Solved NVMe SSD in External Enclosure

I'm curious what other folks results are using the NVMe SSD drives in an external enclosure. I find that on any system I've tried them on, I only get about a maximum of around 350MB-400MB transfer rates. While that's not bad, I see people posting about 1000MB and higher transfer rates.

My motherboard claims a 20Gb USB 3.2 port, my case has the special shielded cable leading to the USB-C socket, and I've loaded the latest Gigabit drivers for my motherboard. I've tried two NVMe enclosures of different brands, both claiming to be USB 3.2 Gen 2 capable. Obviously, the SAMSUNG 990 EVO Plus SSD 4TB drive should be up to doing more than 400MB, it clocks in at around ten times that speed when I mount it internally.

Obviously, there's a missing link, just want to track down where it is.

According to the manuals for your computers only one USB port is 10Gbit/s. It is the USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-C) port on the Gigabyte B760M DS3H AX motherboard. All the other ports are USB 2.0 or USB 3.2 Gen 1.

Gigabyte B760M G P WIFI
Rear Panel
2 x USB 2.0 (Type-A)
3 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type-A)
Headers:
4 x USB 2.0
2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type-C)

Click to expand...

Gigabyte B760M DS3H AX
Rear Panel
2 x USB 2.0 (Type-A)
3 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type-A)
1 x USB 3.2 Gen 2 (Type-C)
Headers:
4 x USB 2.0 (Type-A)
2 x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type-A)

Click to expand...

I ran some tests using my main desktop. I test an NVME in an enclosure plugged into USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports and USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports.
Notes:

1. The USB 3.2 Gen 1 port is connected to the case front panel from a motherboard header
2. The USB 3.2 Gen 2 port is on the motherboard back panel. Since the computer is under a desk I use a USB 3.2 Gen 2 powered hub to access this port.

Motherboard: ASUS ROG Strix B550-F Gaming WiFi II
Front USB: USB 3.2 Gen 1 port (Type-A)
Rear USB: USB 3.2 Gen 2 port (Type-A)

USB Hub: Rosonway RSH-A104
Powered 4 Ports USB 3.1/3.2 Gen 2 Hub (Type-A) (10 Gbit/s)

SSD Enclosure: Plugable USBC-NVME
M.2 NVME SSD to USB 3.1 Gen 2 (Type-A) (10 Gbit/s)

SSD: Samsung SSD 980
M.2 NVME PCle 3.0x4
Speeds up-to 3,500 MB/s

Click to expand...

Definitions:
USB 3.2 Gen 1x1 5 Gbit/s (625 MB/s)
USB 3.2 Gen 2×1 10 Gbit/s (1.25 GB/s)
USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 20 Gbit/s (2.5 GB/s)

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USB 3.2 Gen 1 port test



USB 3.2 Gen 2x1 port test

I'm connecting the USB 3.2 Gen 2 to the front port since that's the one with the fancy shielded cable that's supposed to allow for full speed. What does your port look like in Device Manager?

I get pretty much the same results you do from the plain USB 3 port on my USB 3.2 port.

I think I just figured it out. The spec's I have are wrong, the USB-C port is a USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 port!

In a bit of irony, my secondary system has a slightly newer motherboard and it supports USB 3.2 Gen 2!

gunrunnerjohn said:

I'm curious what other folks results are using the NVMe SSD drives in an external enclosure. I find that on any system I've tried them on, I only get about a maximum of around 350MB-400MB transfer rates. While that's not bad, I see people posting about 1000MB and higher transfer rates.

Click to expand...

For me it depends whether it's read or write speeds you're talking about....



Port specs here:

Bree said:

For me it depends whether it's read or write speeds you're talking about....

Click to expand...

Actually, I had the wrong motherboard specs, the one on this machine is only a USB 3.2 Gen 1, so the 400MB is pretty normal. Bummer, my backup system has the Gen 2 port.