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Thunderbolt™ 3 512GB NVMe Solid State Drive

List Price : ~~$279.99~~ $199.00 Amazon Rating : (153 Reviews)

Features

THUNDERBOLT 3 SPEED—Reach your creative potential with the Plugable external Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSD. Offers 512 GB of storage with up to 2400+ MB/sec read and up to 1800+ MB/sec write speeds featuring 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 technology
PERFORMANCE—Great for professional content creators needing to transfer and edit high-res content, gamers who want high-performance external libraries, or admins who want to run virtual machines at performance levels not possible before Thunderbolt 3. This 512GB SSD is bus powered with no external power supply required
DURABLE & PORTABLE—Full metal body designed to dissipate heat and protect your portable hard drive. With no moving parts, never worry about losing your data on-the-go. Only slightly larger than a smartphone this SSD is ideal for travel or office use. This SSD NVMe is made to take anywhere with an included carrying bag
COMPATIBILITY—Easy to use with any Thunderbolt 3 system. Drive is pre-formatted in exFAT for Windows, Linux, and Mac (late 2016-2019 MacBook Pro, 2017-2018 iMac/iMac Pro, 2018-2019 MacBook Air). Boot Camp not supported. Linux may have reduced performance in some scenarios. Does not support non-Thunderbolt 3 USB-C ports. No drivers required
3 YEAR WARRANTY—We love our Plugable products, and hope you will too. The TBT3-NVME512 is covered by a 36 month or 800 TBW limited warranty as well as Seattle-based email support

Price:

Expand Your Storage at Unparalleled Speeds

Image of someone taking a picture of their friend, with text that says 2400+ MB/sec read, 1800+ MB/sec write

Faster than your computer’s internal hard drive, the Plugable Thunderbolt 3 512GB NVMe SSD (TBT3-NVME512) hits performance levels not possible before Thunderbolt 3. Connect the drive to a Thunderbolt 3 port to gain 512GB of extra storage with amazing speeds of up to 2400MB/s+ read and 1800MB/s+ write, all without the need for an external power connection.

Speed up your data transfers with leading NVMe and Thunderbolt 3 technologies. No moving parts, no external power, solid aluminum construction, and full-speed 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 connectivity makes the Plugable SSD is perfect for content creators and high-performance users that want top-tier performance in a secure and compact storage solution.

Image of a user using the Plugable Solid State Drive for their video editing work

High Capacity 512GB Storage

A must-have for creators on the go. This SSD delivers high throughput storage perfect for video editors, photographers, and high-performance users.

Transfer and edit high-res content with ease. Store more hours of raw 4K footage. Breeze through projects with ease.

Compact and Portable

Weighing only 6.2oz and with a minimal profile of 108mm x 65mm x 14.5mm it can be tucked in a pocket or bag without hassle.

Includes a carrying bag to protect the anodized aluminum finish and keep your other devices safe from scratches on-the-go.

Image of the Plugable Solid State Drive fitting into a small pouch in a backpack

Durable and Secure

This SSD has a full metal body designed to keep the SSD cool while also protecting your data on the go.

With no moving parts inside, the SSD is even more secure than external HDD making your data less likely to be lost due to damage.

Image of the Plugable Solid State Drive connected to a laptop being used for video editing

Performance of Thunderbolt 3 and NVMe

Harness the speed of Thunderbolt 3 and NVMe technology. Featuring increased bandwidth, lower latency, and increased IOPS, this Plugable SSD is up to 5x faster than SATA SSD technology. This Plugable SSD is up to 4x faster than SATA SSD technology. At full-speed 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 connectivity and maximum-throughput NVMe technology, this SSD is an ideal storage extension for your Thunderbolt 3-equipped workstations and laptops.

The Plugable Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSD works right out of the box, pre-formatted with exFAT to make it compatible and interchangeable with any Thunderbolt 3-enabled Mac or Windows system. Then directly import media into your favorite editing applications, and discover external storage the way it should be.

Plugable's Thunderbolt 3 NVMe 512GB Drive

Compatibility

Only compatible with Thunderbolt 3 enabled systems

Requires Thunderbolt 3-equipped USB-C interface, will not work with standard USB-C
Windows 10, 8.x, or 7 supported (Boot Camp with Windows 10 version 1809 and up is supported)
Linux support varies depending on Linux distribution and Kernel
Not Thunderbolt 1 or 2 Compatible

*Windows 10 (version 1809 and up) users must enable write caching in the Device Manager for maximum write speeds.

*Host systems with PCIe x2 link will have reduced performance due to limited bandwidth. Linux host systems may experience reduced write performance vs Mac/Windows.

Specifications

512GB external storage with PCIe Gen3 x4 link (NVMe module is not user upgradable)
Up to 2400MBps+ read, and 1800MB/s+ write for sequential transfers*
Integrated 18cm/4in 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 cable
Uses the multi-platform exFAT file system (Can be reformatted for use with other file systems)

Power

Port	Placement	Power Host / Device	Connection Type	Notes	Voltage	Amperage	Wattage
Thunderbolt™ 3 to Host	Cable End	Device	Bus Powered (No Power Adapter)	0.0W

Storage

Storage Port Location	Host Connection	Host Connecton Port Specification	Fixed or Detachable Cable	Slot and Media Type	Capacity (If Media Included) or Max Supported Capacity	Chipset
Internal	Thunderbolt™ 3	Thunderbolt™ 3 (40Gbps)	Yes	M.2 NVMe SSD M.2 B Key	512GB

Instructions

Plug the drive into a free Thunderbolt 3 port on your Mac / PC or Thunderbolt 3 docking station. Mac systems will automatically mount the drive with no additional setup needed.

On Windows systems, you may need to authenticate Thunderbolt 3 devices before first use. Device authentication is somewhat intuitive, but a step-by-step guide can be found here:

Thunderbolt 3 Authentication on Windows

Please note: When using Windows 10 (version 1809 and up) users must enable write caching in the Device Manager for maximum write speeds.

Are There Any Benchmark Results Available Showcasing the Drive’s Performance?

Yes! The screenshot below is from a 2019 MacBook Pro 15″ with a PCIe x4 implementation.

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After connecting my drive, why is it not visible in my Operating System?

Our NVMe SSD drives must be connected to a Thunderbolt™ 3 equipped USB-C port. On systems which have a mix of Thunderbolt™ 3 and non-Thunderbolt™ 3 USB-C ports, please ensure the device is connected to a Thunderbolt™ 3 port. Most systems with a mix of ports will have a Thunderbolt symbol next to the Thunderbolt 3 ports.

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In Windows 10 (version 1809 and up) my write speeds are far lower than advertised but my read speeds are OK.

With Windows 10 version 1809 the default removable storage settings are set to have write caching disabled in favor of quickly removing the drive vs needing to “safely remove”. This setting can be changed in the Device Manager. See here for instructions: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4495263/windows-10-1809-change-in-default-removal-policy-for-external-media

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I am unable to format this NVMe SSD in APFS on macOS.

A solution for this issue was found here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8262732

In Disk Utility, switch the View option to “Show All Devices”.
Select the entry named “PCIe SSD Media”, with “TBT3_SSD” indented below it.
Click on Erase.
Change the Scheme to “GUID Partition Map”. The Format choices will then expand to include several APFS choices.
Set the Format to “APFS”.
Press Erase.

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