Review on 💨 ineo M.2 NVMe PCIe SSD Enclosure with Built-in Cooling Fan and Write Protection Switch [C2598-NVMe+] by Daniel Ortiz

I have a fully working 1TB M.2 NVMe secondary SSD that is left over from the "warranty repair" that Dell did for my Precision 7510 laptop performed, so I figured it would be a good idea to convert it to an external drive for heavy backups. Dell supports and has a connector for the full USB-C 3.x Thunderbolt specification. Conclusion: After installation and commissioning, the drive works EXCELLENT. I copied a 67.1GB folder containing 77 folders and 13,237 files in just under 5 minutes. Wow! Try it with a regular USB stick and you'll have to wait an hour or two. I'm impressed with the bodywork (see picture). It's a precision machined metal with deep ribs for temperature control. important because when the SSD overheats, the data transfer speed slows down. It's small but heavy. weighs about the same as my iPhone 7+ with case. I suppose I could drive a car over it without damaging it. This beast even has a (cool looking) built-in fan. which didn't work in my initial testing (I'm assuming it's not broken. I'd be concerned if it briefly activated during testing). There were NO other options for an NVMe SSD enclosure with a fan, and there were only a few with massive fins. This guy is by far the best in this department. Another great feature is a tiny switch to the left of the blue indicator that lets you "lock" the drive so it's read-only instead of write-protected. Nice feature. Again I have not seen it on other listings. Connection cable "universal". either for a USB-C port (aka Thunderbolt) with rounded edges, or for a traditional larger USB-A port with squared edges. Of course, the speed of USB-A depends on the internals of the computer. It's all one cable (convenient). A small adapter plug at the end converts the cable's USB-A connector to a USB-C connector. The picture shows that he is in place. A thoughtful feature is the inclusion of a drawstring pouch that has enough room for the case, cable, and possibly a few extra standard-sized USB drives. I love this attention to detail. PROBLEMS: all minor but only .1. There are five tiny machine screws. one is slightly larger than the others. The "big" screw is used to fix the SSD when you press it down; The other four are used to attach the top of the case to the bottom. I almost ordered a replacement when I couldn't find the fifth "big" screw. filled out a form etc. then proceeded to repackage it. and so! Screw came out of hiding. A friendly Revain representative canceled the refund for me over the phone.2. A screwdriver was provided. and much to my delight, it was slightly magnetic at the top, making it easy to "grab" the screws and set them in place. I didn't get it at first. The screws are too small to lift with fingers. I pulled out my tweezers - then I noticed that the screwdriver is magnetic.3. At least "Instructions". reasonable as the installation is really easy. But it would be nice if they mentioned the magnetic feature. Likewise . They provide a "silicone pad" that they place between the top of the installed SSD and the bottom of the device's large top cover. presumably to isolate the exposed tracks on the SSD from the metal cover. The instructions DO NOT mention that you need to remove the clear strip from one side to allow the adhesive to hold it in place on the SSD.4. Commissioning was a bit bumpy. I booted up the computer and then plugged in the drive. Please note that the PC already has another SSD drive which is the same as the C drive, so I was 100% sure it could 'read' this new drive (as long as the case was running). I plugged it into a Thunderbolt USB-C port and opened File Explorer. At first he didn't "see" the disk. I played around with the plugs a bit. However, I think Windows just gave it a little thought. When drive (E) finally showed up in Explorer, a Windows popup asked to scan the drive. I chose the default and it seemed to end up with "1024" (GB) in the panel. However, when I tried to open the drive by double-clicking, it said it was unavailable. I unplugged it and plugged it back in (no "extract" option in the tray). Still wouldn't let me access.6. So I left it plugged in and restarted my computer. When I returned to Windows and checked the hard drive, it was fully accessible. I made a few copies of PC>External using large folders with many attachments. Likei Split! Exactly what I was hoping for. 67.1GB in less than 5 minutes!7. Then, with Windows open, I used the "Eject" option in the taskbar (which appeared after a reboot) to unmount the drive. Then I connected it again. Immediately, a popup asked me if I wanted to scan it. I skipped that and the explorer window popped up immediately. Ideal. Throw it away again.8. This time I removed the USB-C adapter and plugged it into one of the USB-A ports, which I believe support the full-speed 3.x protocol. I deleted the 67.1GB folder and then copied it again from the PC (using this alternate port). Apparently the PC maintained a similar speed through this port as it only took about 5 minutes to copy again. An interesting note. At this point, the PC's internal fan turned on a bit (the Xeon processor seems to be working hard). but an external case fan never did.9. Okay now I repeated step 8, deleted the folder again, ejected and then plugged in the USB-A connector on the other side of the Dell where (if I remember correctly) the three additional USB-A ports are a conventional one are non-Thunderbolt spec This machine is three years old so I'm not sure what USB level they have. Of course at least 2.x, maybe 3.0. The tiny "battery" icon on the side of the device seems to be pointing to the USB-A port on the left that I just unplugged, it can provide higher power output for devices that draw a lot of power.10 . I copied the 67.1GB folder again. Apparently, the USB-A ports on the right edge are a bit slower. but still the entire folder is copied in just 6 minutes. This would take over an hour with a typical 256GB flash drive.11. Final exam. and the ONLY SURPRISE. With the drive connected after the large folder was copied, I flipped the tiny "lock" switch on the case, which should make the drive read-only. After that I tried copying a few files and they copied without any problems. like that . You cannot enable the write-protect feature *while* the drive is connected. When I tried to eject the drive (when the switch was still "locked") it refused to eject until I flipped the switch back to the unlocked position. . Then he threw out well.12. This time I flipped the switch to the lock position before plugging it back into the car. The explorer window opened the same way. When I tried to copy a few files, Windows told me the drive was read-only (as it should be). And this time when I used the tray eject function it worked fine (with the switch in the locked position). I am very satisfied with this product!