Performance:
The test system used in this review is equipped with an Intel Core i7-6700K CPU, GIGABYTE GA-Z170X-UD3 motherboard, 32GB (16GB x 2) of Crucial Ballistix Sport LT DDR4 memory, Samsung 960 PRO 512GB SSD and a GIGABYTE GeForce GTX 1060 WINDFORCE OC 6G graphics card. For the operating system, I installed a fresh copy of Windows 10 Enterprise.
To test the performance of MyDigitalSSD's M2X enclosure, I ran a series of benchmarks using CrystalDiskMark, ATTO and AS SSD. For these tests, I used Western Digital's 1TB WD Black NVMe SSD and Samsung's 2TB 970 EVO SSD. The M2X was plugged directly into one of the USB 3.1 Gen 2 ports on the motherboard.
CrystalDiskMark 5.1.2:
First, I ran a few quick tests using CrystalDiskMark. This benchmark tool measures the performance of a storage device by testing its sequential read and write speeds as well as its random read and write speeds using blocks 512K and 4K in size.
 WD Black NVMe 1TB with M2X |
 WD Black NVMe 1TB |
 Samsung 970 EVO 2TB with M2X |
 Samsung 970 EVO 2TB |
As you can see, the SSDs from WD and Samsung don't perform nearly as well when installed in the M2X. This is to be expected, though, with the enclosure's JMicron JMS583 bridge controller having only two lanes (x2) and the USB 3.1 Gen 2 interface limiting the data transfer speed to 10Gbps.
ATTO Disk Benchmark 2.46:
Next, I used ATTO Disk Benchmark to test the SSDs' sequential read and write speeds. The test was run using blocks ranging in size from 0.5KB to 8192KB and the total length set to 256MB.
 WD Black NVMe 1TB with M2X |
 WD Black NVMe 1TB |
 Samsung 970 EVO 2TB with M2X |
 Samsung 970 EVO 2TB |
AS SSD:
Lastly, I ran a series of tests using AS SSD. Designed specifically for solid state drives, this application contains five synthetic tests which are used to determine the sequential and random read and write performance of a drive.
 WD Black NVMe 1TB with M2X |
 WD Black NVMe 1TB |
 Samsung 970 EVO 2TB with M2X |
 Samsung 970 EVO 2TB |
Final Thoughts:
The M2X is the first product from MyDigitalSSD to come through the 'Labs and, to be honest, they could not have made a better first impression. This compact, yet durable, USB 3.1 Gen 2 equipped enclosure gives users the ability to turn an NVMe SSD into a pocket-sized drive and access their data at speeds in excess of 900 MB/s. This is a lot less than what some of the latest PCIe Gen3 x4 NVMe SSDs are capable of. However, it's still pretty impressive as most SATA-based, external SSDs top out at about half this speed.
The best thing about the M2X is its price. The enclosure sells for about $40 on Amazon. Otherwise, it can be purchased from MyDigitalDiscount for a few dollars less.
