MyDigitalSSD M2X NVMe USB-C Enclosure Review

TweakTown's Rating: 91%

The Bottom Line

The M2X has everything you need in a portable enclosure for your spare NVMe m.2 drives.

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To be honest, I'm a bit late on this review. MyDigitalSSD actually intro'd this solution in late October 2018 and I received my sample sometime in late November. That said, these solutions are really beginning to catch on as SSD prices come down and users upgrade to higher capacity boot drives, they are left with low capacity NVMe drives sitting in a drawer.

With USB 3.1 Gen 2 doubling the throughput of the specification up to 10Gbps, we now have a solid mainstream high-performance interface for the masses that keep backwards compatibility for those that haven't made the jump. This allows vendors more flexibility in design so they can offer solutions built for high performance that can also grow with a user.

With the M2X, MyDigitalSSD offers a 2242, 2260 and 2280 compatible enclosure for your NVMe m.2 storage solutions interfaced with USB 3.1 Gen 2 and the Type-C port. They have chosen to use the JMicron JMS583 bridge controller that interfaces the PCIe Gen 3 x2 m.2 to USB 3.1 Gen 2. The enclosure is a single piece aluminum design for the body with aluminum endcaps that are retained with screws. The PCB slides on a set of rails internal to the enclosure.

Compatibility includes Windows and macOS systems with an available USB-C or Type-C port. MSRP of the MyDigitalSSD M2X Enclosure comes in at $36.99 with a one-year warranty.

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Packaging includes an image of the enclosure on the front with a full specifications list along with package contents.

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The scope of delivery includes the enclosure, cables and drive screws along with a screwdriver and assembly diagram.

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The enclosure is quite sleek, all black design with branding to the left. As mentioned, its all-aluminum enclosure with built-in heat sink.

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On the end, we have the USB-C port and activity indicator to the left.

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For testing, I ran the drive through DST in macOS as seen above. Here we reached 956 MB/s read, and 933 MB/s write.

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Testing the drive in Windows with CDM, performance reaches 873 MB/s read, and 875 MB/s write.

The M2X isn't a particularly brilliant solution. The aluminum enclosure is basic with a removable PCB that enables you to slide your drive in, place the included thermal pads and away you go. That said, solutions like this don't need to be much more than the basics mentioned above, and MyDigitalSSD did quite well with this design.

Performance reached the peaks of Gen 2 USB 3.1 at 956 MB/s in macOS and 875 MB/s in Windows. This is on par with marketing performance and the drive used for testing, 970 EVO. Build quality of the enclosure is top notch, the aluminum is around 1mm thick, so there is plenty there to protect your drive and the PCB.

Pricing is what really sets the M2X apart from every other solution as MSRP is coming in at $36.99, that's comparable to the Plugable solution at $69 and countless Amazon enclosures ranging from $40 to $80.

Tyler's Test System Specifications

• Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z370 (buy from Amazon)
• CPU: Intel Core i3 8350K (buy from Amazon)
• RAM: Corsair Vengeance 32GB 4x8GB DDR4 3200 (buy from Amazon)
• Cooler: Corsair Hydro H115i (buy from Amazon)
• Case: Corsair Air 540 (buy from Amazon)
• OS Storage: Samsung 960 EVO 250GB (buy from Amazon)
• Power Supply: Corsair RM850x (buy from Amazon)
• OS: Microsoft Windows 10 (buy from Amazon)
• Wi-Fi NIC: ASUS PCE-AC88 (buy from Amazon)
• 10Gbe NIC: ASUS XG-C100C (buy from Amazon)
• Thunderbolt 3: ASUS Thunderbolt EX3 (buy from Amazon)