good deal. It has a thunderbolt chip in it which allows the 2800mb/s speed over pcie.
ebay
ebay
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EXPIRED Cheap thunderbolt 3 nvme ssd enclosure $22 + shipping
- Thread starter nandEater
- Start date
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thanks, i updated my link for any one wanting to pick one of theese up. It looks like a pretty solid aluminum enclosure.
For short lengths, any USB-C cable with 40Gbps speed rating will work. I use generic USB-C cables for Thunderbolt 4 all the time. Even so, certified Thunderbolt 3 or Thunderbolt 4 cables can be found for less than $10 for a 1m length.
Thunderbolt 5 cables, OTOH, are about twice as much for the same length, which is a bit high.
bought one purely to see if I could Frankenstein a pcie external "enclosure" with one of these Amazon.com: YIKAIEN NGFF M.2 M-Key to PCIe X4 Expansion Card Adapter, Transform M.2 Interface into a PCI-E Slot, Easy Installation for Desktop Computers : Electronics
Curious to know how this goes! I was thinking of doing the same thing.
That's exactly why I ordered one, not really expecting it to work, but for the price I'll be alright if it can only operate as an external drive. If it does work it will also operate as external storage... with 8 U.2 slots, because I have a PCIe switch card and hot swap unit sitting around unused.
Given how much other power my plan would require I figured I would toss a spare 1U PSU in there, but for a less exciting build I have somewhere a brick power supply with a 4 pin Molex connector, from an older (like 2.5" PATA laptop drive old) external drive adapter that I figured would work.
you just reminded me I have something similar for those bare-hard drive to USB adapters. Thanks!
seller listed more ebay 4 still available, I bought another one yesterday for a total of 2. First one is coming on Monday.
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Mine came with missing screws. I only got 2 case screws instead of 4 and no screw to secure the NVME drive. Does any know the screw sizes?
A standard nvme screw is m2 x 2.5, not sure about the others. Mine is coming on Monday. I'll let you know.
Doesn't seem like it uses standard screw for M.2. I have a bag of screws for M.2 of different sizes and none of them fit unfortunately. Still works without. Probably easier to remove the lid and replace the drive in this scenario. I did reach out to Fantom Drives to see if I can buy or get replacements.
Ah ok. I just assumed it would follow the standard. I have an assortment of screw kit I'll see if I can find the right size
Got mine and haven't tested it yet but I did pull it apart, also only had two chassis screws and no screw for the M.2, but all of the screws appear to be M2.5 thread. To save everyone else the trouble of removing the PCB the configuration seems to be a JHL7440 TB3 controller which passes USB through to a RTL9210B PCIe 3.0x2 USB NVMe/SATA controller, then it uses an ASM1480 PCIe switch (the passive kind) to connect the M.2 slot to one or the other controller.
My slot adapter is still on its way from Aliexpress, because I didn't want to spend much on something that seems likely to fail, but the question of whether that works comes down to how the ASM1480 is toggled, because when the JHL7440 is connected to the M.2 slot's PCIe lanes it should support arbitrary PCIe devices. I'm hoping it's just based on whether the host connection negotiates TB3 or USB3.
My slot adapter is still on its way from Aliexpress, because I didn't want to spend much on something that seems likely to fail, but the question of whether that works comes down to how the ASM1480 is toggled, because when the JHL7440 is connected to the M.2 slot's PCIe lanes it should support arbitrary PCIe devices. I'm hoping it's just based on whether the host connection negotiates TB3 or USB3.