Finding enclosure for M.2 2230 with high power consumption

Hello,

This is my first post on the forum, so if this is not the right category, feel free to move it, or if this is not the right forum at all, you can delete this topic. And also, English is my third language, so please bear with me. Thank you.

I have been in the IT space (from both software and hardware point of view) since 1991, and while I consider myself passionate and knowledgeable, would still like guidance/recommendations for an M.2 NVME USB enclosure, specifically for the 2230/2242 size. Already have a SilverStone SST-MS12 (ASMedia ASM2364), and am very pleased with it. I am also aware that many 2280 enclosures accept those sizes, but I would still like to have a smaller, more portable one as well. 

Destined for tiny disks, the options are already really limited. On top of that, in my country there is no online seller I could find, selling anything like that. Ordering from overseas is excluded for me for many reasons. However, being in Europe, Amazon is reachable, if not for the prices. The ones I saw (only those sold by Amazon) are mostly around the 40 euro mark, which is more than double of Aliexpress prices, and susceptible to the same hit or miss, but it is what it is.

The drive I have is a Kingston, PCIe Gen4, 512GB, model number OM3PGP4512Q-A0. Now. The power consumption of this particular drive is high. On the sticker it says 3.3V 3.5A, which would be ~11.5W, so it's kinda double of other such drives. It came out from my mini pc (upgraded). The temperature measured inside (while having a passive cooling plate attached), with light use, was around 60C-70C and easily reached 80C-90C when used a bit more intensively. I intend to use it as a bootable OS drive (Linux), on a USB4 Type-C connector (with AltDP + PD up to 65W capabilities). For obvious reasons, I need at least 10Gbps speed from an enclosure.

In the last 2 months, read and watched many, many reviews of such products, visited countless sites (manufacturers included), read technical documentations (where applicable), you name it, and nobody, nowhere ever talked about/mentioned bus powered interface limitations, tho I believe they do exist (could be one of the reasons of frequent droppings/disconnects others are talking about, besides the heat and other factors). While premium priced, and personally wouldn't benefit from its featureset, also contacted Dockcase, asking about the Pocket Smart. They confirmed that their enclosure uses the RTL9210 single-protocol chipset variant (NVME only, but did not get an exact model name), and according to them, it can't hold up with my drive's needs. The one from Sharge is also a no go with its fan. Only passive cooling is acceptable for me. I am not shying away from a DIY solution either, but knowing the general prices and availability of services, components and materials in my country (and of other western european countries), price-wise would not be worth the hassle.

And this is the point I am turning to you. Is it just me, or there really isn't any simple external USB enclosure, which is:

• at least 10Gbps speed
• specifically made for the 2230 or 2242 form factor
• capable of running in higher power mode (10W+) with power-hungry drives
• passively cooled
• small (at most 8cm on any axis, but preferably smaller)
• available in Europe as of now (international shipping is almost a must, but I'll do the research)
• affordable enough (this is subjective I know, humor me)

There are many actually accessible enclosures, but I could not find a single confirmation about the power consumption. I am not interested in recommandations that "might work" (of that, I can get literally anywhere). This community is technically inclined (like myself), so, if someone has, or had, concrete experience, with enclosures which would fit the above, please share. If my criterias are unrealistic in 2024, and there is really none, well, what can I say.. Please share the same, function over form is more important after all. Even though in the classic 2280 size I have a pretty good idea/direction already, I am always open to products that are proven to work.

Thank you very much.


Andrew.

Hi You can look at this or this but assume that there are not 10 chipset manufacturers for Nvme/USB 3.x enclosures
I personally prefer the 2364 chipsets for compatibility, I have several cases (see the topic below) and the one that stands out is not necessarily the most expensive 
Station-Drivers - Comparatif 8 Boitiers Externes NVMe/USB 3.x
www.station-drivers.com/index.php/en/les...t-asus-tuf-gaming-a1

After other people on the Forum we can have other opinions 


 

Stick with an ASM2364 by far the best USB 3.x controller sofar

I have 6 of them with various Drives in them all are super stable

2TB Sabrent Rocket (Fully populated with nand packages on both sides with dram so will be power hungry)
1TB Sabrent Rocket (Fully populated with nand packages on one side with dram)
1TB Kioxia Exceria G2 (Fully populated with nand packages on one side with dram)
1TB Samsung PM9A1 (1024GB OEM 980 Pro) (Fully populated with nand packages on one side with dram)
512GB Toshiba XG3 (Fully populated with nand packages on one side with dram)
480GB Phison E13
240GB Phison E13

Its not the enclosures that are going to be a problem anyway with regards to power use its the port its plugged into
but either way there's no way that drive you have is going to use 11w unless you short it to ground its just kingston covering their behind/being lazy
its a dramless 2230 phison drive is it not so will be super low power use 99.9% of the time
ontop of that your going to be running it at gen3 in any enclosure which drop's power alot gen4 pulls alot more power

people use them drives in steam deck's if it was pulling 11w there would be problems
these will be using more like 2w-3w in a pcie gen3 device

On looking into this further
Its a Phison E21 the same as Sabrent Rocket 2130 512GB
they use peak 4000mw on the 512GB model and 4300mw on the 1TB model in a Gen 4 Port (lower in a Gen 3 Port)
Phison are a turnkey solution (e.g. they build them for the oem and sell them complete)
with a few customizations like pcb colour nand type etc..

so one drive is the same as the next

look at the chip placement its the same pcb but in blue

Here's what Sabrent state for the 1TB in a Gen 4 slot
Form Factor:     M.2 2230 (Single-Sided)
Interface:     PCIe 4.0 x4
Protocol:     NVMe 1.4
Power Draw:     0.98 W (Idle)
2.5 W (Avg)
3.7 W (Max)

No Gen 4 drive uses them power numbers nevermind a Dramless E21
My 4TB Samsung 990 Pro has a peak power use of 8W in a Gen 4 Port and thats one of the most power hungry Gen 4 drives
The only way you are hitting the 11W mark is with a Gen 5 Desktop drive

find a 2230/2242 ASM2364 chuck it in there it will be 100% fine









 

@admin,

Hello, and thank you very much for your feedback.

Yes, I have already read that comparison (along with a few other forum threads as well), and knew about the Asus enclosure too. Very useful information btw.

In fact, the Ineo enclosure caught my attention long before I saw your article (and no, not because of the +40Mbps speed bump thanks to the RGB  ), but in the end I discarded it from potential candidates, because of the JMS chipset. The general consensus from what I gathered over the internet, and this forum as well, is that it is the less flexible one, when it comes to compatibility, at least when compared to the other two.

Design-wise, from that list, Orico is the closest to what I envisioned, albeit slimmer and in a much shorter version (which does not exist  ), and the sliding cover mechanism in my personal opinion is not the best solution.

The Asus one is very nice as well, my friend bought the other one from them (Ares I think it is called), and the build quality on that one is very good too. Compactness however, is one attribute this enclosure lacks.

Nonetheless, greatly appreciate your input, and I am sure I will come back to that list (or future ones). Thank you.

@Shonk,

Hello, and thank you very much for the great explanations. I am sure this will help everybody, not just me.

You pointed out very well (and rightfully so), one major oversight from my part. Namely, that a Gen4 drive will run in Gen3 mode, with any of the three chipsets. This is something I should have thought about, and makes total sense. Thank you!
Also, you are right about the host controller/port, and I knew it matters, that's why I mentioned how/where I will use it. It's reassuring to get confirmation about that.

Like admin, I see you are proposing the ASM2364 as well, as the goto chipset, for any drive. In the 2230/2242 form factor space, I found only one, commercially available enclosure (unless my google fu lets me down), and it is an OEM enclosure, branded from Riitop . Unfortunately, like with many great/useful products, I could not find this particular version anywhere in Europe (tho other Riitop enclosures are available), but it is the closest thing I need, and now at least I know that it does exist indeed.

Thank you again for the valuable input.