GRAUGEAR M.2 NVMe SATA PCIe SSD Enclosure Adapter Docking Station with Cooling Fan, USB3.2 Gen2 10Gbps M.2 SSD External Case USB C, Support UASP and Trim, M2 NVMe NGFF M Key B+M Key, RTL9210B Chipset

After trying two AMZ Pilot Docking Station SSDs that couldn't even mount the drives reliably, I decided to spend $20 more and try this. After all 2 separate trips to Amazon GO to return plus all the hassle was worth $20.This unit has several key necessary things I never realized I needed until trying the AMZ units.1) The M.2 connector has to be good quality and it must effectively support the drive physically. Any issues with the connector means massive reliability issues. Since the SSD sits vertical and isnt supported, it tends to tip. It literally falls out under its own weight if moved. Bump the table, drive disconnects. Temperature changes, drive disconnects.2) Small fan, like it or not, really keeps the drive cool. My Samsung unit never exceeded 35C after 100% sustained benchmark running for an hour without any heatsink. Even the smallest amount of direct airflow really seems to make a difference.Pros:1) The unit comes with plastic retaining tabs that support the SSD in the vertical position so it doesn't move. I dont know how many repeated insertions/removals before it weakens, but it seems okay for the few dozen times I will likely change drives. I just cant afford that many SSDs.2) All my drives, WD Black SN850X, Samsung 980 Pro and TeamGroup SATA 3 ran around 450 MB/s using USB 3.2 Gen 2 port. Very respectable, but about 10x slower than direct attaching via PCIE 4.0 slot. I wish it would run faster but I think this is the reality of USB. I cant say for sure. Its great for backing up, restoring or simply testing an SSD but i wouldnt run it like this permanently unless you are out of PCIE slots.3) Drives run cool. I know they provide a heatsink but i wanted to push the docking station to test robustness.4) I have had ZERO disconnects, ZERO thermal throttling.Cons:1) You cannot flash update using this controller. Both WD and Samsung wont allow it. All i can guess is that this was not an expected use case and no one wrote code to support it. You can run WD dashboard but it reports "other drive"2) Need Aura sync lighting option. Spent all this money on a gorgeous setup and the unit only has a simple non-intrusive blue power LED. Maybe a special edition version some day.Now I'm hoping now they decide to release a dual slot SSD so I can clone without having to rip open my case.

The boot drives for my desktop and laptop computers have heat sinks permanently attached to them. Normally, when I need to externally attach an M.2 NVMe drive to a computer, I put it in an external enclosure without the cover or thermal pad attached. However, my boot drives won't fit in that enclosure or any other ones I have. This dock is one of the only two I found that would allow me to plug my boot drive into and have a way to support them after I modified it.The fifth picture shows my boot drives. The bottom one is actually in a tray that slides into a dock on the back of my desktop computer for easy access (instead of having to halfway tear down my computer to get to it). Because of the thermal pads and compound inside, removing the drive inside would be difficult and messy. The top one is for my laptop (fortunately, easy to access). Its heat sinks are permanently attached.To be able to support these drives so they won't flop over, destroying the drive's connector, I had to modify the clear plastic "chimney". First, in the sixth picture, I had to cut away the wind vanes on each end of the socket in the base and the little retaining clips on each end of the socket to accommodate the width of the larger boot drive. After that, in the fourth picture. I shortened the "chimney" by one inch, made a plastic disk with a slot and two notches to clear both boot drives, then cemented it inside the top of the "chimney" as shown in the third picture.The first three pictures show the boot drives installed in the modified dock. The fit around the drives is loose enough, plenty of cooling air should still flow over the drives.I didn't bother with the included heat sink. I already had heat sinks installed on the boot drives, the included heat sink is too light for my needs and only cools one-sided SSDs, and I don't trust the elastic bands holding the heat sink to the SSD to last very long.The "chimney" will lock into the base, although it is more a friction fit than being locked. I'm going to leave the "chimney" attached when the dock isn't in use to avoid wearing out the fit.I didn't check for speed. I'm not concerned about that since I won't be using the dock very often, maybe once (or twice?) a year. As long as it works, i can be patient if needs be.My only complaint is the location of the on/off switch being on the side where the cable plugs in. It's a wee bit awkward to reach.Update: I just discovered this dock is TRIM compatible in Linux (I use Linux Mint) but you will need to created a udev rule to enable it. Here are the directions for creating a udev rule to enable TRIM compatibility in Linux Mint, etc.1. Verify the Vendor ID and Product ID.Run lsusb in the terminal with the device plugged in. If you aren't sure which device in the list is your SSD, unplug it and run lsusb again and see which device disappeared. (Don't forget to unmount the filesystem before you unplug it.)Every device has an ID value in the list. For example, the ID for this enclosure is “0bda:9210”. The Vendor ID is the first part and the Product ID is the second part. My enclosures have the Realtec chips in them.2. Create a udev rule. In the terminal, copy and paste this line and hit Enter.sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/50-usb-ssd-trim.rulesType in your password, then hit Enter again.Copy and paste this rule into the text editor (all one line; the correct IDs for this enclosure has already been added):ACTION=="add|change", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0bda", ATTRS{idProduct}=="9210", SUBSYSTEM=="scsi_disk", ATTR{provisioning_mode}="unmap"Pressing CTRL+O, then ENTER, then CTRL+X will save and close the file in Nano.Now, the next time you plug in your device via USB, TRIM should work.

I had tried 3 other cheaper M.2 adapters, most failed to be even recognized by Windows. This was recognized and when an M.2 was present upon switching it on, sure enough it was like having an external high speed hard drive accessible. It also could and did format bootable drives for other operating systems, e.g. Linux for a Raspberry Pi 5. The little cylinder is helpful because these circuits get HOT, enough for a first-degree burn, maybe 2nd. The power switch means you have an easy on/off and not have to yank and replug the USB cable. Works, works well, made with safety in mind, and convenient operation. This is worth the price.

I ran out of M.2 slots on my system but still wanted more storage for games, and this enclosure works really well. Setup was quick and easy, the drive was recognized right away, and performance has been smooth with no issues. It’s a simple and reliable way to add extra space without having to swap anything out. Definitely happy with it.