SABRENT Aluminum Ultra Slim USB 3.0 to 2.5-Inch SATA External

When I needed another portable SATA drive enclosure, I looked at the myriad of available options, and decided to purchase another one of these. I purchased the same exact enclosure about 4 years ago and it has held up well.

This thing is a snap to put together. I had it assembled in, I kid you not, under a minute. It took me longer to get out of the package and to unbox the SSD itself. Putting the disk into the enclosure takes seconds, and locking it in place with the super clever twist lock takes less than that. I wish motherboard manufacturers would use that little twist lock for SSDs!The outer door of the enclosure, where you see the thumb ring thing, snaps right into place and locks easily. The hardest part of that? If you're not paying attention, you can easily put it on upside down. If you do that—like I did—it will have a propensity to fall off. This is *not* their fault. They clearly mark with little triangle arrows, right there on the door and the case, how not to do this. I was just being a dope.It's ROCK solid. You could probably throw it like an MLB pitcher and knock a seagull out of the sky, and it'd be completely unharmed when it hit the ground. The whole thing is a nice, substantial aluminum that feels meaty and protective without being overly heavy.From a technical standpoint, yes, it is Thunderbolt 3! This is distinct from USB 3. This is distinct from USB-C. Let me explain:If you have a port on your computer that looks like "USB-C" and you know it's Thunderbolt 3: it will work at ridiculous full speed, way faster than a "USB SSD." You're getting an NVMe device directly on your bus.If that same port is TB4: It'll work just fine but you won't get the extra speed of TB4. It'll just be the same as above. Honestly, there aren't that many TB4 compliant devices out there yet, and definitely not at this price point.If you have a port that looks like "USB-C" but it's some vague, unspecified "USB 3", or if you have a port that looks like "regular USB," but probably has like a blue part inside the socket and then you use an adapter cable: You'll get... okay speed. I can't write a massive treatise for you on the complete mess that all the different things "USB 3" could mean (and it's a MESS because of dumb marketing reasons), but the possibilities here range from being acceptable performance to "hm, not bad!"This thing's got one major weak point: they give you a *ridiculously* short little cable with it. Like, absurdly short. It's an okay quality cable, vinyl rather than braided unfortunately but still okay, it's just that it's stupid short.Anyway, if you're looking for a Thunderbolt 3 SSD enclosure, and you're poking through all the different no-name brands and thinking you might just go with one of the major brands like this one (btw, Sabrent is a major brand) the answer is: YES. THIS ONE. But when you put it in your cart? Add a longer Thunderbolt 3 cable.

Very solidly built and great performance. Would recommend.

TL;DR: Get this if you have a slow(er) M.2 SSD that is rated around 1,600MB/s. Otherwise, you have better options (see below).First, I'd just like to say that it is very confusing to have reviews for different versions of the products pooled together. This review is specifically for Sabrent Thunderbolt 3 Certified M.2 NVMe SSD ($89.99 03/2021).Pros- Well built. It looks and feel nice.- Truly tool less. You need only your hands and your M.2 SSD.- Not *that* hot. It is warm but not hot when working (using the thermal pad that comes with it).- Compatible with M1 Macs and so far have been stable.- Smaller than most other TB3 M2 enclosures (at least at the moment).Cons- Not really TB3 speed. The reading the writing speed are both capped at 1,500MB/s, which is not bad but not really the limit of TB3. This is really the only issue that I have with this enclosure. To be fair, if you read the fine print, it does state the speed is capped at 1,600MB/s. However, there are other confusing specs that leads me to hope for otherwise.I think if you have a slow(er) M2 SSD that has max speed around 1,600MB/s, this might be the best enclosure for you. It is not the coolest (working temperature) or the fastest, but it should satisfy all your need. It is considerably cheaper than all other TB3 options at the moment.If you are looking for a true TB3 enclosure, I would recommend the "Shell Thunder SSD Enclosure (0GB) with Active Cooling for TB3". Using the same M.2 SSD, I get 2,500MB/s for writing and reading consistently. The Shell Enclosure if also surprisingly lighter than the Sabrent one.If you are looking for something that is small and fast, I would recommend SanDisk Extreme Pro. It is smaller, lighter, better built for travel, faster (2,000MB/s), more reliable, and comes with no potential heating issues at all. It normally goes for $199 on Amazon, but if you have to get this enclosure ($89.99 and a $120+ for a 1TB M.2 SSD), you will have to pay more anyway.If you are looking for something that is fast enough for daily use as an external drive, there are plenty of USB 3.2 M2 enclosures that are $15~$25. They all have more reviews (and therefore more solid performance history) and are all rated at 1,000MB/S. Alternatively, you can always consider SanDisk Extreme or Samsung T7.