Anker PowerExpand M.2 NVMe and SATA SSD Enclosure Adapter, USB 3.1 Gen2 10Gbps, USB C and Thunderbolt 3 Compatible, Supports M or B&M Keys, and Size 2230/2242 / 2260/2280 SSDs

I purchased this specifically for upgrading the small internal m.2 drives that usually come with computers these days to keep their prices down.I was upgrading an m.2 2280 128GB drive to a 1TB m.2 2280.I did 2 computers with this adapter. The speed was fast, it took about 15 mins to clone, of course I was cloning a 128GB drive so expect it to take longer the larger and more full your original drive is.Overall I was pretty happy with this enclosure. I have used different m.2 enclosures and sometimes they give me trouble and sometimes they just work like they should. This Anker PowerExpand worked just as it should. I would suggest this enclosure if you are planning on upgrading or cloning an m.2 drive that this is compatible with. Please make sure you look that it will work with what you have first. There are different types.You could use this to create a fast external USB drive if you wanted to but that is not why I wanted it.If you are curious how to do clone your existing drive, read on.I removed the internal drive, installed it in the Anker PowerExpand using the screw that came with the drive. I then installed the new 1TB drive inside the computer. I use Acronis Trueimage 2021 (this is not a free app) bootable software to boot from a USB drive. You can create a bootable drive from an image file using the free app Rufus (just use the default settings and select the TrueImage bootable image). Connect both the bootable USB drive you created and the Anker PowerExpand to the computer. Boot from the Acronis TrueImage USB drive you created(you will need to know how to change your boot device, either from the BIOS or a hotkey like F12 to select the device). Once Acronis TrueImage is loaded you can select Tools, Clone a drive. Your source drive is the old smaller drive, mine was 128GB (the Anker PowerExpand, it will not say Anker, you will need to know the size of the source drive). Then the destination drive is the new larger one you installed inside the computer. Select all the defaults it asks you and click next. Then let the software do it's thing. Once it is complete it will say to remove your old drive and you will want to remove the Acronis USB drive too. Then reboot. You should have an upgraded internal drive that works exactly the same as you did before only more space.

I needed a USB device to hold m.2 storage such as NVMe so that I could image the system device (HD, SSD) from computers for installation in other computers. I bought one of the less expensive ones, which allowed the band new Samsung NVMe to be destroyed by the heat of writing 100+ GB onto it. So this time I got a more established brand (Anker) with instructions written in proper English. Something to consider if you don't want to fry your NVMe SSD by writing a ton of data to it is that you might want to plug this into a USB2 port instead of USB3. This will limit the rate at which data gets transferred to the new SSD, making it less likely to damage the SSD. I know getting the job done in an hour or two isn't as fun as getting it done in a few minutes, but it might save your new expensive SSD. Another tip, if you're _not_ going to be carrying this thing around, is don't put the cover on when you're writing to it. The cover is not a heat sink, it pretty much traps the heat inside the cover, further risking your SSD.So why do I rate it 4 out of 5 stars for "Easy to install"? because the Anker device uses a tiny screw to anchor it into the unit. A little plastic or rubber plug or brace would have been easier to work with. Those of you who are going to swap out the SSD maybe once a year, no big deal, but those who want to frequently swap m.2 SSDs would appreciate if this was easier. On the plus side, though, my Anker device came with a tiny screwdriver.I've attached a photo of the inside of the Anker (center of photo) and the tiny screw. On the right side is a competitor's product which uses a plastic plug to hold in the m.2 device.

[UPDATE] I have now seen the SSD enclosure exceed 5 Gbps on the included cable and have updated the review to 5 stars. I am leaving the review below for reference, but it is no longer accurate.I've been using this SSD enclosure for several months now with a 2 TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe SSD. I suspect, but cannot confirm for sure, that the included USB-C cable with the Anker enclosure is not actually a USB 3.1 Gen 2 cable that can reach 10 Gbps. My computers have USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports and internal SSDs that can far exceed 10 Gbps read/write speeds. However, when transferring large files, the read/write speeds using this enclosure and the included cable seem to top out at a bit over 600 MB/s, which is the 5 Gbps limit for USB 3.1 Gen 1. But when I swap the included cable for a cable that I separately purchased for its 10 Gbps rating, the transfer speeds exceed 5 Gbps (but not much more, hovering around 700-800 MB/s). In any case, I purchased this SSD hoping to achieve 10 Gbps speeds out of the box. But it may not be achievable unless you use a different USB cable.

The media could not be loaded. Excellent build and quality, such a nice USB-C to A adapter cable is worth a big chunk of the price on its own.Easy to install the SSD, performance is as fast as expected (~1000 MBps read/write) and, despite having little contact area, the case seems to dissipate some heat of the drive. Still needs care when writing for very extended amounts of time at max speed, but so do most enclosures. Note: double-sided drives will not fit in this enclosure.Regarding portability, I was inclined to go for other brands with toolless enclosures, but the whole package becomes extremely portable with the included pouch. You can fit the enclosure, the cable, included mini screwdriver and spare screw and don't even notice it's all there. It would have been nice if the pouch had a way to close it or at least secure the contents, but otherwise it's great.Overall, very happy with the purchase and price-quality ratio (especially when compared to other brands' enclosures). Would definitely recommend it.