MP All Models External TB3 NVMe SSD - only 800 MB/s write speed

[F-Train]

I returned the 970 EVO plus 2tb and upgraded to 980 Pro, didnt want to deal with another return if the elpis 970 EVO Plus performed just as bad.

It’s frustrating since 970 Evo pre-plus works flawlessly. Oh well

The 980 Pro is one of the options that I'm considering. Sounds like it's working out for you. Which enclosure are you using?

 

[funkahdafi]

Has anyone tried the 980? Which is supposedly the successor to the 970 Evo Plus (They dropped the Evo name for the 980 generation). It has no DRAM so is cheaper and instead uses a little bit of system RAM, which is called HMB. I have a feeling that is not going to work well in a TB3 caddy.

The 980 Pro is not the successor to the 970 Evo (Plus). It's the successor to the 970 Pro. Evo and Pro are two different product lines (Evo being the budget SSD, Pro being the "high-end" SSD).

 

[Ploki]

The 980 Pro is one of the options that I'm considering. Sounds like it's woking out for you. Which enclosure are you using?

Haven't received the 980 Pro yet unfortunately.
Using JEYI from AliExpress, original run from late 2018.

speeds with 970 EVO: 2500/2200 r/w
970 EvO Plus 2500/900 r/w

will post 980 pro speeds when i get them

The 980 Pro is not the successor to the 970 Evo (Plus). It's the successor to the 970 Pro. Evo and Pro are two different product lines (Evo being the budget SSD, Pro being the "high-end" SSD).

980 Pro is not a successor to 970 Pro in any real sense, 970 Pro was MLC, 980 Pro is TLC like 970 EVO / EVO Plus.

980 Pro however is PCIe 4.0, while 970 EVO Plus is PCIe 3.0 like original 970 EVO and 970 Pro.

There's also 980 (nonpro), also PCIe. Performs similar to 970 EVO Plus, slower reads but faster writes.

 

[indiekiduk]

The 980 Pro is not the successor to the 970 Evo (Plus). It's the successor to the 970 Pro. Evo and Pro are two different product lines (Evo being the budget SSD, Pro being the "high-end" SSD).

Sorry I should have said 980 (non-pro) to clarify. Has anyone tried 980 (non-pro) in a TB3 caddy?

 

[bsbeamer]

Has anyone tried 980 (non-pro) in a TB3 caddy?

Until very recently, I had not seen or found standard 980 models (yellow accents on label) in capacities other than 250GB and 500GB within the USA and largely paid no attention to them. Standard SATA SSDs were more useful for my work at those capacities.

Best Buy and B&H currently have the 1TB model in stock with model number MZ-V8V1T0B/AM. Amazon only has through some random 3rd parties that I likely would never buy from. I'm guessing supply chain issues behind this.

The standard/non-pro 980 uses the Samsung Pablo controller. The 980 PRO uses the Samsung Elpsis controller. In the past, the controller is really what determined any issues with macOS (not capacity or specific model).

Separately, there are some adapters that do not like PCIe 4.0 based blades for whatever reason. Personally have not yet run into that issue with Orico adapters. Other brand/make adapters do not like 2TB (or larger) blades at all. Some will work with single sided 2TB, but generally have performance issues compared to the 1TB siblings (which I assume is heat related). Some adapters do not work with double-sided blades at all.

 

[godzfire]

Yea you can't find the non pro 980 anywhere in any of the regular places.

 

[bsbeamer]

Some who are holding out for an M1/AS MP (or found this thread) might want to read this report:

M1 Mac Thunderbolt 4 ports mostly don't support 10Gb/s speed - 9to5Mac

Pro users of M1 Macs have reported disappointing transfer speeds with external SSDs, and tests appear to show that most M1 Mac Thunderbolt 4.

9to5mac.com

 

[funkahdafi]

Some who are holding out for an M1/AS MP (or found this thread) might want to read this report:

M1 Mac Thunderbolt 4 ports mostly don't support 10Gb/s speed - 9to5Mac

Pro users of M1 Macs have reported disappointing transfer speeds with external SSDs, and tests appear to show that most M1 Mac Thunderbolt 4.

9to5mac.com

Thunderbolt 4 does not have to support all USB standards as per its specification. If you're trying to hook up a USB SSD enclosure to a Thunderbolt port, you're doing it wrong. Use a Thunderbolt enclosure. That's why it's called Thunderbolt ports and not USB ports.

 

[joevt]

Some who are holding out for an M1/AS MP (or found this thread) might want to read this report:

M1 Mac Thunderbolt 4 ports mostly don't support 10Gb/s speed - 9to5Mac

Pro users of M1 Macs have reported disappointing transfer speeds with external SSDs, and tests appear to show that most M1 Mac Thunderbolt 4.

9to5mac.com

The USB problems have already been discussed at https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...ally-10gb-s-also-definitely-not-usb4.2269777/
Read it for more info.

 

[Ploki]

wtf, EVO 1TB 95% full does 1700mb/s write while a brand new EVO 970 Plus 50% free space does measly 900mb/s.

SAME port, Same cable, same enclosure.

Here we go
Old full 970 EVO 1TB,
brand new 970 EVO Plus 2TB
brand new 980 Pro 2TB

 

[F-Train]

The following post shows the Blackmagic Disk Speed read and write results that I got yesterday with a new 2TB Samsung EVO Plus in a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure (TekQ Cube): https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...orage-read-write-speeds.2340127/post-31032781

As the post below it says, I expect to receive a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro today. I'll be posting those results as well. The 980 Pro costs quite a bit more, but I expect a significant improvement in write speed.

 

[funkahdafi]

Can't wait to see those results, @F-Train.

 

[F-Train]

The following post shows the Blackmagic Disk Speed read and write results that I got yesterday with a new 2TB Samsung EVO Plus in a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure (TekQ Cube): https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...orage-read-write-speeds.2340127/post-31032781

As the post below it says, I expect to receive a 2TB Samsung 980 Pro today. I'll be posting those results as well. The 980 Pro costs quite a bit more, but I expect a significant improvement in write speed.

My Samsung 980 Pro results are here in post #37: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...orage-read-write-speeds.2340127/post-31035631

There is a huge difference in write speed.

 

[F-Train]

Can't wait to see those results, @F-Train.

Quite a difference. In a Thunderbolt 3 enclosure, the 980 Pro write speed, at least on Blackmagic's Disk Speed test, turns out to be more than double the 970 EVO Plus's write speed.

 

[funkahdafi]

Incredible. Thanks for sharing!

 

[F-Train]

At the request of @Ploki, I've added results of a test of the Samsung 980 Pro using Amorphous Disk Mark: https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...orage-read-write-speeds.2340127/post-31036939

 

[godzfire]

I wanted to wait until I got a 2nd TB3 enclosure to be absolutely sure before I contacted Samsung, but no matter what TB3 case I use with my 970 Evo Plus TB, it maxes out at ~1300 write, half of what it should be getting. They're hearing from me tomorrow.

NVME Enclosure - ACASIS FA-401

NVME Enclosure - TREBLEET TRE-SIG-TB3-NV

 

[dcmaccam]

I opened up my Samsung X5 Thunderbolt drive and replaced the original 500GB drive with a 2TB Samsung 970 EVO Plus and only getting 800MB/s write 2500MB/s read. Found a 500GB WD 750_Black so I thought I would try that and all good after that. So I might return/sell the 2TB and purchase a 1TB WD 750_Black. It also seems to run a lot cooler.

I now believe that I may also have an issue with the 1TB WD 750_Black with slow write speeds. Maybe a controller change in that drive ??

Also any free Mac Apps that I can use to monitor/check the temps/usage of an SSD

 

[godzfire]

I called Samsung Memory Services yesterday about the 970 Evo Plus and only getting half (~1200) of the promised write speeds that's been a well documented for MacOS and that specific SSD model. The guy on the phone basically acknowledged it COULD be a problem buy because I didn't have an internal machine to test it with (only external enclosures), he couldn't rule out my external case/computer being the issue (despite me explaining to him that I tested multiple connections and different cases, and this is a known documented issue). He sent me a SSD RMA to fill out and include all the information I've gathered and forum links to support my claim.

I'm asking the community: For anyone who has 970 Evo Plus and macOS, can you please describe what speeds you are getting and if you initiated an RMA and how it went?

 

[godzfire]

I called Samsung Memory Services yesterday about the 970 Evo Plus and only getting half (~1200) of the promised write speeds that's been a well documented for MacOS and that specific SSD model. The guy on the phone basically acknowledged it COULD be a problem buy because I didn't have an internal machine to test it with (only external enclosures), he couldn't rule out my external case/computer being the issue (despite me explaining to him that I tested multiple connections and different cases, and this is a known documented issue). He sent me a SSD RMA to fill out and include all the information I've gathered and forum links to support my claim.

I'm asking the community: For anyone who has 970 Evo Plus and macOS, can you please describe what speeds you are getting and if you initiated an RMA and how it went?

Also does anyone have the revision 2 (elpis chipset) version of the 970 Evo Plus, and if so, does that fix the write speed issue?

FYI here is an article on the controller switch: https://www.tomshardware.com/news/samsung-is-swapping-ssd-parts-too

 

[dcmaccam]

My 2TB 970 EVO Plus seems to have the new box which seems to indicate new version. The model number is MZV7S2T0BWBuild date 09/2021
Don't know if it has the new controller or not. Don't really want to pull the label off to find out. I think the firmware is 2B2QEXM7

 

[bsbeamer]

MZV7S2T0BW = Samsung Phoenix Controller

MZ-V7S2T0 | MZ-V7S2T0BW | AU

Samsung 970 EVO Plus NVMe SSD with a latest V-NAND and Samsung†s intelligent TurboWrite technology delivers the next-generation SSD performance

www.samsung.com

FYI, 2B2QEXM7 is not the latest firmware. 4B2QEXM7 is available:

Tool & Software Download | Samsung Semiconductor Global

Download various software related to your product, including Samsung Magician, designed for use with Samsung's memory products, and find related information.

semiconductor.samsung.com

And for Mac users who want to update firmware, might want to scan the first post in this thread. Might be helpful.

Samsung M.2 970 EVO Plus firmware upgrade problem solved

EDIT : If you buy a Samsung 970 EVO M.2 blade, install it but before formatting check the FIRMWARE revision in " About this Mac/ NVMe "first. It should be 2B2QEXM7. If it is 1B2QEXM7 you will have problems with the blade. ==================================================== I bought a 500gb...

forums.macrumors.com

 

[dcmaccam]

Is that not the firmware not for the one with the other controller? Anyway I don't have any way to update the one I have. Plus still don't know if it will solve the slow write problem in my Samsung X5 Thunderbolt enclosure.

 

[godzfire]

The old Phoenix controller firmware only is compatible with and goes up to the 2x version. The Elpis controller is 3x and can be updated to 4x, but no one has commented yet who owns a version with the new controller if they are getting proper speeds.

 

[MrAverigeUser]

My 2TB 970 EVO Plus seems to have the new box which seems to indicate new version. The model number is MZV7S2T0BWBuild date 09/2021
Don't know if it has the new controller or not. Don't really want to pull the label off to find out. I think the firmware is 2B2QEXM7

FYI:

My 2 Samsung 970 EVO plus 2 TB blades have as well the 2.xxx Firmware and the Phoenix controller, they were produced in 7/2021.

I did not use them with an external device, but internally in my MBP 15“ from 2015 and get 2.800 read and write. So, at least if used internally, they deliver what Samsung promised. Posted my results with blackmagic test about a month before, so everyone can have a look at those data.

so, in my opinion, as the Samsung 970 EVO pro evidently delivers well if used internally, the problem is less on Samsung‘s side, but perhaps more one of the external enclosure - be it overheating, electronically hardware-problems or mal-adapted internal software Of the enclosure ?