Sabrent EC-SSD2 Dual-Drive NVMe USB Type-C Enclosure Review

TweakTown's Rating: 90%

The Bottom Line

Sabrent has delivered once again with a unique dual-drive enclosure that includes offline-clone.

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Sabrent has had several NVMe enclosures come to market over the last year or so and more recently launched a set of dual-drive platforms for those wanting to consolidate any NVME drives they have floating around. The first solution we will look at is the EC-SSD2.

The EC-SSD2 is a dual-drive NVMe enclosure that supports m.2 form factor drives and a 10Gbps USB-C interface for connectivity. In addition, the enclosure offers active cooling through a 50mm fan integrated into the enclosure and an offline cloning feature for those that need the ability to clone without a PC.

Compatibility includes M.2 "M Key" NVMe in the 2230,2242,2260,2280 and 22100 form factors. MSRP of the EC-SSD2 comes in at $199.99 with a one-year warranty. The current market price can be found below.

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The packaging is quite similar to many solutions reviewed in the past-white box colorway with Sabrent branding up top and an image of the enclosure below.

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Unboxing, we have the enclosure, USB cables, and power adapter.

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First, look at the drive; we have holes for the cooling fan above LEDs for each drive. Offline clone is handled through the hardware button below with four LEDs to denote status.

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The enclosure offers USB-C connectivity, a power button, and DC input on the edge; activity LED to the far left.

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Internally, the EC-SSD2 has a heatsinked top plate that contacts the SSDs for improved dissipation. The PCB has holes cut to pass air and serve as a place for securing the drives.

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We loaded up the EC-SSD2 with Rocket4 Plus drives for testing.

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This enclosure does not allow you to stripe the internal drives, so testing includes a run-through CDM, which shows 1045 MB/s read and 992 MB/s write.

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As a secondary test, we run our sustained write test on the enclosure with the Rocket4 Plus drives installed as seen in the chart; it's not as quick as the Thunderbolt powered EC-T3DN, but does offer a touch under 700 MB/s sustained over 200GB.

The EC-SSD2 is one of the more unique enclosures that have come across my desk. Build quality is on point with an all-metal enclosure, and tool-less drive installation improves the overall experience.

The enclosure offered performance on par with 10Gbps USB 3.2 Gen 2 specifications. In CDM, we reached a touch over 1000 MB/s at 1045 MB/s read, while writer performance came in at 992 MB/s. Sustained performance testing offered a 700 MB/s write speed over 200GB, handling it just over 4 minutes.

Pricing gives the EC-SSD2 an MSRP of $199.99, making it a quite expensive enclosure. None the less it is a unique device, one I haven't seen anyone clone or copy just yet. If you are in the market for a solution such as the EC-SSD2, check the latest pricing at the beginning of the article.

External Storage Test System

• System: XPG Xenia Xe