5 ms·

It seems like a lot of laptop manufacturers skipped the USB 3.2 Gen2x2 in favor of USB4/TB4.

by sva_ 6mo ago

TMWNN 6mo ago
Conversely, the last time I checked a couple of weeks ago, it was impossible to find any USB4 external SSDs on Amazon; only USB 3.2.
- whilenot-dev 6mo ago
  Wouldn't it be better to just buy an M.2 NVMe adapter, eg. ICY DOCK ICYNano MB861U31-1M2B[0]? [0]: https://global.icydock.com/product_247.html https://global.icydock.com/product_247.html
  - justinclift 6mo ago
    That doesn't seem to be USB 4?
    - whilenot-dev 6mo ago
      Is there an SSD that saturates USB3.2 Gen2 speeds and requires USB4?
      - muro 6mo ago
        Many PCIe4 or 5 drives
      - bestham 6mo ago
        Oh yes. Samsung 9100 Pro does 14800/13400 MiB/s over PCIe 5x4.
        alfanick 6mo ago
        I bought this one when upgrading my desktop, it indeed delivers what it promises. 14.5GB/s on my tiny random desktop, it's impressive. Everything feels so instantaneous, my Linux desktop finally feels like a Mac :)
        sva_ 6mo ago
        That's certainly impossible as even USB4 is only 40Gb/s~5GB/s, and of that you could only expect to get 32Gb/s~4GB/s. Or realistically even less due to overhead. It is probably the speed of it being read into RAM. Try entering sync right after copying to see how long it really takes
        alfanick 6mo ago
        Oh I meant without USB4 enclosure ofc, PCIe5 directly. It's truly the best consumer-level SSD available around. It beats my previous desktop's RAM speed, what a time to live in.
        daneel_w 6mo ago
        What you're seeing are the speeds of various multi-tier caches (RAM, intermediate SLC etc.) It cannot write to its main flash memory that fast. While it to the user looks like they just wrote 10 GiB in a single second, the SSD is internally still busy for another 10 seconds persisting that data. The actual real write speed of top-shelf consumer grade SSDs these days is somewhere in the vicinity of 1.5 GiB/s. Most models top out at half of that or less.
      - nottorp 6mo ago
        Maybe not, but the USB consortium hasn't got around to polluting the USB4 namespace yet so it's safer to buy stuff with the USB4 label. Of course, just give them some time and they'll come up with USB4 "gen classic" at 11 Mbps.
- sva_ 6mo ago
  Really? I see plenty when I search for 'usb4 nvme enclosure'
- justinclift 6mo ago
  If Amazon is a strict requirement, then this won't help. But if you're ok with AliExpress then it's probably a win: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008555989592.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008555989592.html I have one of these, though I'm using with a USB 3.x port as that's what my desktop has. For me it's working fine, and for others with actual USB 4 ports it seems to be working properly for them.

It seems like a lot of laptop manufacturers skipped the USB 3.2 Gen2x2 in favor of USB4/TB4.

by sva_ 6mo ago

It seems like a lot of laptop manufacturers skipped the USB 3.2 Gen2x2 in favor of USB4/TB4.

TMWNN 6mo ago

Conversely, the last time I checked a couple of weeks ago, it was impossible to find any USB4 external SSDs on Amazon; only USB 3.2.

whilenot-dev 6mo ago
Wouldn't it be better to just buy an M.2 NVMe adapter, eg. ICY DOCK ICYNano MB861U31-1M2B[0]? [0]: https://global.icydock.com/product_247.html https://global.icydock.com/product_247.html
- justinclift 6mo ago
  That doesn't seem to be USB 4?
  - whilenot-dev 6mo ago
    Is there an SSD that saturates USB3.2 Gen2 speeds and requires USB4?
    - muro 6mo ago
      Many PCIe4 or 5 drives
    - bestham 6mo ago
      Oh yes. Samsung 9100 Pro does 14800/13400 MiB/s over PCIe 5x4.
      - alfanick 6mo ago
        I bought this one when upgrading my desktop, it indeed delivers what it promises. 14.5GB/s on my tiny random desktop, it's impressive. Everything feels so instantaneous, my Linux desktop finally feels like a Mac :)
        sva_ 6mo ago
        That's certainly impossible as even USB4 is only 40Gb/s~5GB/s, and of that you could only expect to get 32Gb/s~4GB/s. Or realistically even less due to overhead. It is probably the speed of it being read into RAM. Try entering sync right after copying to see how long it really takes
        alfanick 6mo ago
        Oh I meant without USB4 enclosure ofc, PCIe5 directly. It's truly the best consumer-level SSD available around. It beats my previous desktop's RAM speed, what a time to live in.
      - daneel_w 6mo ago
        What you're seeing are the speeds of various multi-tier caches (RAM, intermediate SLC etc.) It cannot write to its main flash memory that fast. While it to the user looks like they just wrote 10 GiB in a single second, the SSD is internally still busy for another 10 seconds persisting that data. The actual real write speed of top-shelf consumer grade SSDs these days is somewhere in the vicinity of 1.5 GiB/s. Most models top out at half of that or less.
    - nottorp 6mo ago
      Maybe not, but the USB consortium hasn't got around to polluting the USB4 namespace yet so it's safer to buy stuff with the USB4 label. Of course, just give them some time and they'll come up with USB4 "gen classic" at 11 Mbps.
sva_ 6mo ago
Really? I see plenty when I search for 'usb4 nvme enclosure'
justinclift 6mo ago
If Amazon is a strict requirement, then this won't help. But if you're ok with AliExpress then it's probably a win: https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008555989592.html https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005008555989592.html I have one of these, though I'm using with a USB 3.x port as that's what my desktop has. For me it's working fine, and for others with actual USB 4 ports it seems to be working properly for them.