Review on 💥 Transcend 960GB JetDrive 855 Thunderbolt Nvme PCIe Portable SSD: Superior Power and Lightning-Fast Speeds by Antoine Cash

Updated rating: I'm reducing my original 4 star rating to 2 stars because the Transcend SSD isn't working less than a year after installing in a Mac Pro (Late 2013, Trash Can Edition). As mentioned in my original review, although the Transcend drive is listed as an internal replacement for my Mac Pro model, it lacks the built-in heat sink from Apple's original 250GB SSD. While there's no way to prove that the Transcend SSD was killed by overheating, I suspect that was one of the contributing factors. Note. I had an SSD installed; maybe its heat dissipation will improve if used externally in the included Thunderbolt enclosure. My error symptoms were a Mac Pro behaving strangely after applying a security update and attempts to recover data from the drive failed due to a "device error". I installed the smartctl command line utility (when booting from an external drive) and used it to retrieve SMART diagnostic data from a Transcend SSD. Summary: SMART General Health Self-Assessment Result: FAILED! - Available spare parts dropped below threshold - Media has been placed in read-only mode Statistically there are 9 critical alerts, with 0% of available spare parts after 2,851 hours of operation on S 227,667 467 write commands. Although the price and performance were good, after only 1 year of use, the Transcend SSD makes it a deadly bad buy (especially given the time it takes to troubleshoot and identify the source of the problem). was and restored.) The original Apple SSD lasted 5 years with no problems and after Transcend failed I reinstalled the Apple SSD and it still works fine. First rating: Conclusion: Functional and fast. Includes tools to open a MacBook Pro for installation, but *not* open the drive case (or open a Mac Pro "Late 2013" desktop). Also keep in mind that the Thunderbolt cable is quite short (only a few centimeters). I've wanted to upgrade the 250GB SSD in my Mac Pro for a long time (late 2013), but some of the reviews I've researched previously suggested that the performance wasn't as good as the original drive. Based on the specs I was hoping that the performance would be similar to what came with the machine. Here's what I did to prepare the drive for installation on my Mac Pro running OS 10.14 (Mojave): 1) Connected the drive cage to the Mac Pro's Thunderbolt port. Since the Thunderbolt cable from the case is quite short, the case had to be placed directly behind the computer to connect it. The disk was automatically mounted and was available. 2) Since the drive is reformatted for Windows, I used Disk Utility to erase the drive and put a GUID partition table on it (required for the APFS file system used in Mojave). 3) I downloaded the Mojave installer from the Mac App Store (takes some time) 4) Launched Mojave installer and selected Transcend SSD as the target drive 5) Wait for the installation to finish (this also takes some time). Because an SSD was installed, I selected the "Migrate from another Mac or drive" option and had my software, system settings, and user accounts copied from the original internal SSD to the Transcend Thunderbolt SSD. 7) Turn off the computer and disconnect I removed all the cables and peripherals. I was now ready to remove the Transcend SSD from the case and install it in my Mac Pro. The case uses 6 lobe screws, but the tools that came with it were two sizes of 5 lobe screwdrivers ( presumably for opening a MacBook Pro laptop). You'll need a very small 6-blade screwdriver to open the case and remove the screw holding the drive inside. The Mac Pro desktop itself opens easily ( no screwdrivers required), but removing the SSD requires a 6-blade driver, which is slightly larger than the one required for the Transcend case Having found a screwdriver, let's return to the installation: 8) Remove the 4 6-hole screws that hold the Transcend case closed and remove the panel. Set the screws aside.9) Remove the single 6-hole screw holding the SSD to the enclosure and set it aside as well.10) Open the Mac Pro enclosure (simply slide the tab to the side and pull the cylindrical case up and down 11) Remove and set aside one 6-hole screw that secures the SSD to the Mac. 12) Gently slide the original SSD straight up to remove it from the slot. Keep in mind that Apple's documentation warns very strongly against tilting the SSD for a better grip. Make sure you go straight up until it's completely clear. Put the original SSD aside. 13) Carefully remove the Transcend SSD from the case. Slightly rocking from side to side helped a lot to get it. 14) Install the Transcend SSD into the Mac Pro by inserting it directly into the slot, again making sure it is not tilted. 15) Replace the screw that secures the SSD in the Mac Pro. Don't over tighten, but tighten until the SSD is snug and won't move. 16) Place the cover back onto your Mac Pro and slide the tab to secure. SSD to Transcend Thunderbolt Enclosure. 18) Install a 6-pin screw to hold the SSD in the case. 19) Place the plate onto the case and reinstall the four 6 flat head screws to hold it in place. 20) Reconnect all cables and peripherals to your Mac Pro. I encountered no installation gremlins, the Mac Pro booted straight into the Transcend SSD and runs fine. I ran a Blackmagic drive speed test on a Transcend SSD (image attached) and here are the results I got: Write: 1149.6MB/s Read: 1329.6MB/s HDD so I have a lot more disk space without performance loss. The original SSD had a heatsink, which the Transcend SSD doesn't have; Will there be problems if the machine overheats under load, I should keep an eye on that.