Not the cheapest it has been, but still a decent price for this 4TB external SSD.
The base price seems to fluctuate a bit from $560ish to $680ish, currently $348.07 after the $212 coupon. Coupon expires 09/07/2024, so maybe waiting for a lower base price is an option too.
CamelCamelCamel.
only does 1024mb per second read and write, if you guys want a usb 4 speed 4tb drive that you can upgrade buy these
- PNY CS2241 4TB PCIe Gen4 M.2 NVMe SSD (M280CS2241-4TB-CL) - $329
- Volans Aluminium NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD to USB4 Type C Enclosure 40Gbps - $130
total from umart will cost you $459 I get 2800MB/s read and write no drop in performance because the enclosure has active cooling and is a heatsink as well.
if you are a video editor on the go and you have a macbook pro your going to get insane performance in final cut and DaVinci resolve.
Thanks for this, I've actually been thinking about getting a custom 4TB external SSD like this - not urgent so might wait a little longer for them to keep dropping a bit, but will keep an eye out!
- Volans Aluminium NVMe PCIe M.2 SSD to USB4 Type C Enclosure 40Gbps - $130
That's a pretty expensive enclosure.
About 40% of the price of the SSD !
I'd been waiting for a deal on this but last night I caved and instead ordered the bits to make a wickedly fast unit (essentially another combo similar to the poster above)
I jumped on the above because the Lexar NVMe was too good a deal for it's specs, and from all accounts SSD/NVMe prices are going up not down
FYI for those interested in doing a build your own strategy - I found this website useful https://dancharblog.wordpress.com/2024/01/01/list-of-ssd-enc…
I ended up shying away from any of the ASM2464PD chipset based cases - even though it's a faster "true" USB 4 chipset (than the JHL7440) - because of the number of reports I'd been seeing of problems like frequent disconnects, incompatibility issues, running very hot (and thus seriously consider active cooling cases), having to flash the firmware to try and fix things, etc
This is the better option compared to portable drive. NVMe with better performance and you can use it as internal drive when you wish to.
any cheaper enclosure ?
Many but it depends on if you're wanting to have a:
- USB 3.2 Gen2 (10 Gbps) drive - these enclosures are cheap (from $30) - performance will be about the same as this Samsung T7 Shield
- USB 3.2 Gen2x2 (20 Gbps) drive - these are rarer and Mac's don't support 20Gbps connections
- TB3/TB4/USB 4 (40 Gbps) - these are the fastest but most expensive - there are some cheaper enclosures around for this (typically don't have active cooling/fan) from about $60 and up - e.g. the Maiwo K1695, Hagibis MC40 (they also have a more expensive model with fan UD1101) and Jeyi TB2464 (also have a model with fan) - note not all computers support 40Gbps TB3/4 or USB4 connections - recent (M series) Macs do and some newer PC's do
Intel macs also support TB3/4
Thanks. Did you have to remove the heatsink on the lexar drive to fit it in the acasis case?
I havn't received them yet but yes I'll remove the heatsink (I saw online that someone had tried seeing if you could install the heatsink version of the Lexar NVMe into this Acasis case and it does fit and work except that you can't put the case lid on :))
Would also like to know
I really like this 4TB portable drive. Works really well and I am very happy with it.
Bought 2 about this price.
I like the idea of the nvme in external enclosure though. Might have to investigate that.
Thanks OP! I just purchased this drive to use as a TimeMachine backup for when I purchase an M4 MacBook later in the year.
For those with current gen M3 MacBooks, I believe their USB capabilities are capped at 1,000MB/s so I would grab this over a T9 if you're hanging out for a price drop because there's not gonna be a performance difference. Recently released M3 MBA's can handle the higher speed but I don't think it really makes a difference…
Regarding enclosure vs T7: I prefer the smaller form factor and lighter weight of the samsung SSD compared to the enclosure approach. But I will probably pursue something like that next time as more of a desktop drive.
Regarding T7 vs T7 shield: apparently the regular T7 can run into heating issues and leak grease…
On a separate note, does anybody know how Amazon buy limits reset/expire?
FYI all the M3 Macbooks (even the 13" Air) support:
Thunderbolt 3 (up to 40 Gbps)
USB 4 (up to 40 Gbps)
Yup can confirm the limitations on M3 MBPs. Got a 4TB T9 and not getting anything near the advertised speeds. Mostly speeds are on par with the 4TB T7 drive I have.
Ah that's not a M3 specific issue - the Samsung T9 drives support USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 interface (20 Gbps) (so up to 2000MB/s), but I believe no Macs include support for USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 - they support USB 3.2 Gen 2(x1) (10 Gbps) and TB3/4 USB 4 (40 Gbps) only - so the T9 is falling back to USB 3.2 Gen 2(x1) (10 Gbps) on your Mac so runs at the same speed as the T7 Shield
Just bought the shielded version recently, it seems a little heavier too
pretty good price according to camelx3
https://au.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B0BKPV953L