HyperDrive Next USB4 M.2 PCIe enclosure ZDNET's key takeaways The HyperDrive Next USB4 M.2 PCIe enclosure is a $200 accessory that lets you use NVMe SSDs for data storage.
It ensures excellent read and write speeds as well as effective heat management in a durable design.
Using this accessory requires a computer with a Thunderbolt 4 port. View now at HyperDrive View now at B&H Photo Video more buying choices
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As a laptop reviewer, I regularly test accessories that enhance the user experience. Most of the time, these are docking stations or monitors. But I sometimes come across something completely different that changes the way I use a laptop. A case in point is the HyperDrive Next USB M.4 PCIe enclosure.
It's an interesting device. This enclosure has one use: to house SSDs and PCIe modules for data storage. With the right component, it effectively becomes a fancy flash drive. One that ensures speedy file management and, according to the company, the capacity to house machine learning accelerators.
Why we like it
By far my favorite aspect of the enclosure is its speed. The HyperDrive is built to deliver real-world performance for professionals who frequently work with large files. To see how the accessory performs, I ran a series of tests to measure its data transfer speed.
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For this scenario, I used the Acer Swift Edge 14 as the central computer. This laptop has a Thunderbolt 4 port off to the side. Inside the enclosure was a 4TB Samsung 9100 Pro NVMe M.2 SSD. The key numbers to watch for regarding file transfers are read speed, which measures how quickly a computer can access stored data, and write speed, which measures how quickly a computer can save new files. Once everything was set up, I ran these tests with CrystalDiskMark, an open-source benchmarking tool that evaluates solid-state drive performance.
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