expanding my laptop's nvme m.2 ssd (external enclosure concern)

[Nuh_]

So, I finally got the components I need to upgrade my internal SSD, via cloning the SSD using an external enclosure...

The enclosure instructions say that I should put the thermal pad they provided and put the SSD in the case. I don't want to do that if I don't have to because the SSD will end up in my laptop soon.

 

is there any potential danger running the SSD as is demonstrated in the picture?

potential danger is in the SSD overheating or static shock or something along those lines.

[PDifolco]

5 minutes ago, Nuh_ said:

So, I finally got the components I need to upgrade my internal SSD, via cloning the SSD using an external enclosure...

The enclosure instructions say that I should put the thermal pad they provided and put the SSD in the case. I don't want to do that if I don't have to because the SSD will end up in my laptop soon.

 

is there any potential danger running the SSD as is demonstrated in the picture?

potential danger is in the SSD overheating or static shock or something along those lines.

Don't worry it's a Gen3 drive it won't get hot without heatsink

Even with a Gen4 any metal chunk on top will be good enough

Not sure about a Gen5 tho  

[NobleGamer]

I agree with the first comment on all counts, with one small extra consideration:

 

Even if the drive might run fine, if you want max performance AND if you know that your enclosure isn't bottlenecking the SSD performance, then just know that the risk of reaching temps that cause thermal throttling without bigger risks increases with the pci geneneration, and there is still a low risk that thermal throttle can happen with a cheaper pcie 3 SSD if it uses more power than others.

[PDifolco]

6 hours ago, NobleGamer said:

I agree with the first comment on all counts, with one small extra consideration:

 

Even if the drive might run fine, if you want max performance AND if you know that your enclosure isn't bottlenecking the SSD performance, then just know that the risk of reaching temps that cause thermal throttling without bigger risks increases with the pci geneneration, and there is still a low risk that thermal throttle can happen with a cheaper pcie 3 SSD if it uses more power than others.

Didn't specify I just recently did a whole boot disk cloning on a laptop with this exact same SSD on an external enclosure, kept it "open" (didn't put the cover on), and temps weren't above 50C

However speed was limited by USB port to 1GB/Sec on seq R/W, which may explain the coolness, but unless using Thunderbolt it'll be the same with many laptops  

[NobleGamer]

1 minute ago, PDifolco said:

Didn't specify I just recently did a whole boot disk cloning on a laptop with this exact same SSD on an external enclosure, kept it "open" (didn't put the cover on), and temps weren't above 50C

However speed was limited by USB port to 1GB/Sec on seq R/W, which may explain the coolness, but unless using Thunderbolt it'll be the same with many laptops  

Having the enclosure open can make the SSD somewhat cooler than if there's other parts covering but not touching the top of your SSD. In my experience: With two identical model SSDs, one in an m.2 slot under my GPU and one lower on my mobo not covered by a GPU, the temp difference can be like 5C.

 

50-65C is often not at risk of thermal throttling anyways.