Why I stopped recommending pre-built SSDs for Windows PCs – and what to buy instead

Ugreen M.2 NVMe Enclosure

ZDNET’s key takeaways

• Ugreen’s M.2 NVMe Enclosure is on sale on Amazon for $75.
• It’s an easy to use enclosure that doesn’t rely on minute fasteners, and features USB4 speeds of up to 40Gbps.
• If you need a device that supports up to 80Gbps, you’ll want to upgrade.

For a limited time, the Ugreen M.2. NVMe SSD enclosure is just $75 on Amazon, a $35 discount.

External storage drives have become a part of my life nowadays, so much so that I always have a few in my laptop bag. But lately I’ve moved away from pre-built external SSDs and instead buy enclosures and M.2 drives separately. This lets me have the combination of performance, capacity, and cost that suits my needs.

Also: The best M.2 SSDs you can buy

As such, I’ve been testing a lot of enclosures with different strengths. Some put portability at the top of the list, while others, such as the Ugreen 40Gbps USB4 M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure, make performance a priority. 

There are three things that stand out about this Ugreen enclosure that have made it a firm favorite for me — in fact, I now have about five of them!

First, it’s easy to fit M.2 drives. There’s one sensibly-sized screw holding the enclosure together, and another fastener holding the drive in place that’s equally sensible. There’s no having to mess about with tiny fasteners, and my aging fingers and eyes appreciate that.

The fasteners are sensibly sized!

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

Next up, it’s fast, allowing for up to 40Gbps/3,700 MB/s data transfer rates. These obviously depend on the M.2 drive you’re using, but if you want speed, get a fast drive and you’re good to go. It supports drives up to 4TB in a range of form factors: 2230, 2242, 2260, and 2280.

The enclosure is built to accept a range of M.2 drives.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

The enclosure is also well-made. It’s solid and machined from aluminum to dissipate waste heat. A built-in fan that kicks in when the internal temperatures hit 40°C helps the enclosure keep things cool. 

Also: I tried using the world’s thinnest SSD enclosure – it made a big impact on my workflow

The kit also comes with a silicone shelf to protect the enclosure from bumps and scratches.

You can choose the drive to suit your needs.

Adrian Kingsley-Hughes/ZDNET

The enclosure is powered by the excellent ASMedia ASM2426PD chip, which supports USB4/Thunderbolt Gen3 x2, and PCI Express Gen4, and has S.M.A.R.T drive monitoring support. 

ZDNET’s buying advice

All in all, the Ugreen 40Gbps USB4 M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure is an incredible enclosure, and it’s on sale for $75.99. Measuring only 4.72 x 1.89 x 0.75 inches and weighing only seven ounces, it’s a very portable package.

If 40Gbps speed and 4TB of capacity aren’t enough for you, grab the Ugreen 80Gbps M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure. Externally, this enclosure looks the same, but it supports a theoretical 7,000MB/s and M.2 2280 drives up to 8TB. 

The downside is that this enclosure is a lot more expensive (normally priced at $299, but Amazon Prime members can get it for only $209).