Enclosure issues with external NVMe devices?
Enclosure issues with external NVMe devices?
I required an extremely quick external storage solution for my tasks, so I purchased this ORICO NVMe Enclosure (featuring an ASM2364 chip supporting Gen3 x4) with USB 3.2 Gen2x2 and a 2tb Crucial P5 Plus. Initially, when I linked it to my Windows PC, it appeared in Disk Management as an uninitialized 2tb drive. However, attempting to initialize it always resulted in the error "The semaphore timeout period has expired." I connected it via the 3.2 2*2 front panel USB C, tested Thunderbolt 4 back ports and Type A USB 3.2 ports consistently with the same issue. When using a MacBook, the disk utility would take an extended time to display formatting. I suspected either the enclosure or the SSD was faulty, so I installed the SSD directly onto my motherboard (Asus z690 Proart). The drive appeared uninitialized and successfully formatted into a single GPT partition. Interestingly, when the SSD was mounted on the motherboard, my SATA drives remained hidden in Windows. Now that the SSD is operational and partitioned, I reinserted it into the enclosure. It functions normally, though performance can occasionally slow significantly—sometimes copying 60GB in under 15 seconds or taking up to 3 minutes to transfer 100MB back. In Task Manager, the drive shows 100% activity with brief spikes in high write speeds before dropping to zero. On my MacBook, the enclosure’s LED would flash for hours without appearing in Disk Utility. Is the enclosure damaged or did I inadvertently corrupt the partitioning? What steps should I take next? Your guidance would be greatly appreciated. Edit: noted that the filesystem is exFat, required for compatibility on both Windows and MacOS. Updated September 10, 2023 by Mr.SMT
The issue you describe isn’t related to storage devices. It’s connected to the physical setup, specifically the case and controller configuration. The speed limitations are mainly due to the controller handling data transfer, which can slow things down if it overheats. Running NVMe over SATA usually isn’t a big advantage unless you’re dealing with extremely large files. It’s possible your case or controller isn’t compatible with your PC or Mac, causing performance drops. Formatting on macOS tends to work fine, but often a full format is needed instead of a quick one, which takes longer. Slower speeds can come from the controller checking data, cache being full, slow writing, or the case getting too hot. If both systems struggle equally, the hardware itself might be the problem. I’ve seen people use NVMe enclosures as boot drives for MacOS—generally they function well, but performance drops when things get warm, even in cases with fins. SATA drives usually stay cooler and provide more stable speeds. Always check case reviews since real-world results can vary from what’s advertised.
I understand your situation! The issue seems to stem from the device being occupied, which prevents Windows from unmounting it and causing formatting delays. It could be related to the enclosure or the SSD itself. I shared this because I'm trying to identify the faulty component. You currently have a 500GB M.2 SATA SSD inside a 3.2 Gen1 case, but it's underperforming for your needs. If the drive is slow, the software we use for handling large datasets may miss some frames, making it seem inefficient. Switching to NVMe and a different enclosure helped, though SATA remains significantly slower than NVMe. I noticed no SATA enclosures supporting USB 3.2 Gen2*2 since SATA maxes out at 6Gbps. After formatting the drive in Windows, it disappears from MacOS entirely. The USB enclosure appears in system tools but not in Disk Utility, and it wasn't present in Disk Utility when it was unformatted.
I conducted additional tests and noticed an issue with the combination of this enclosure and SSD. When I installed the P5 into the motherboard (Asus z690 Proart, M.2_2 slot), it functioned correctly. After formatting the drive and running benchmarks, I repeated the process with a 1TB Samsung 980 SSD, which performed better. Using CrystalMark and HDSentinel, I found no errors in the drive information. However, the 2TB P5 in the M.2_2 slot (the seq128k appears sluggish) paired with the 980 in the same slot didn’t work as expected. In the enclosure, the 980 operated normally on Windows, but the P5 remained unresponsive—taking several minutes to appear in Windows and not showing up at all on macOS. I checked the drive info through both tools, but nothing obvious was detected. The tests were conducted over the same front 3.2*2 port. I attempted to view the SSD information inside the enclosure, yet no clear problems emerged. P5 inside the enclosure works fine when connected directly to the motherboard, whereas it lags significantly in the enclosure. It seems the enclosure might not support 1.4 NVMe drives, especially the 2TB P5 model. I’m unsure if I damaged the drive during initialization. From my observations, the drive runs slower than expected when plugged straight into the board, but appears fine on the motherboard. I suspect the enclosure may not be compatible with this type of SSD. I downgraded by swapping in a 1TB Samsung 980 to the enclosure and would appreciate advice on resolving this issue.