Does SSD need outer covering? A brief about the influence of heat dissipation

As we all know, heat dissipation and cooling are essential for any PC computer, but most users only focus on the processor and graphics card, the two main heating part in the computer. In fact, there is another component in the computer that produces high heat that should not be underestimated, that is the SSD. With many advantaged like super-fast reading and writing speed and smaller in size, SSDs have become a standard part in PCs today. However, the SSDs that use chip structure will generate a lot of heat during usage, and may melt down when working in a high temperature environment. It may cause damage in the long run.

The high-speed operation of electronic components inevitably generates heat. Excessive heat accumulation will reduce the working efficiency of electronic components and even shorten their life. The heat dissipation seems to be particularly important, especially on the storage device. Today we will explore into the SSD, and see whether the SSD needs heat dissipation on it outer casing or not.

Does heat dissipation affect the hard disk?

The mechanical hard disk generates heat because the mechanical structure is subject to friction when the disk rotates, and generates much more heat naturally. However, the working efficiency of the fragile disk is affected by temperature. If the temperature exceeds 65 °C, the mechanical hard disk is almost completely scrapped.

But the solid-state drive uses pure circuit storage, with no moving parts, so no heat will be generated by friction. Therefore, the heat output of a common solid-state drive is minimal. Therefore, why do a 2.5-inch SSD requires an outer covering?

The one above is mechanical hard disk, the one under is the solid state hard disk
Originally, the size of the SSD was determined by the 2.5-inch mechanical hard drive, which can save a new motherboard interface and the foothold of the fixed hard drive during replacement. The same screw position reduces the popularity threshold of SSDs.

The 2.5-inch hard drive outer covering is designed to fix the SSD
So, the heat output from a 2.5-inch SSD is almost negligible and the covering is not for heat dissipation. The covering is used to protect the internal circuit and to replace the mechanical hard disk more conveniently.
PCI-E M.2 solid state drive
In comparison, the solid-state drive with PCI-E channel is more powerful and generates more heat. The M.2 type solid-state drive is small in size, about the size of an ordinary lighter, but it performs much more powerfully than the 2.5-inch SSD.

Heat generation is a common phenomenon for bare strip M.2
The heat generation of PCI-E M.2 is mainly because of its small size, so the heat is concentrated. It may cause the temperature of the main control to be too high easily, thus forcing it to cooling down. Also, most M.2 hard drives are also sold in the form of bare strips, the high temperature puts pressure on the lifespan of the bare strip M.2.

Telcast NP600 with its own cooling vest
The M.2 product with a heat sink performs very well in temperature control. Similar to the memory stick with its own vest, this kind of M.2 product use a heat-dissipating pad between the particles and the main control in order to transfer temperature from the surface to its metal casing, increasing the heat dissipation area, and the temperature will gradually drop.

The left one is the NP600 with vest and on the right one is the NP600 when the cooling vest removed.
Take the Telcast NP600 as an example. If it is originally assembled, the temperature is 47℃ when highly loaded. But when the heat vest was removed, the temperature rose to 55.3℃, increased by 8℃.

In summary, the 2.5-inch hard drive covering is not used for heat dissipation, but is used to match the 2.5-inch mechanical hard drive and fix the SSD. There will be no significant impact on the performance and life of the hard drive even without the outer casing.
The M.2 SSD case acts as a heat sink. It can not only slow down the accelerated aging of the components caused by high temperatures, but also prevent the reduce of performance due to excessively high temperature in controller. Therefore, when purchasing M.2 SSD, it is better to choose M.2 SSD with cooling vest.
Reducing the temperature of the SSD allows the system to operate in a more stable environment and ensure the safety of the hard drive at the same time. Solid-state hard disk equipped with a heat-dissipating vest can significantly reduce the temperature during high-load operation. Users who use "bare strips" can also add heat sinks and thermal silica gel by themselves. To sum up, we need to pay attention to the heat dissipation of SSDs.

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