Shopping for building a fast, affordable USB 3.1 or Thunderbolt 3 compatible SSD backup drive using off the shelf M.2 PCIe NVMe SSD modules? The best USB 3.1 SSD enclosures for a DIY backup device should incorporate these ideal features:

MyDigitalSSD M.2 NVME SSD Enclosure

Ultra-Fast DIY USB-C Mac Drive Solution

• Chipset with support FULL Gen2 10Gbps speeds (Not just 5Gbps Gen1 which would bottleneck performance.)
• Accept a variety of M.2 SSD blade lengths up to 80 millimeters to give you the most flexibility in your solid state drive choices.
• A SSD blade enclosure made of aluminum to help dissipate the heat that these modules crank out during heavy Read/Write bursts.
• Support UASP protocol to ensure maximum data transfer rates that older BOT protocols can't match.
• Come with BOTH new USB-C Type-C and conventional USB 3.0 Type-A cables for connection to Macs or PC's old or new.
• Be easy to assemble: Either a SSD enclosure that's tool-free or has a minimum number of screws.

For peak performance, we recommend the bleeding edge Samsumg Evo 970 SSD blade, however more affordable M.2 modules like the Crucial P1 or Western Digital's WD Black series are fine choices as well.

High-Performance NVMe SSD Blade For Mac Backup Drives

M.2 PCIe Solid-State Drive Module

New Mac models with 3rd generation Thunderbolt ports deserve an equally fast backup solution. Samsung's performance leadership with SSD's in general makes their Apple compatible Samsung X5 Thunderbolt 3 external SSD drive a good choice. With sequential Reads up to 2800MBps and Writes in the 2300 MBps range, the speeds will blow away your previous notions of how fast data backups and file transfers can be.

Thunderbolt 3 Samsung External SSD

500GB, 1TB and 2TB Storage Capacities

The Mac friendly X5 Thunderbolt 3 portable drive uses Samsung's NVMe PCIe based blades using the same 64-layer V-NAND flash as their highly regarded 860 EVO series laptop SSDs. The solid-state drive is supported on recent MacBooks and Macintosh desktop computers with the modern Thunderbolt 3 ports running MacOS Sierra, High Sierra and Mojave.

Although the 1TB and 2TB models may be a bit pricey for the average Macintosh owner, the 500GB version of the X5 solid-state drive is VERY price competitive with all the other smaller capacity Thunderbolt3 solid-state drives competing in this space.

You might think 'Cheap' and 'ThunderBolt' are an oxymoron and shouldn't be used in the same sentence. Indeed, the emerging market for Apple compatible ThunderBolt 3 backup drives are likely to induce sticker shock. But you may have been searching the internet for the 'cheapest thunderbolt 3 ssd' and here is what we recommend:

Cheap Thunderbolt3 SSD Drive

OWC Envoy Pro EX 500GB SSD

The collapsing cost of solid-state flash memory helps. Conventional off-the-shelf 2.5" SATA SSD's have become ridiculously cheap - and the trend towards high-density PCIe SSD modules / blades are even faster using far less raw materials and space. So Thunderbolt 3 SSD blade drives are appearing (or have been announced) leveraging the prowess of both technologies. We've seen LaCie introduce a $1999 Bolt 3 SSD months ahead of everyone else at a price few mortals could justifiably afford. We've also seen OWC ship their ThunderBlade(tm) 3 portable drive with prices ranging from $1199-$4999 MSRP. Ouch!

Fortunately some low-cost portable SSD ThunderBolt 3 drive alternatives came to market early. Both CableMatters and Plugable's TB3 external SSD's appear to be pretty much identical OEM devices, both 480GB in a portable form-factor with a short 6 inch ThunderBolt 3 cable integrated into the drive's case. These are shipping from both Plugable and Cable Matters with Plugable's offering currently about 30 bucks cheaper than the other. Priced just under $300 USD,they were temporarily the cheapest ThunderBolt3 SSD of 2018 and will deliver the most bang for the buck. The tradeoffs include incompatibility with USB 3.1, lack of Thunderbolt 3 pass-through ports for other devices and a non-removable cable.

OWC now sells their 'low priced' Envoy Pro EX ThunderBolt 3 SSD for Mac in either very affordable 240GB or 500GB versions. They're now on the shelves or available at online retailers.

As more competition arrives in force, downward price pressures will help somewhat. The insanely competitive USB 3.0 and USB 3.1 USB-C Mac backup drive market for HDD and SSD storage for Apple computers has become ridiculously cheap, TBolt will and always has carried a price premium for more demanding enterprise and professional market applications.

We're seeing the first of the fastest Thunderbolt 3 SSD drives ever made hitting the market. It's always been hard to say 'cheap' and 'Thunderbolt' in the same sentence when compared to low-cost USB 3.0 and 3.1 drives. However, these two kinda cheap ThunderBolt3 SSD's are within financial reach of the average Mac user.

These screamingly fast full 40Gbps Thunderbolt3 SSD drives from CableMatters and Plugable use PCIe NVMe SSD blade modules to achieve their impressive Read / Write speeds never before seen in consumer storage with a price tag near or just under $300 USD. For well under $1/Gigabyte they can deliver up to 2400MBps Reads and 1200MBps writes.

Cheap ThunderBolt 3 SSD

480GB - TBolt3 ONLY

Cheapest ThunderBolt3 SSD
480GB - TBolt3 ONLY

These currently shipping drives from Cable Matters and Plugable both offer 480GB solid-state modules tied to a ThunderBolt 3 ONLY interface. Note that a new Mac's ThunderBolt 3 ports transmit BOTH native 40GbpsTBolt3 AND 10Gbps USB 3.1 Gen 2 protocols. However the two drives featured above do not operate on Type-C ports in USB 3.1 mode. So they are ThunderBolt 3 ONLY.

Also note that on some PC and Mac computer models (notably the first 2016 MacBook Pro series), some ThunderBolt 3 ports might operate at a maximum of 20Gbps -- Not the maximum 40Gbps. In these cases, the cheapest ThunderBolt 3 drives shown above will perform at somewhat lower speeds due to the reduced available bandwidth. Confusing, huh?

About the size of an SD flash memory card or postage stamp and weighing just 1 gram, the new Ball Grid Array (BGA) SSD form factor is almost an inevitability for eventual use in MacBook laptops and Apple iPads.

About a fourth the size of currently typical 22mm x 80mm M.2 PCIe SDS modules, two of the emerging BGA SSD sizes are 12mm x 14mm or 16mm x 20mm. This space savings matter. With motherboards shrinking in size drastically, much of the available space in a notebook or tablet are now devoted to batteries, and that's just that much more space that using a BGA SSD will leave for higher capacity batteries.

Some of the more immediate benefits of BGA solid-state drives will be better heat dissipation directly through the motherboard's surface. Able to operate a lower voltages down to 1.8v, the amount of heat generated will be significantly reduced as well - while still delivering the astonishing Read/Write speeds that PCIe flash memory is capable of.

Samsung's already begun high-capacity production of 3, 16mm x 20mm Ball Grid Array modules in 128 GB, 256 GB, and 512 GB capacities using 48-layer MLC V-NAND that can deliver up to 1500MB/s Read speeds. And you can bet Apple's already testing them in lab prototypes of MacBook and iPads. When such products reach market isn't far off.

Pondering an Apple computer solid-state drive upgrade that uses a mSATA SSD form-factor? Although Apple NEVER used this type of widely standardized SSD card in any of it's computers, they were and still are very common in PC notebooks. That said, there's still ways to for Mac users take advantage of their small size and speed.

Mac Compatible Samsung EVO mSATA SSD

50mm - 2" Solid State Drive Module

For those with older MacBook's or Mac mini's that used conventional 2.5 inch SATA notebook drives, a very affordable 2.5" SATA to mSATA adapter can be used to retrofit a mSATA card to a standard laptop drive form.

Syba Laptop Drive Enclosure

mSATA To 2.5" Converter

There are also Apple users who might want to explore mSATA based SSD backup drives for their OSX setup. Ready made storage solutions often referred to as 'Pocket Drives' can be bought in a variety of standard 128GB / 256GB / 512GB / 1TB capacities. They can be used formatted as-is for cross-platform PC/Mac use - or reformatted in Apple's disk utility for optimal use strictly on Macintosh systems.

MyDigital mSATA SSD USB3 Drive Enclosure

High-Speed UASP Protocol Support

You might want to cobble together your own mSATA Mac backup drive using any number of USB 3.0 or USB 3.1 Type-C interface mSATA module drive enclosures available for only $10-$20. Note, make sure 'UASP' protocol is supported in the enclosure to insure your solid-state Apple mSATA based backup drive performs optimally and gets the best data transfer rates possible.

Shopping for a swift, cool and silent portable ThunderBolt SSD external backup drive for your Apple MacBook? Here are 5 compact and mobile 10Gbps ThunderBolt solid-state drives to fit the bill for rugged data storage needs when you travel - or as a fast, minimal backup solution for any ThunderBolt enabled Macintosh desktop computer.

SiliconPower Mini ThunderBolt SSD

Smallest Portable ThunderBolt Solid-State Drive

1. The size of a matchbox, the world's smallest eternal ThunderBolt SSD might be ideal paired with an Apple MacBook Air for ultimate mobility. 120GB and 240GB capacities from SiliconPower.

Akitio Portable ThunderBolt RAID SSD

Dual Solid-State MSATA Modules

2. The fastest portable SSD ThunderBolt solution ever uses 2 mSATA solid-state modules in a RAID 0 Striped Array for over 700+ MBps performance ideal for MacBook using Videographers and heavy Photographer needs. It also supports a RAID 1 Mirrored configuration from Akitio.

Portable SSD ThunderBolt From Monster Digital

With Integrated ThunderBolt Cable

3. Slim and affordable, this solid-state mobile ThunderBolt drive with attached cable delivers great bang for the buck - from Monster.

Transcend Portable SSD Drive

Preformatted For Mac - Capacity To 1TB

4. The very price-competitive portable ThunderBolt solid-state drive is pre-formatted for Mac OSX right out of the box. From Transcend.

LaCie Combo Interface Portable SSD

Integrated ThunderBolt Cable + USB 3.0 Port

5. One of the first to market, this very orange ThunderBolt SSD also features a SuperSpeed USB3 port for use with a wide variety of Apple computers. From LaCie.

All told, there's a reasonable selection of compact and highly mobile ThunderBolt storage devices available that leverage the high Read/Write speeds of flash memory based solid-state technology. If you can afford the slight price-premium over USB 3, they're a great way to take advantage of the often under-used ThunderBolt port(s) on your Apple computer.

USB 3.1 Type-C connector computer drive products are arriving to market quickly. If you're looking for a 12" MacBook compatible SSD backup drive to take advantage of the new SuperSpeed Plus specification, there's already a decent variety of Apple-friendly storage solutions available. Most are USB-C enclosures for DIY USB 3.1 Mac backup drives while we wait for major drive makers to start adopting it broadly across their product lines.

Samsung T5 USB-C Portable SSD Drive

Starting At $100 USD Capacities To 2TB

Although LaCie was first to announce an Apple-friendly backup drive with a native USB 3.1 Type-C interface, it's yet to ship. In the meantime, Samsung has been very, very aggressive in both coming to market and extremely low price points for 250GB to 2TB of solid-state drive capacity. And don't forget, Samsung's SSD's benchmark at the top of the charts with excellent performance few competitor's can match.

Do note though, the Samsung T5 drive featured above comes with a USB Type-C to USB 3.0 Type A cable for use on a wider variety of older computers. If you don't have a USB-C to USB 3.0 dongle / adapter / multi-port hub and want to connect one directly to a recent USB-C MacBook you'd want to order a simple Type-C to Type-C cable.

Looking to assemble your own DIY external ThunderBolt SSD backup drive for your Mac on the cheap? It's hard to put the words 'cheap' and 'ThunderBolt' in the same sentence due to the cost of licensing Intel's ThunderBolt or ThunderBolt 2 chipset. For nearly any drive or enclosure product on the market, ThunderBolt adds $50, $75, $100+ over the cost of a comparable USB 3.X drive case.

2.5" SATA ThunderBolt SSD Enclosure

Ruggedized + Integrated TBolt Cable

That said, for those who want the utmost in performance (especially for multi-drive ThunderBolt SSD RAID arrays) ThunderBolt is the way to go to FULLY maximize a solid-state drive's potential Read / Write speeds without some of the additional overhead and limitations of USB protocol.

Currently the most affordable choice is G-Technologies ruggedized 2.5" SATA ThunderBolt drive case that comes with a short but integrated ThunderBolt cable that tucks away when needed. Paired with any of the top performing SATA III solid-state drives currently available it's quite possible to come up with a DIY drive for Mac OSX or Apple's TimeMachine for $200 or so.

In the earliest days of ThunderBolt, Seagate's ThunderBolt 2.5" drive SLED was the only and most affordable option. You could simply press a 2.5" SATA drive (HDD or Solid-State) onto the standard edge connector and have an instant DIY ThunderBolt SSD drive ready to go.

With nearly eighty percent of all Mac computers sold Apple's venerable MacBook is the most likely candidate for a Mac compatible SSD drive upgrade. For many older MacBooks (and even iBook's) there's a huge range of off-the-shelf 2.5" IDE and SATA laptop-sized drives that make an ultra-fast drive swap a highly compelling upgrade.

Samsung's Top-Performing Evo SATA III SSD

Insanely Great Performance - 5 Year Warranty

Although many older Apple laptop models may now be limited as to which version of Mac OSX they're capable of running, when properly formatted for MacOS there's no denying a MacBook Pro SSD upgrade can breathe unprecedented new life and performance into any aging Mac. Thanks to backward compatibility, even older SATA I and SATA II MacBooks will perform as best they can with a fully compatible 2.5" solid-state SATA III drive that's the norm of what's currently shipping.

Dirt Cheap SATA SSD For MacBooks

High-Performance At Low-Cost

Things get more challenging with newer MacBooks starting in 2012 and beyond as Apple started transitioning away from 2.5" hard drives to custom pin-out SSD drive MODULES. Look to OWC - Other World Computing and Transcend for 3rd-party aftermarket Apple compatible SSD module upgrades - though note they're very MODEL-SPECIFIC depending on the year it was released and whether it's a Pro or Air MacBook - shop carefully! Use Apple System Profiler to identify your exact MacBook model name and numbers.

MacBook Pro SSD Upgrade Kit

Solid-State Module + USB 3 SSD Enclosure

More recently, as in 2014 and later, Apple began the shift away from the Serial ATA - SATA interface towards the much more robust and higher-bandwidth PCIe connectivity. PCIe is poised to be the dominant solid-state drive interface for the next 5 years and beyond. But once again, custom pin-outs from Apple will severely limit your aftermarket SSD drive upgrade choices.