There are many M.2 USB4 or Thunderbolt enclosures on the market, but the MAIWO K2024 USB4 enclosure is a little different as it takes up to four M.2 NVMe 2230 to 2280 SSDs and features a button to use the device as 1-to-3 SSD duplicator.
Based on the ASMedia ASM2464PDX USB4 controller, the MAIWO K2024 is suitable for people needing lots of NVMe SSD storage with high-performance random I/Os, for instance for video editing, and users needing to duplicate SSDs quickly and easily, e.g. to duplicate a Raspberry Pi OS installation on several SSDs.
MAIWO K2024 key features:
- Chipset – ASMedia ASM2464PDX USB4/Thunderbolt 3 to PCIe/NVMe controller with USB 3.2 and USB 2.0 backward compatibility
- Storage
- Up to 4x M.2 NVMe M-Key SSDs
- 2230/2242/2260/2280 sizes supported
- Up to 32TB storage when using 4x 8TB SSDs
- Transfer rate of 16 Gbps with one SSD (PCIe Gen4 x1), 10 Gbps each with four SSDs
- Host interface – USB4 with 40Gbps transfer rate through
- Misc
- Power button
- Clone button for 1-to-3 offline SSD cloning without the need for a computer
- SSD status LED; 4x LEDs for cloning status
- Cooling system with thermal pads for the SSDs and a built-in cooling fan
- Magnetic cover for easy installation/removal of SSDs
- Power Supply – 12V/5A (60W) via DC jack
- Dimensions – 145 x 145 x 32mm (aluminum case)
The M.2 USB4 enclosure ships with six silicone plugs, four silicone thermal pads, four aluminum plates, a USB Type-C to Type-C cable, a 60W power adapter, and a power cord. Supported operating systems include Windows, Mac OS, Linux, iOS, and Android, but any OS that supports USB4 or Thunderbolt 3 should work in theory.
There are some limitations as the enclosure was tested up to 1873 MB/s read speed and 1606 MB/s write speed with a single SSD due to the 16 Gbps limitation, while a typical USB4/Thunderbolt SSD enclosure supports up to 3200 MB/s read speed. When you use four SSDs at the same time, the 40 Gbps bandwidth is shared between each storage device, or 10 Gbps each. The company tested the duplication/cloning function with 1TB SSDs and claims it took 4m48s at 880 Mbps to complete the cloning process on the three target SSDs.
One user (on Aliexpress) reported that the MAIWO enclosure works, but its cooling fan was rather noisy, so you may prefer other solutions that do not require a fan as discussed below.
I initially found the MAIWO K2024 on Banggood for $195.99, but that price is for a flash sale, and it normally sells for $249.99. It’s also available on AliExpress for $294.98 with free shipping. While failing to find the product on Amazon, I noticed MAIWO had a store there with a few more options to duplicate NVMe or SATA SSDs that look fanless but not fully enclosed and only support USB 3.2 connection to the host.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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60w to power 4 drives?
Why not? While the ASMedia ASM2464PDX is capable of PCIe Gen4 in SSD direction most probably they limited it to PCIe Gen2 which reduces SSD peak consumption a lot.
I can only imagine the trauma if a visiting kid pokes the “Duplicate!” button when it is being used as a JBOD! I hope there are some interlocks to prevent that from happening :sob: