My laptop hard drive died so I bought a Samsung EVO 840 Basic SSD. This Dell model was never very good at cooling itself but to my surprise the fan runs more now with the SSD installed. So the HDD noise is replaced by fan noise most of the time. I thought that something with an 1W consumption cannot generate this much heat.

According to HWMonitor, the SSD usually idles at around 48C (laptop on glass table) but when the drive is heavily used, it goes up to 56C. Touching the laptop at the bottom reveals that the SATA connector side feels hot, the other side is acceptably warm.

Will this temp range damage the drive? Can this be caused by poorly touching connections or bad airflow inside? (The SSD is actually half the height than the old drive so there is more air around it.)

  • Can you try the SSD in another computer, or try another SSD in the laptop? Never experienced one get hot before. – JohnnyVegas Apr 28 '14 at 8:45
  • I only have a SATA dock, but in it the SSD would have free airflow all around so it would probably be much cooler. – Arthur Apr 28 '14 at 9:54

I have a Sandisk 128 Gb SSD (z400s), and it runs at 40°C most of the time. I have a 90 CFM fan blowing right across it as well. Ambient temp in the room is always 78-80°F (around 26°C). This is at idle.. being stressed brings it to 41°C. While this is going on I have 3 mechs (6Tb and 2 3Tb's) running at 32°C. I had an Intel 120 and it was about the same. I keep hearing people talk about how they are supposed to run cool, but in my experience this is not the case. (I also have 8 case fans between 90-150 CFM), so ventilation is not a problem. Some DO run a bit warm. If it goes over 55°C then I'd get upset personally, although they redline around 70°C. They will throttle long before that however, degrading performance and perhaps lifespan.

Edit 12-4-2016:
To the 2 commenters / mods below .. The "point" is that if this thing runs hot with maximum airflow, it will certainly be hot in a laptop. He's worried about his drive being abnormal or defective, when it's running normally. I let him know that this is just how these things run. You should spend your text on something helpful instead of harassing one of the few people chiming in. And I just read that "Why I need 50 rep to comment", and after reading it, I realize you guys take yourselves WAY too seriously. In fact, I would strongly recommend the poster magicandre1981 go to a site such as Toms Hardware. Many more responses, no hassle and a professional site that doesn't take itself so seriously that they stifle conversation. I've always found this site barren and now I know why. Happy Holidays.

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    From your answer you're talking about SSD installed in the desktop computer case with 8 case fans, but the question is about the SSD installed in the laptop environment, what is initially a totally different hardware. Please edit your answer so it is up to point with a question. – alljamin Oct 30 '16 at 5:00
  • This is really a comment and not an answer to the original question. You can always comment on your own posts, and once you have sufficient reputation you will be able to comment on any post. Please read Why do I need 50 reputation to comment? What can I do instead? – DavidPostill Nov 14 '16 at 10:18

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