelist

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    I use this Sabrent branded one, can around ~900 MB/s, seems even MyDigitalSSD also uses this enclosure and I get the JMicron controller updates for the enclosure from there. It’s a bit better than the pluggable temps wise.

    https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07K4TZQ7...&pd_rd_r=59e11642-d42b-4cea-a0f2-5d1a635b6027

    And this one seems to be a newer version of the above and has a nice twist to open and supports Thunderbolt 3.

    https://www.amazon.com/Thunderbolt-...eywords=nvme+enclosure&qid=1613172674&sr=8-12
     
    Last edited: Feb 13, 2021
    Aivxtla, Feb 12, 2021
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  7. custom90gt

    custom90gt Doc Mod Super Moderator

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    custom90gt, Feb 12, 2021
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  8. etern4l

    etern4l Notebook Virtuoso

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    The Sabrent TB3 only uses two lanes, so max speed is cut to 1600MB/s. 4 Lane TB3 enclosures start at just 40-50 bucks more.
     
    etern4l, Feb 13, 2021
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  9. Toughbook

    Toughbook Drop and Give Me 20!

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    I bought one of the Asus ROG Strix enclosures and love it. I put a 1 TB drive in it and used it to transfer everything from my older CF-53 Toughbook to my new FZ55. I transferred almost 600GB worth of data over to my new laptop in a matter of minutes! I was shocked. All that in a nice little package!
     
    Toughbook, Mar 8, 2021
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