I'm using a UGREEN Tool-Free USB-C External M.2 NVMe SSD enclosure with an older NVMe SSD from my laptop. The write speed was around 300 MB/s, but now it's really unstable. During file transfers, the speed often starts high and then plummets to around 30 MB/s. I've been using the same USB cable and the same USB-C port on my laptop. What could be causing this issue? Any advice on what to check would be great!
2 Answers
If you're transferring a lot of smaller files, that can really slow things down because Windows has to manage each one individually, which can cause speed drops. But it seems odd if it happens with just one large file too. Usually, NVMe drives are either fast or not working at all.
One possibility is that your SSD is getting close to full, which can really slow it down. Additionally, if your enclosure doesn't support TRIM commands, that might affect performance too. You should also make sure you leave it plugged in long enough for any internal garbage collection processes to run.
Yeah, heat could also be an issue. If the SSD is overheating, it may start thermal throttling, which will cause significant drops in speed.
It's actually not even half full! It's a 256 GB SSD and I'm below 50% usage. I guess the lack of TRIM support in the enclosure could be affecting it, plus I've been unplugging it right after transferring files, not giving it time for garbage collection.
I’ve noticed it happening even with one big file, so I’m not sure what's going on either. Thanks for the input!