Sabrent NVMe SSD Enclosure | $23 | Amazon
Storage, storage, storage, I love storage, I love hoarding digital bits and putting them in a little tiny black rectangle and looking at all of them, arrayed before me, and pretending that at night when I’m away from them, they all unmount and pop up and have a little parade on my desk. Anyway, here’s a deal on an NVMe SSD enclosure that’ll knock your sock off (just the one—it’s not like it’s a free car) if you’re as in love with storage as I am! This Sabrent enclosure is slim, aluminum, and accommodates both SATA and NVMe, and although it’s not going to get that 40Gbps speed of Thunderbolt 3, the 10Gbps speed it does offer is fast enough for you, old man. It’s also toolless and gets its power from your computer.
Sure, you can get others for cheaper—this SSK one offers the same speed and compatibility, for instance, but it doesn’t appear to support SATA SSDs, and based on the design, I’m not sure how I feel about the heat dissipation (those wavy bumps on the Sabrent one add surface area and make the case one big heat sink). That may not be that big of a concern with an SSD, but I like to be prepared. Reliability and speed may be issues with others! This Orico looks good, but only offers a max 5Gbps, and that low price honestly makes my eyes narrower. But if you don’t mind the speed deficit (and honestly I only care because I’m going to use this thing on my Xbox Series S), go for it!
Oh, and if you need an actual SSD to put in the enclosure, their 1TB and 2TB models are decently-priced. They say they’re on sale, that is, but really those have just been the prices for the last month or so.
Now do yourself a favor and pick this up, then slap an M.2 NVMe SSD in there and enjoy the ride. And by enjoy the ride I mean enjoy the file transfers.