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Which exact SSDs are you looking to use?
Thunderbolt 3/4 both use 4-lane PCIe3.0 links in PCIe tunnelling mode, giving ~2.8GB/s effective bandwidth for read and write when used with a suitable NVMe SSD inside a suitable Thunderbolt external chassis.
I have several drives set up like this; a couple using 2TB Samsung 980 Pro M.2, and one using a 2TB WD SN850. All three achieve 2.8GB/s sequential read/write speeds via TB, which is limited by the TB interface.
I used to buy Jeyi/Yottamaster branded TB-NVMe chassis off Ali Express, but they’re on Amazon now also. They all use the same Intel controllers. Last one I assembled, I used an Acasis TBU405 enclosure, which supports dual-mode Thunderbolt and USB4, so works with any USB port as well, not just Thunderbolt.
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ectoplasmosis
@cornelius_blackfoot
can someone explain to the difference between pcie 4.0/ pcie 3.0 and thunderbolt, and how usb - c fits into the equation, I'm looking to cobble together some external drives using ssd's and wanted to know whether my macbook pro (16.1, one of the last of the intel ones) will get the benefit of pcie 4.
this very much feels like a rabbit hole which will send me back to just paying the money for a samsung shield t7 or a sandisk extreme portable drive, but I'm looking to save some money where I can.
Thanks