notebook upgrading, will heat be a problem?

[Spokavriel]

My notebook I am currently using has an open hard drive bay, and memory card slot. Thing is I know some of the air flow is going through those spaces. Filling those spaces will let me drop in a TB of storage and double my RAM to the max this notebook is designed for. But it will also add sources of heat where there use to be air flow. Are there any good tips to supplement cooling when filling the remaining voids in a design like this?

Dell Latitude E7240
Parts being considered for upgrade.
SAMSUNG V-NAND SSD 860 EVO mSATA 1TB drive
https://www.samsung.com/us/computing/me ... -m6e1t0bw/
DELL Memory Upgrade 8GB 2Rx8 DDR3L SODIMM 1600MHz
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/ac ... polaris-pd

And because the battery has hit its charge cycle cap I'm thinking about buying a replacement OEM one. Instead of Refurb considering how the balancing circuit counts the charge cycles then nerfs the performance to avoid risk of catastrophic breakdown.
https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/ac ... /apd/kwffn

Should make it so I can work without being tethered to a wall again.

Thoughts suggestion advice on cooling, And this system is temporary until I can somehow save up multiple thousand to make another ideal build. 3D modeling rig.

[PCHeintz72]

In regards to battery...
Check your battery options on-line, it may be possible to buy a battery with a greater capacity than the one your notebook came with. Also, remember if you add memory and a 2nd HD, it will be a greater draw, a larger capacity battery, if available, would offset and negate that.

In regards to HD...
I normally instead of using a supplemental HD, I just back up personal files (email/favorites/bookmarks/personal files/etc...) and drivers from the original HD to my network or at least a USB stick, and install a completely new much larger HD, then reinstall new OS and programs and newest versions of drivers/downloadable software available. That way, it is only one source of draw on power. For myself, I'm not a fan of a solid state, but prefer traditional hard drive instead (capacity over speed).

However, I'll note not all makers of notebooks make it easy to personally upgrade the HD, Toshiba normally makes it super easy... I'd only do this if you have all your software codes and are comfortable installing your software over again.

In regards to cooling...
I cannot say too much on cooling, generally, notebooks are not designed with supplemental cooling in mind. But, for use on a desktop at least, there are cooling stations you can get.

Two examples:
https://www.amazon.com/10-15-6-Cooling- ... 1238&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Thermaltake-Alum ... ics&sr=1-1

[Spokavriel]

The notebook only has drive capacity for mSATA, even though the connectors are the same for other Solid state SATA drives they are only long enough for the mobile modules. I have None of the codes and not even a restore disk separate from the already included 128GB (112 after restore partition was made) original mSATA hard drive. I have a micro SD card already installed that is half its capacity. Needed it to make space to have a swap file again after moving over things I have saved.

The system already has 8 GB RAM and 16 is its maximum capacity in that department. Thing is the placement for the RAM and Second mSATA are pretty much where air inside the case has passage anywhere but the external vent from the processor heat sync. But the already installed internal SSD is already closer to it...

https://www.supplymb.com/images/dell/cn-0k3p5k.jpg
This is the system motherboard, The space marked mSATA and closest Ram slot to it are populated, The heat sync goes into the rounded space right next to it and to the other side of the board the larger void has space for the populated Wifi module and supplementary mSATA. As you can see in the image not much breathing room in the design.

[Makoto]

Yeah, I've never tried them, but it couldn't hurt to try those 'cooling platforms' they sell for laptops (as PCHeintz mentioned). I think they were selling for moderately cheap when I last saw them in a store... so if it doesn't really work, or only alleviates a small amount of heat, you're not out that much.

[Spokavriel]

On the batteries there is a 47 watt hour battery the current one is 45 watt hour. Thing is looking at the dimensions the 47 is wider than the space on the computer and it mentioned another model number even though it comes up in results for compatible parts for this system as well. 2 watt hours isn't much more capacity its 4% difference. I'd rather be certain it fits the computer and not pay the additional 80 dollars, or use that cash to buy the system an external power pack to use as a second battery.

https://www.dell.com/en-us/work/shop/ac ... pid=235019
Compatible power bank on sale at $100 but the sale might end before I can afford it.

[PCHeintz72]

Well...

I looked deeper into the battery issue. They did make two batteries for your system, not many still sell the other one, but yours at 45w is the larger 4 cell. The other one was 3 cell 31w. I did not see a 47w anywhere, but if those are your only size options for the battery, I would just stick with the standard 4 cell... note as long as the part number is the same or lists as compatible with that part number, I would get it new from the cheapest source, which is not likely direct from Dell. Wherever you get it from, make sure the voltage is correct.

Pity about the hard drive and restore situation. Not much I can recommend in that case. You could still replace the existing unit rather than supplement. The benefits are the same as I described, it is less of a electrical burden, and it would not fill the slot being used for air flow. You would have to back up the current unit as a bootable file backup, not a image backup, then restore to the new drive.

That should work, but does not fix you do not have correct backups or drivers, etc... nor the fact the unit itself cannot take a normal notebook hard drive. If it does not work, you would still have your original drive with all its data on it and could put it back in and then go with the original idea of using the new drive as a supplement.

[Spokavriel]

The real kicker keeping me from replacing the original drive with a larger one is that the only system I have that is compatible at all with mSATA is this notebook, So yeah unless I want to build another computer to get the bootable image onto a new drive I kinda still have the original one in here anyway. Maybe some day I'll get a migration tool and make the 1TB into the main drive but as it stands I don't really have a way to not accidentally brick this without keeping the original drive.

[PCHeintz72]

Meh... it was merely the best suggestion I had for keeping the airflow as close as possible to the current working setup and minimizing the power usage. You, not me, need to be able to live and cope with whatever upgrades are done. If you don't think it viable, or don't think can do it, or think it not best for your situation, do not do it.

[Spokavriel]

I was helping with this level computer building all the way back in 1984. If memory upgrades still required soldering then it would have been up to my current comfort level. Its just more wondering if other people have had an issue in this area or have actually done notebook upgrades themselves.

[PCHeintz72]

I was helping with this level computer building all the way back in 1984. If memory upgrades still required soldering then it would have been up to my current comfort level. Its just more wondering if other people have had an issue in this area or have actually done notebook upgrades themselves.

Ahhh... ok... Personally, I've done notebook and netbook upgrades, replaced DVD drives, hard drives, memory, keyboards, installed modems, bluetooth, etc.... figured out docking station and port replicators, etc... What complicates things here is what you have is an ultrabook, not really a netbook/notebook, which is even worse.

[Spokavriel]

Yeah way much less wiggle room for choice.

[Cheb]

then reinstall new OS and programs and newest versions of drivers/downloadable software available.

I'd only do this if you have all your software codes and are comfortable installing your software over again.

The answer is "cloning". Attach the hard drive to a PC along with a larger newer one, then clone partitions 1:1 using a tool like Acronis suite or Linux dd command.
Plug the new ssd in. When Windows boots, go to admin tools of control panel and resize the partition to use up the newly available space.
I did that 4 times, from a 500Gb HDD to 128Gb SSD to 256Gb SSD to 400Gb SSD. My laptop now runs its 4th drive and I never had to reinstall anything. In fact I can't because I lost the original recovery dvd ages ago and my windows product key is not accepted for normal installation.
Worst case, you have to re-activate windows. But nowadays its so lenient it usually ignores minor hardware changes.
Bonus: you have your old drive that can act as a backup copy - you could clone it again and *never reinstall anything*.

P.S. Imma still using the ultrabook I bought in 2012. I replaced battery 2 times (the first time after it started growing hot - I was lucky its external and I touched it. It coulda combusted!) the cooling fan one time, had to repair the body several times using superglue and extra screws-after one hinge broke free.

Batteries live 2 years, after that keeping using that battery is suicidal -*if* you run your device on battery daily, subjecting it to charge/discharge cycles. I have one 10-year battery that is still alive somehow, in my first netbook ever that gathers dust all year.

Fans live ~4 years.

2-inch HDDs live 2 years or less. Using them longer is asking for data loss.

SSD seem to live forever - if you power the device on at least every couple years. But that is *very* dependent on temperature. Cold increases data retention but makes them wear rapidly during writing. Heat eases writing allowing the SSD withstand much more cycles, but does horrible thing to data retention. Don't store your data archive in a sauna, store it in a fridge.

[Spokavriel]

I use to do that with DOS. Haven't really used copying software that caught everything since win 89SE. I was starting to think companies were going out of their way to force re installations. Best copying software that always did a 1 to 1 disk copy. Its why piracy was so easy in the 80's and 90's no real encryption beyond some gateway routines.

[Cheb]

There is software out there since mid-2000s that can back up entire disk partitions to an image or clone disks.
Acronis True Image can do smart cloning with resizing partitions in the process.
Linux has built-in dd command that lets you perform a dumb copy - because in Linux devices are treated as files. Don't err with direction, though: dd's nickname is "disk destroyer" for a reason. You can dumb-copy smaller disk to a larger one then boot Windows from it and grow the partition, or even defragment then copy larger to smaller, as I did with my fileserver's aging system disk, cloned a 160Gb HDD with ext4 partitions to a 64 Gb SSD, losing the empty tail. There was a lot of bitching and moaning about the partition being horribly broken, but it was easily fixable and the disk booted Ok.

10+ years ago I was working as a sysadmin for Moscow University of Printing. For my job, pirated Acronis True Image (a bootable CD) was invaluable: you install Windows XP, full Adobe Creative Suite 4, lots of other warez on just one machine, applying all cracks and keygens necessary, then tune it up to be a perfect student workplace - then you make a whole-disk image file of its disk C: and clone that image to all 13 computers in a lab. Presto, you got 13 perfectly tuned workplaces with tons of software installed and tons of settings applied.

I'm pretty sure sysadmins in places using licensed software use a similar method: creating one disk image with all the software pre-installed and settings applied, then cloning it onto as many machines as necessary (including replacements for those that kick the bucket). That's why bulk licenses for companies exist, one product key valid for X installations.

Im soooo glad I left that job, being a php developer is so much better (though organizing distribution of regular updates for a pirated antivirus was a fun engineering challenge). I tried to migrate to Linux completely, by the way, but in 2009 I had to use a management software made in Hell that when ran from Wine crashed the organization's database. So I returned to Windows by necessity, where I remain.
But that is in the past as well, all hail the holy LAMP

[PCHeintz72]

The answer is "cloning".

I generally dislike and will not recommend cloning. The problem is that in copying an OS installation, you are also getting its problems.

So I far prefer fresh installs. The main issue outside of time, is as I mentioned, you need the codes and something to back personal files up to.