Cable Matters 10Gbps Aluminum Dual Bay 2.5 Inch External SSD Enclosure (USB C Enclosure) with USB-C and USB-A Cables Supporting RAID 1 and RAID 0 - Thunderbolt 4 / USB4 / Thunderbolt 3 Port Compatible

I love this thing: It was was crazy easy to set up and has been rock solid for my scenario (though for just a few days so far). I will update this review if I start having problems in the next few weeks. (While I don't doubt the various trouble scenarios others have described, those troublesome reports evidently do not match my own use case.)I wanted a compact external enclosure capable to use with a laptop while travelling away from home. The enclosure needs to be capable of RAID 0, RAID 1, and JBOD. I am using a pair of Samsung QVO 4TB SSDs. The laptop I'm using has a USB 3.1 port with USB-C connector. Finally, I want an easy-to-find interface / cable for supplemental power, in case I need it but can't easily and quickly get the most up-to-date gear.Installation and Configuration: It took maybe five minutes to install SSDs and configure the device. Installing the drives can be tool-less, but screws and a small Phillips-head screwdriver are enclosed for attaching the drives to the enclosure tray. (I used the screws.) DIP-switch configuration is easily accessible on the drive tray, with the various options clearly labelled (JBOD, RAID 0, RAID 1, or "Big"). Once the drives are in and DIP switches set, plug the device in to the laptop for power and then use a paper clip to press the recessed 'reset' button. (Note: It seems like pressing the 'reset' button will reconfigure and delete all data no matter which option you select. You've been warned!) Finally, partition and format the drive (or drives) using your operating system. In five minutes the device is up and running; no muss, no fuss, no bother.Now for Performance:In my scenario, the device gets plenty of power and works reliably on bus power from my laptop's USB-C port using only the enclosed short USB-C cable. (As I write this, the device has been continuously writing and reading data for over 24 hours with no glitches or errors were encountered. I even physically moved the enclosure around while it was working to test the connections using the enclosed USB cable; no issues encountered.)The device behaves and performs as expected in all modes: Using CrystalDriveMark, I get nearly the full rated read and write speed from both SSDs (configured as JBOD). I get nearly that speed in RAID 1 and almost double speed reading when configured as RAID 0. As expected, the onboard RAID controller does impose a performance cost when writing in either RAID mode. The RAID controller is built-in; no drivers or added software is needed.The enclosure passes full SMART data for all enclosed drives -- both CrystalDriveInfo and HD Sentinel show all expected info from both drives in all modes (JBOD, "Big," or either RAID setting).Cooling is good enough: While in continuous use for over 24 hours (downloading software and data), both installed drives report temperatures holding between 45 and 50 degrees C. The box itself is warm but not hot to the touch.The device also seems to get plenty of power from a generic Apple USB power plug (from an older iPad) and a random micro-USB cable from the drug store. I tested this while accessing the device on an old desktop system through a USB 2.0 port (but I didn't stress test it with hard reads and writes; your mileage could vary). I am happy this device uses the ubiquitous micro-USB for supplemental power; you can easily get those cables and a matching power plug at a corner shop, drug store, or gas station in any town pretty much anywhere in the world, no matter how small and off the beaten path.

I have this set up with two Samsung 860 Evo SSDs. It’s currently in RAID 0 and scoring about 875MB/ second in BM for both reads and writes. I copied a 675GB folder from another drive in 12:30.I haven’t decided whether I’ll live it up with the RAID speeds or play it safe in a BIG configuration. Connected to my iMac Pro, the enclosure is recognized immediately— there are no hurdles to formatting and no drivers required. Because one of my two drives was previously formatted, I needed to use a paper clip to hit the “reset” button which erases both drives and presents them properly. Installation was toolless and simple.The device is powered by the single (short) USB-C cable, and the DIP switches are easy enough to access but are inside the case so you can’t change them inadvertently.It’s worth mentioning that my iMac forcibly ejected the drive whenever it went to sleep. That’s disappointing, but disabling “put hard drives to sleep” in settings fixed this.Looks-wise it’s pretty good. It’s about the same dark grey color as my Mac and the blue leds don’t face me. The FCC fine print is all facing out at you, though, and with the cables on the other side there’s no real way to hide them. Ultimately I forget it’s there.Barring some sort of electronics failure, I would recommend this device. It’s cheap, easy to set up and performs well.

I bought this to make a dual SSD RAID storage for my xbox series x. Being a console, hardware controlled raid was a necessity, which already limits choice and increases the price. I had 1st bought a similar product that functions very similar, and its form/function design was very close for half the price. After initially turning it on (1st RAID enclosure) and following directions to configure and format the drives, it seemed to only recognize one of my SSD drives but not the combined space (RAID0). The indicator light for the one drive looked like it was continuously loading nothing and wouldn't change no matter what the configured mode was set to, nor would it allow any formatting of either of the drives... I promptly returned the product.I decided to spend a little bit more money and buy something with a different design to make sure I wasn't buying cloned knock-off Chinese crap. I than came across this product, and because it was similar in form and simplicity, being the halfway point to the next Price point in highly-rated products- I decided to try this before forking out for the top-dollar choice. Once again I followed the directions for configuration and initializing the SSDs.... and this time, as soon as I plugged it into my laptop to format the drive's, it worked right away. The drives were configured in the manner I had set it to, and the entire capacity was available to format, which was successfully completed quickly.And then came the ultimate test- to plug it into my xbox and see if it would operate normally... It did indeed operate as it is supposed to, with the improved speed I had sought to achieve with dual SSDs working in tandem.So when you actually need something complex to work, you really do get what you pay for! Optingfor the low-ball price point for Chinese crap never seems to work out.