Expert’s Rating
Pros
- Record-setting USB4 efficiency
- Very reasonably priced for the ilk
- Handsome
- Easy set up of NVMe SSD
Cons
- Cover screw isn’t captive
Our Verdict
Super quick, good-looking, rugged, simple to make use of, and never all that costly, Ugreen’s CM642 USB4 SSD enclosure is a good way to roll your personal high-performance exterior storage.
Price When Reviewed
This worth will present the geolocated pricing textual content for product undefined
Best Pricing Today
Price When Reviewed
$110
Best Prices Today: Ugreen CM642 USB4 enclosure
The Ugreen CM642 is an reasonably priced 40Gbps, USB4 enclosure that allows you to use any kind issue (2230 to 2280) or capability NVMe SSD as quick exterior storage. It’s handsomely designed, and whereas not as quick as some pre-populated USB4 SSDs, nonetheless a lot quick.
Read on to be taught extra, after which take a look at our roundup of the best external drives for comparability.
What are the Ugreen CM642’s options?
The CM642 is svelte, if not diminutive at roughly 4.5-inches lengthy, 1.75-inches huge, and 0.75-inches thick. The gun-metal grey enclosure with copper highlights is essentially steel, and suitably hefty at rather less than 6 ounces. I say suitably to imply it doesn’t really feel low-cost or flimsy within the least. It’s not dangerous wanting both. I prefer it.
A single small, non-captive (watch out) screw permits entry to the 2230/2242/2260/2280, M.2/NVMe slot (beneath) on the within.
Nicely, you should use nearly any small screwdriver — the pinnacle of the screw isn’t micro like many. Nonetheless, Ugreen features a small screwdriver together with Type-A to Type-C and Type-C to Type-C cables. Be certain to make use of these fairly than older Type-C cables to make sure 40Gbps efficiency.
Ugreen features a silicone sleeve (proven beneath) to guard the case from scratches and hold it from scratching different stuff. SSDs don’t want a lot assist relating to shock resistance, nevertheless it’s a pleasant contact, and likewise retains the drive from sliding round on slick surfaces.
Ugreen makes use of ASMedia’s ASM2464PD USB4 chip, which is now displaying up in respectable portions, in order that merchandise just like the CM642 ought to develop into extra broadly accessible. There’s a small, practically noiseless fan to maintain the chip and drive comparatively cool.
How a lot does the Ugreen CM642 value?
At the time of this writing, the CM642 goes for $110 on Amazon. You can get cheaper USB 3.2×2 enclosures that may ship 20Gbps (roughly 2GBps) efficiency. Note, nevertheless, that not like USB 3.2×2 which drops to 10Gbps on Mac Thunderbolt ports, USB4 is totally supported, so that you’ll get the 40Gbps speeds on Apple’s merchandise as properly.
Adding an SSD to the combination will value anyplace from $40 (256GB) to $650 (8TB), with the candy spot being the 1TB ($60) to 2TB ($160) vary. There’s completely no cause to go PCIe 5.0, and even PCIe 4.0 for that matter, although the latter is much extra frequent than PCIe 3.0 lately. USB4 can’t use their further bandwidth, and small-file efficiency received’t be any higher than PCIe 3.0.
Otherwise, my normal NVMe M.2 SSD recommendation applies: Avoid QLC in the event you often write massive quantities of information, get a DRAM design in the event you’re going to run an working system off the drive or need prime random efficiency, and follow cheaper TLC HMB designs in any other case.
The Ugreen CM642 SSD is the quickest USB4 exterior drive we’ve examined.
How quick is the Ugreen CM642?
The excellent news is that the CM642 is the quickest unpopulated USB4 enclosure we’ve examined. Of course, it’s additionally the one unpopulated USB4 enclosure we’ve examined aside from the cheaper, soon-to-be-reviewed Ugreen CM850 the corporate additionally despatched us.
Better information? It’s additionally the quickest, albeit by a really small margin over the populated USB4 SSDs we’ve examined — the Adata SE920 and the OWC 1M2. Of course, I used the very quick 8TB model of WD’s SN850X inside, which little doubt gave the CM642 a bonus.
Random 4K efficiency beneath CrystalDiskMark 8 was additionally glorious. OWC and Lexar weren’t forthcoming concerning the chips inside their SSDs, however we’re guessing they’re additionally the ASMedia controllers.
Note that it is advisable use an excellent 40Gbps cable with the CM642, reminiscent of these offered within the field. Hanging the CM642 off my different, older Type-C cables resulted in 10Gbps-like efficiency.
The 48GB transfers had been additionally top-notch. Fastest ever for a USB4 SSD.
While not gentle years quicker, shaving a pair seconds off the 450GB write time remains to be a win. Again, the CM642 was prime canine in a really quick pack.
The CM642 by no means suffered any thermal associated points, which really places it barely up on its CM850 cousin (to be reviewed quickly on Macworld) in that regard. The CM850 required eradicating its silicon sleeve to finish our 450GB write.
We after all should consider the SN850X’s superior efficiency when tallying the outcomes, besides, it’s apparent the CM642 is able to top-notch velocity. Not half dangerous for a bit over $100.
Should you purchase the Ugreen CM642?
If you have already got a spare NVMe SSD, completely think about leveraging it as exterior storage by way of the CM642. If you’re planning to start out afresh, you’ll be able to nonetheless roll your personal quick exterior storage utilizing it for properly beneath $200 and make use of discount SSDs for increased capacities at cheaper price factors than already populated fashions. An awesome enclosure from Ugreen.
How we check
Drive checks presently make the most of Windows 11, 64-bit working on an X790 (PCIe 4.0/5.0) motherboard/i5-12400 CPU combo with two Kingston Fury 32GB DDR5 4800MHz modules (64GB of reminiscence whole). Both 20Gbps USB and Thunderbolt 4 are built-in to the again panel and Intel CPU/GPU graphics are used. The 48GB switch checks make the most of an ImDisk RAM disk taking on 58GB of the 64GB of whole reminiscence. The 450GB file is transferred from a 2TB Samsung 990 Pro which additionally runs the OS.
Each check is carried out on a newly NTFS-formatted and TRIM’d drive so the outcomes are optimum. Note that in regular use, as a drive fills up, efficiency might lower because of much less NAND for secondary caching, in addition to different components. This will be much less of an element with the present crop of SSDs with far quicker late-generation NAND.
Caveat: The efficiency numbers proven apply solely to the drive we had been shipped and to the capability examined. SSD efficiency can and can range by capability because of extra or fewer chips to shotgun reads/writes throughout and the quantity of NAND accessible for secondary caching. Vendors additionally sometimes swap parts. If you ever discover a big discrepancy between the efficiency you expertise and that which we report, by all means, tell us.