Orico M.2 NVMe SATA SSD Enclosure w/ USB-C Cable (Various Colors) $10

My device is mounted high. A cable would make it just dangle.

Lol don't get so worked up.

Pretty sure ive seen a cableless version on aliexpress, usually not advisable as it's a lever on your port just asking for trouble. You can always find a way to attach a drive with adhesive or tape if it's so inaccessible.

You're looking for a thumb drive, not this.

There's never going to be an instance where you wouldn't want this attached by cable. It wouldn't be marketable.

But if you must fulfill this weird ask, the best you can do is a USB-C male to USB-C male coupler adapter like this:

https://a.co/d/3WS9nWk

$2.89 for usb-c to usb-a. Still under $8 for usb-c to usb-c.

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/32...pt=glo2usa [aliexpress.us]

Here it is for $2.85 + free shipping
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805096374758.html?spm=a2g0o.detail.pcDetailTopMoreOtherSeller.9.1... [aliexpress.us]

ORICO M2 SSD Enclosure NVMe 10Gbps PCIe SSD Box for M.2 NVMe NGFF SATA SSD Disk Tool Free M.2 SSD Case Built-in Metal Heat Sink
SATA-5Gbps-Black
$0.49
x1
Free returns·Delivery guarantee
Total:
$1.17

Be aware that your purchase included a $10 discount for your very first order ("Welcome deal") that they didn't really make you fully aware of. The item is actually $10.49 for anyone who has ever bought a single item from AliExpress before. In many states, you are charged sales tax on the $10.49, even if the subtotal was shown as $0.49 as you were shown.

You were charged 68 cents in tax, which for the $10.49 actual price means your state sales tax for online purchases is ~6.5%.

My point is a one-time discount of a single item at a merchant is not comparable to the pricing in this post. Compare the Amazon price of $9.99 shipped from the US and your AliExpress price of $10.49. It's not always cheaper going to a Chinese online store.

I have no problems with you posting your purchase, I'm just helping people understand the pricing.

Here's a similar enclosure [amazon.com] on Amazon for $9.48. There's a special promotion to get 2 for $15.55 right now ($7.77 ea), with no coupon needed. The product says the color is silver, but it's actually a very attractive metallic blue.

It also uses the RTL9210B chipset and it works very well. I've bought 3 of them now.

Advantages of OP's Orico enclosure

• It includes a thermal pad.

Advantages of my similar enclosure

• It includes both a USB-C to USB-C cable (works at 10 Gbps) and a USB-C to USB-A cable for 5 Ggbps. Both are pretty good quality and about 1 ft.

Both

• Tool-less / screwless. Any 2230,2242,2260, or 2280 m.2 card will snap in the plastic retaining holders on my linked enclosure. The Orico seems to hold the card in place with the heat sink.

While the thermal pad and cooling vest (?) might help on the Orico, I haven't found need for a thermal pad on mine except for a 2230 NVME that runs hot.

RTL9210B units have many different firmware versions over the last few years. My 3 units have the pretty recent 1.29 firmware from late last year while the absolute latest firmware is 1.32.91. There is a firmware updater for these but it's only from Realtek and has a chance of bricking your unit. It's best not to seek out the updater unless you have major issues.

Someone here could see what this Orico is shipping with.

A lot of discussion happens on this page [station-drivers.com] about the various firmwares and vendors using the Realtek chipset.

Realtek is not the best chipset in this category, but it works well and it's economical. The ASMedia ASM2364 chipset is the best, but the enclosures are much more expensive.

Some people have reported disconnects with RTL9210B enclosures after many hours of connectivity on Linux under certain situations. Personally I've had no disconnect problems under Windows 10/11 on multiple computers. I can also note that Windows To Go works excellent on one of these. I used a laptop with a broken internal SSD connector (Thinkpad T570) running Windows 10 via USB-C from this enclosure for several days and it worked well.

Because these enclosures use UASP, you also get TRIM and all other NVME capabilities you would get if it was directly attached. On Linux, you can use nvme-cli to sanitize (Secure Erase) the drives via command line.

I attached a quick picture to show you what to expect from the link I provided.

Edit #2: I tried submitting this as a slickdeal and it was denied because the seller doesn't have a 750 seller rating.

Just to confirm before I make the purchase, these enclosures are compatible with all M.2 style SSDs right? It looks that way from the product description, but I figured I'd ask here.

Thanks!

Could you elaborate a bit more on "nvme-cli to sanitize the drive". I'm looking at getting a mini PC and running Linux just to work on a few things, so I don't need to get a windows computer.

I'm hoping you can explain a bit before I start diving into it. Thanks in advance.

I have an old laptop I use for clearing drives but it's starting to get real slow.