This one from ASUS. Then I have a 1tb NVMe TLC drive which gets me roughly 1GBps read and write speeds. Definitely looks gamer-oriented, but it's the best non-actively-cooled one you can get.
I really want a USB C gen 2x2 (20Gbps R / W) one but they're still not being sold anywhere from what I can see, other than by Seagate or WD for obscene amounts of money.
I use this and never had any issues.
ASUS ROG STRIX Arion Aluminum Alloy M.2 NVMe SSD External Portable Enclosure Case Adapter, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (10 Gbps), USB-C to C and USB-C to A Cables, Fits PCIe 2280/2260/2242/2230 M Key/B+M Key
https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07ZKB4SLK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_i_HRYM9T7XQGG5E5B8GGSP
It says up to 2TB in the Amazon link
ASUS ROG STRIX Arion Aluminum Alloy M.2 NVMe SSD External Portable Enclosure Case Adapter, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-C (10 Gbps), USB-C to C and USB-C to A Cables, Fits PCIe 2280/2260/2242/2230 M Key/B+M Key https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZKB4SLK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_0PG3WECT7QA2ZKNDG282?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Nvme enclosures are not cheap and much slower. They run really hot so you need a good enclosure also.
This is what I got: ASUS ROG STRIX Arion Aluminum Alloy M.2 NVMe SSD External Portable Enclosure https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZKB4SLK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_glt_fabc_81RVS33RBZGRGQ8FFP3M?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
Quite honestly if you are maxing out your hard drive already or plan to upgrade your hard drive I would highly suggest buying this https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZKB4SLK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glc_fabc_DTFSZVHMPZEQ7C4E89MH This will make use of the hard drive you have already and make it into a portable one that way you can upgrade to your new one this will also help with transferring files and keeping backups.
I've tried a bunch. This one is the best one I've encountered so far.
Idk , maybe you want something like this
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ROG-Arion-Aluminum-Enclosure/dp/B07ZKB4SLK/
4TB M.2 SSD + USB C adapter from Asus . Expensive and I doubt your phone has enough juice to power it on though , might work if you connect a power bank like this guy did :
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoVwaBuEc8U
Less painful method is wireless HDD/SSD
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZKB4SLK/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_apa_glt_fabc_ZXZQ1KWK2A3EC7GCX117?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1 I have two of these.
One of these for my MacBook with thunderbolt. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FT59SB6?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
And one of these for the slow Sabrent Q drive. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08RVC6F9Y?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I highly doubt they put the PCIE slot on the opposite side of the board. If that were true, that would be literally the first ever laptop to do such a thing. One of my P/T jobs is PC/Laptop repair, and out of all the laptops I've ever worked on, I've never seen them place one PCIE slot outward and one inward.
It looks like that motherboard was made with expandable functionality and MSI decided not to utilize it in order to reduce costs.
Sometimes multiple companies will release laptops using the same board and will contact the manufacturer with the specifications they need and that board just so happened to include "the option" to expand / add another PCIE slot.
But all documentation is showing that your laptop only supports one NVMe and no SATA. There's numerous laptops in that family and they all contain the same storage options.
Unfortunately, your only option is to upgrade the one currently on the board.
I mean you do have the option to upgrade the main one to use for your OS, and if you want another, you could go the route of buying an external enclosure for an NVMe device if you've got USB 3.1 / 3.2 on that laptop. Such a device like: https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ROG-Arion-Aluminum-Enclosure/dp/B07ZKB4SLK/ref=pd_ybh_a_148?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XW1XHX2P8SJHKNFTWQ73
Just buy an enclosure and a larger drive if you want one now without waiting :)
For example:
https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-ROG-Arion-Aluminum-Enclosure/dp/B07ZKB4SLK/
and
https://www.amazon.com/Western-Digital-SN700-Internal-Devices/dp/B09H1M6ZRT
I originally got the 2TB Samsung 980 Pro back in February, but that wasn't enough. I ended up getting the 4TB WD_BLACK SN850X during a Black Friday preview sale on Amazon back in October, and put my 980 Pro in an enclosure (the USB 3.1 to USB C cable that came with the enclosure was faulty, so I had to get one from Anker) and now I am using it as an external drive for my PS5. My first choice would have been the Firecuda 530, if not for being priced out of it. So congrats, and enjoy your drive!
I removed the 980 Pro and put the 4TB SN850X into the console. Then, I bought an M.2 SSD enclosure for my 980 Pro. In doing research, I learned a lot of M.2 SSD enclosures are NOT compatible with PS5. I did find one that is compatible, however: The ASUS ROG STRIX Arion enclosure. It came with a USB A 3.1 to USB C cable that you can plug into the back of the PS5, then plug into the enclosure. The cable, however, was defective. I had to buy another cable from Anker which worked. There's also no heatsink necessary as the enclosure acts as its own heatsink.
As for the transferring, unfortunately, if you transfer games from the internal drive to the 4TB SSD, you can't just insert it into the console. If you intend to keep the 4TB SSD as an external drive, then do what I mentioned above and get that enclosure. But if you want it internally in the console, then you'll have to download everything all over again. It's a pain, but with the amount of space you'll be left with, you won't have to do that again for a long time.
Also remember, you can't play PS5 games off of the external drive, only PS4 games. Even if its an M.2 that's compatible with the console. I tried. You can store PS5 games there though. This is why I switched out the 980 Pro for the SN850X. What type of heatsink are you using with the 980 Pro?
I bought this enclosure. Link Below
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07ZKB4SLK/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I used Macrium Reflect to clone my drive. Instructions on how to do that is in the link below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSdSNAjmdDg&ab\_channel=Macrium
You could get one of these external m.2
Yup! This was the adapter I bought and I use it as an external ssd with the old 1tb razer ssd I pulled ASUS ROG STRIX Arion Aluminum... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZKB4SLK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
I bought these items....
ASUS ROG STRIX Arion Aluminum... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07ZKB4SLK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
With accompanied ssd...
SAMSUNG 980 PRO SSD 1TB PCIe 4.0... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08GLX7TNT?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
And...
SAMSUNG PRO Plus + Adapter 512GB... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09B1HYPR9?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
USB C Hub,UtechSmart 6 in 1 USB C... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09LCLDCFK?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
And....
Stand Base Compatible with Valve... https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09QYG75W3?ref=ppx_pop_mob_ap_share
there isn't a drive platform that will support the 40Gbps that Thunderbolt 3 & 4 support. I bought a Western Digital Black NVME, and put it in an Asus ROG external case. Connected to a TB3 port, or USB3.2 gen2 (10GBps) It is the fastest external drive I've ever used. Not quite as fast as the onboard storage, but plenty fast.
I will concede in that ONE highly specific scenario this box sorta makes sense, but then why not use a much cheaper PCIE card with Bifurcation? Still cheaper, and you get better performance. The only way this sorta makes sense is if your using this on a laptop because "portability" but again there are a ton of cheaper solutions that work just as well.
If your only getting an enclosure like this for the "speed" then your giving so much up. 4 NVME drives are capable of much high reads/Writes but your limited by the interface. So why not get a single, bigger NVME for less and use something like the asus enclosure. Same speed, way more portable, and 1/4 of the price.
​
"NVMe has plenty of write endurance for this use case. These are not 24/7 devices and the vast majority of workloads are write once, read many scenarios. And I explicitly recommend in the article to avoid QLC drives."
You cant seriously be suggesting anyone use these for bulk storage? Maybe I'm reading this wrong but a raid NVME enclosure as bulk storage? I to love pissing money in the wind and living dangrously.
​
"SoftRAID is optional, and if you already own another OWC product that came with it, you don't have to purchase an additional license. You can use whatever software RAID application you want with it, or use the software RAID built into Windows or macOS."
ok? thats the same dumb argument Intel made for Vroc and everyone shit on them. I'm not aware of any other enclosure or NVME card that requires you to pay a "licensing Fee" to do raid.
Maybe this?
Lmao it costs more than the ssd
Thank you for this detailed response! Regarding cloning, I was looking into using clonezilla, since its a cost free option.
For the ssd, I am looking at one from crucial. This one specifically.
and this flashy ROG enclosure,
what are your thoughts on this?
No difference between speeds. Both the internal and external samsung ssds preform the same. An internal ssd is probably cheaper. I assume at least. Don't quote me on it lol
But if you buy a m.2 nvme ssd it'll be ALOT faster. Like you'll def notice it. There are external nvme ssds that work via thunderbolt 3 or usb 3.2. I link you one.
Edit: That link is just for the enclosure.
Latest update! I got my adaptor today, and I tested with the wireless card (BCM94360CS) took from my MacBook Pro. Wifi/BT works perfectly. The only problem is this adapter needs one of the two M.2 slots, and I'm using two M.2 SSD, one for macOS, the other for win10. My solution is to buy this SSD case for my win10, then plug it into the USB 3.2 on the mobo.