1

I recently purchased a Lemorele M.2 NVMe SSD Enclosure Adapter for my old laptop's SSD. Initially, I didn't install the thermal pad that came with it, and my SSD ran at a moderate temperature; however, after installing the thermal pad and using it for a few minutes to copy some stuff, I noticed that it was getting extremely hot, to the point where I couldn't even touch it.

Is it because I installed thermal pad and now heat is properly dissipating, or the thermal pad is not installed properly? Should I keep the thermal pad or remove it?

Improve this question
2
  • 1
    SSD enclosures using a metal case use the case itself for heat dissipation through passive cooling - it's usually normal for them to get too hot to touch when under heavy load (I have several Orico aluminum cases for mSATA drives that do the same). I wouldn't plug it directly into a motherboard though and would use a short USB3/USB-C cable to connect it - that would keep the heat off the motherboard components in a place it doesn't expect heat to be (USB ports), allowing you to place the drive in an optimal position for passive cooling with nothing near it and all five sides exposed to air
    – JW0914
    Commented Apr 13 at 11:03
  • 1
    moderate, hot, where? where is this measured or is it to the touch?
    – Joep van Steen
    Commented Apr 13 at 13:44

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
0

Is it because I installed thermal pad and now heat is properly dissipating, or the thermal pad is not installed properly?

I think it's the former case because it's how thermal pad supposed to work. So I'd keep the thermal pad.

Maybe you loaded SSD more after you installed the thermal pad. I've noticed that SSDs heat more when writing to it (compared to reading from it). Did you copy some stuff from SSD or to SSD? Maybe your OS decided to optimize (TRIM) the SSD in that moment, this also can cause it to heat more.

There are programs that can show SSD temperature from its internal sensor (for example, free and open source CrystalDiskInfo), so you can monitor temperature of the SSD itself, not only of its enclosure. However, some SSDs don't have a temperature sensor, in that case programs will show some fixed temperature. It's not very easy to determine whether the SSD has a temperature sensor or not. You can experiment (if the enclosure is hot to touch, but program shows 40°C, then it's clearly incorrect) or search reviews for your SSD.

Note that, by default, CrystalDiskInfo re-reads the temperature only once every 10 minutes. You can press F5 to re-read temperature or use Function - Auto Refresh menu to change the auto-refresh interval.

Improve this answer
0

The heat is distributed to the case which removes more heat and thus allows the SSD to work faster and longer. There is overheating protection that curbs speeds to keep the hardware from taking damage in almost any product. As soon as you remove more heat it may also generate more heat as the protection won't kick in as quickly. That is a reason why e.g. CPUs will crash if there is no cooler on them.

Use any compatible software of your choice [I recommend LibreHardwareMonitor to check the SSD's temperature. If it is cooler with thermal pad and case, even tho the case is quite hot, everything works as it is supposed to.

There is active cooling solutions but I think these are overkill in that particular situation. A case that has passive cooling by higher surface area would be an idea too.

Tip:
If your SSD is old and out of warranty you may remove the vendor's sticker on the chips to have the thermal pad sit closer to the chips, provided that the sticker is not a metal one made for conduction which is quite rare. If your SSD is still in warranty it will void that so just do it on old devices.

Improve this answer

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .