I have an SSD removed from a laptop. It is covered by a grey paper-like layer and mounted inside a thin silver metal sleeve that was screwed to the laptop motherboard. I want to install it in my desktop motherboard's first or second M.2 slot, but the first slot already has a motherboard heatsink. Should I remove the sleeve and covering, and does the drive need another heatsink?
1 Answer
Remove the laptop’s metal sleeve before installing the actual M.2 drive. The grey layer may be a thermal pad or insulating film, so don’t peel it off unless it’s clearly part of the laptop enclosure and not attached directly to the SSD components. Put the drive under the motherboard’s existing heatsink in the first slot, or use the second slot without a heatsink. An M.2 SSD will generally work fine without an additional heatsink, especially if it came from a laptop.
Yes, it should be fine for normal use. A heatsink can help with sustained transfers and may reduce throttling, but it isn’t required for the SSD to operate safely. Just make sure the drive is mounted securely and that any motherboard thermal pad contacts the SSD properly.
So running it with no heatsink at all should be okay even if the temperature gets fairly high?