Cooling the Crucial T705 Gen5 NVMe Beast

📅 May 11, 2024
“Too hot to handle. Literally.”

After using the Crucial T705 in both Linux and Windows, I can say for certain that this NVMe becomes very hot very fast. Cooling is essential.

My motherboard heatsink is adequate and does an okay task of keeping the Gen5 NVMe running within operating temperatures, but it still becomes blisteringly hot to the touch.

Is there a better solution?

I obtained three different third-party NVMe heatsinks to find out and see if improving the NVMe heatsink would make a difference.

The answer? Yes, it makes a difference. Here are my super-scientific results obtained through trial and error and guesswork.

WD Black SN850X Gen4 NVMe and Linux

Oh, yes! Another NVMe to experiment with in Linux!

This time, let’s look at the Western Digital Black SN850X Gen4 NVMe and how it compares to the Crucial T705 Gen5 NVMe in the same system.

Will there be much of a difference between Gen4 and Gen5?

Does it work with Linux? Yes, indeed!

AMZPILOT Rugged NVMe USB 10Gbps External Enclosure and Linux

📅 November 10, 2023
“What? Another one?”

Yes, but this one is better!

Despite being unheard of, the Qwiizlab and HAGIBIS NVMe enclosures have turned out to be fantastic devices for fast, external 10Gbps USB storage using NVMe SSDs. They breathe new life into unused Gen3/Gen4 NVMe devices that might be collecting dust from past computer builds. I needed another enclosure and decided to try a different brand with a blue color to help distinguish among them.

Is this one any good? Indeed it is, and here are my benchmarks and waterproof testing results.

The Crucial P3 4TB NVMe Used as External Storage with Linux

📅 November 6, 2023
“Can we take an NVMe SSD and use it as an external storage device?”

Yes! To test this idea, I obtained an NVMe with a massive amount of storage space (on a reasonable budget) and installed it in an external M.2 NVMe enclosure designed for rugged use.

It works perfectly, and here are my benchmarks in Linux when tested unencrypted and with VeraCrypt to see how performance would be affected.

Lightweight Koss KPH40 Headphones + Yaxi Ear Pads for Comfortable Listening

📅 August 21, 2023
“Hearing is Believing…according to the box, but what about the real world?”

Need some surprisingly comfortable, lightweight headphones with excellent sound quality for those lengthy Linux terminal or coding sessions? Here is a fantastic pair from Koss.

PCIe Bifurcation and NVMe RAID in Linux Part 1: The Hardware

📅 April 8, 2023
“PCIe Bifur…..WHAT?!”

Ooooh! Sounds fancy, right? On some motherboards, the BIOS will allow a single physical PCIe x16 slot to be divided into two or more logical PCIe slots in order to install multiple NVMe SSDs (two, three, or four) using an adapter card. This is PCIe bifurcation, and Linux is compatible with motherboards that support it.

What would benchmark numbers look like if we put two NVMe devices in RAID-0? How about RAID-1? How well would it compare to a single NVMe? What would be the best data storage arrangement if using NVMe? Are there different techniques to follow compared to RAID with mechanical drives?

Here are my experiments in an attempt to help protect data stored on a Linux system with the hopes of providing faster redundancy while exploring PCIe bifurcation on a system running Ubuntu Cinnamon 22.04.

The Hagibis External 10Gbps USB NVMe Enclosure and Linux

📅 January 6, 2023
During my Adventures with 20Gbps USB in Linux I was impressed with the Quiizlab Rugged NVMe enclosure. Sturdy. Well-built. You could probably drive a wet truck over this mass of metallic NVMe protection and it would be safe.

Sure, it might be limited to a 10Gbps USB interface, but the Rugged is exactly what I have in mind when protecting data on the go.

Seeking related enclosures of like quality, I chanced upon another similar NVMe enclosure: the Hagibis. Yes, yet another cheapo-sounding name nobody has heard of. But is the enclosure any good?

Here are my thoughts after using this with a 10/20Gbps USB port and Linux.

Adventures with 20Gbps USB in Linux

📅 March 14, 2023
“Faster, Skippy! FASTERRRRR!”

What? Is 5 Gbps USB not fast enough for you? Well then, Skippy, the new USB specs have you covered to satisfy your need for external speed…on paper. Reality is another matter.

USB speeds are increasing with each new revision (and confusing USB naming scheme), so the questions now are, “How compatible is Linux with USB 10Gbps and 20Gbps? Does it even work?  What do we need to set it up?”

I needed a faster mechanism for backing up and transferring files using pluggable external media via USB, but the existing USB on older motherboards is too slow to impress. It was not worth an entire system upgrade just to buy a new motherboard with 20Gbps USB, and even then those are usually limited to a single port at the moment. With USB 2.0 and USB 3.0 (which translates to 5Gbps USB) on existing hardware, I could really use a faster interface in order to transfer greater amounts of data in less time. Therefore, I settled on a USB 20Gbps PCIe card in order to:

1. Check how well USB 20Gbps works with Linux (Ubuntu Cinnamon 22.04, Xubuntu 22.04)
2. Become familiar with the hardware details involved setting it up
3. Use it

Sounds simple, right? Oh, silly, silly me. What was I thinking? While the speeds live up to the hype, I discovered that it was not a simple matter of installing a card and moving data. Oh, no, no, no and again no

I was met with a number of unexpected surprises (you will probably not anticipate them either), so here are my results with a variety of hardware, cables, and a brand new USB 20Gbps PCIe interface card to help others who might be contemplating the move to 20Gbps USB in Linux.

Ready for the adventure?

MeLE Quieter Mini PC Freeze Up Issue

📅 January 27, 2023
“My Quieter3Q just froze up! Why?”

Not sure since this happens to me as well. The MeLE Quieter2Q and Quieter3Q are handy mini PCs packing a moderate punch of computing power with low power consumption. 100% silent. Small. Supports NVMe. What could go wrong?

How about a freeze up? I have been using the Quieter2Q as a dedicated Pi-Hole device and the Quieter3Q as a dedicated Ubuntu Cinnamon desktop system, and both work perfectly — as long as they remain working. For some random reason, the Quieter2Q (and the Quieter3Q) will freeze and become completely unresponsive if left on continuously as Pi-Hole needs to be. The only solution is a hard power cycle upon which the Quieter will function normally until the next random freeze up a few days later.

Over the past few months, I have been trying to diagnose the issue with no success by experimenting with a variety of usage by Linux OS, where the OS is installed, kernel upgrades, and so on.

I might have found the culprit, but I am not sure, so here are my experimental results in an attempt to help give others ideas.

EPOMAKER Flamingo Switches – A Better Jelly Pink

📅 January 6, 2023
The Akko CS Jelly Pink linear switch has given me hours of pleasant typing, and here is another switch that I have been using and enjoying very much: the EPOMAKER Flamingo!

Do you need a 5-pin linear switch in a two-tone pink/violet color that should complement any existing pastel pink theme and be compatible with any hot-swappable mechanical keyboard supporting 5-pin switches?

Here is the answer to your mechanical keyboard prayers.