Concern about SSD M.2 NVMe.

[Fernando Cruz]

I just recently got a new WD SN850 X NVMe,however when I opened it fell down from my hands and the only part where itreceived damage was at the connector/pin.
My question is, it will be working even if a piece of the connector/pin is damaged? Btw is not severy damaged just a little bit.
The proof [imgur.com]

[plat]

How far did it fall? I mean: if you can see actual damage (I cannot), then yes: it's a cause for concern. Are any of the pins bent or broken? Do you have a magnifier handy? If any pins are broken, I would be extremely wary of trying to use it.

There is no way to tell if any hidden damage is going to impact the drive unless you install it and see what happens. In the worst case, the UEFI just won't recognize it.

If you do get it to boot, try to install an operating system and then look for any hardware errors or warnings. You can use the Western Digital support software (it should be safe to use by now) and check its general health. You do NOT need to install any drivers for this drive. Windows will do it for you.

https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/10346

[nullable]

Well we can guess all day long. The only way to know for sure is try it out and see what happens.

PC hardware may not always be as impossibly fragile as you might think either.

[_I_]

pcb is surprising durable

just make sure its copper/gold trace is folded down so it does not catch on the connector

[Fernando Cruz]

Messaggio originale di plat:

How far did it fall? I mean: if you can see actual damage (I cannot), then yes: it's a cause for concern. Are any of the pins bent or broken? Do you have a magnifier handy? If any pins are broken, I would be extremely wary of trying to use it.

There is no way to tell if any hidden damage is going to impact the drive unless you install it and see what happens. In the worst case, the UEFI just won't recognize it.

If you do get it to boot, try to install an operating system and then look for any hardware errors or warnings. You can use the Western Digital support software (it should be safe to use by now) and check its general health. You do NOT need to install any drivers for this drive. Windows will do it for you.

https://support-en.wd.com/app/answers/detailweb/a_id/10346

the fall was like 90 cm or 1m, for details, 1 pin is missing a small piece of metal connector at the tip and other 2 pins with a lesser bent at the tip.
Unfortunely I don´t have yet a power supply nor a case to test in the mobo.
Its like a square shape where it got the impact [imgur.com]

[Fernando Cruz]

Messaggio originale di _I_:

pcb is surprising durable

just make sure its copper/gold trace is folded down so it does not catch on the connector

So this does mean it would work even if there´s some degree of damage, but not at the level of literally broken or bended like butter?

[plat]

Messaggio originale di Pakal:

the fall was like 90 cm or 1m, for details, 1 pin is missing a small piece of metal connector at the tip and other 2 pins with a lesser bent at the tip.
Unfortunely I don´t have yet a power supply nor a case to tested in the mobo.
Its like a square shape where it got the impact [imgur.com]

Oh wow, OK. I see that now. Not good, to be honest.

Is there a shop nearby you can take the drive in to be tested? If there is physical damage to even one pin, I would not be confident this drive is going to be viable, even if it boots.

Since this happened as an accident and not as a manuf. defect, I'm inclined, based on your description, to write it off as a loss. Even if the drive works initially, there's no guarantee it won't suddenly fail down the road. I don't think the warranty will cover it but you can check it on the product page.

If you check online, there are some posts about this kind of thing and any kind of soldering to attempts to fix these things generally don't yield good results. If you see physical damage like that, the confidence level in that drive goes down a lot. You don't want any compromises whatsoever in your boot drive.

[Elucidator]

Clean the connectors with air and with alcohol if there are stains.
Relax; the connectors will still work, and the SSD can handle impact damage no problem (at least if it is properly soldered).
Check if the chips aren't loose, which they shouldn't be, after cleaning, plug in in your system, its ready for use.

Heck even Sata SSDs with plastic housing, the housing can take damage and crack I guess but it will still work because its just a PCB.

You can drop a hammer on your m.2 nvme SSD and it will likely still work, like... you need to go through a lot of trouble to actually break it, like actually grabbing a steel hammer and them wacking it or something.

....

Messaggio originale di Pakal:

Its like a square shape where it got the impact [imgur.com]

It looks like it landed on the corner, and that a piece of the PCB got chipped off
that is rare and a design flaw.
However there is plenty of connector point left, so your SSD will work.

I am starting to wonder what the heck they are using with that PCB, it shouldn't bend like that, nor chip. Try bending it slightly back if it doesn't fit, but the SSD should still work.
The connection point is on the top, and it's not broken (it can reach the actual hardware)
so should be good. The metal can carry the rest of the PCB.

Anyway, people don't generally do PCB repairs with a chipped corner, but maybe if you're lucky. The thing is, people tend to break it more and more since they remove hardware and such. Just be careful when placing it for certainty (though likely it won't break further even if you're rough).
If you're really worried you can just add a bit of solder tin there and make the connection longer.

[_I_]

pin damage (not connecting) depends on what the pin is for
if its a ground/power pin, its fine, there are many others, data/clk, is needed for it to work properly

[Fernando Cruz]

Messaggio originale di Elucidator:

Clean the connectors with air and with alcohol if there are stains.
Relax; the connectors will still work, and the SSD can handle impact damage no problem (at least if it is properly soldered).
Check if the chips aren't loose, which they shouldn't be, after cleaning, plug in in your system, its ready for use.

Heck even Sata SSDs with plastic housing, the housing can take damage and crack I guess but it will still work because its just a PCB.

You can drop a hammer on your m.2 nvme SSD and it will likely still work, like... you need to go through a lot of trouble to actually break it, like actually grabbing a steel hammer and them wacking it or something.

....

Messaggio originale di Pakal:

Its like a square shape where it got the impact [imgur.com]

It looks like it landed on the corner, and that a piece of the PCB got chipped off
that is rare and a design flaw.
However there is plenty of connector point left, so your SSD will work.

I am starting to wonder what the heck they are using with that PCB, it shouldn't bend like that, nor chip. Try bending it slightly back if it doesn't fit, but the SSD should still work.
The connection point is on the top, and it's not broken (it can reach the actual hardware)
so should be good. The metal can carry the rest of the PCB.

Anyway, people don't generally do PCB repairs with a chipped corner, but maybe if you're lucky. The thing is, people tend to break it more and more since they remove hardware and such. Just be careful when placing it for certainty (though likely it won't break further even if you're rough).
If you're really worried you can just add a bit of solder tin there and make the connection longer.

I bought the heatsink variant, so it will be more resistant to falls?

[Elucidator]

Messaggio originale di Pakal:

I bought the heatsink variant, so it will be more resistant to falls?

Heatsinks just allow it to cool faster allowing it to work faster due to being able to get rid of heat more easily. It doesn't protect from fall damage and increases its weight.

[_I_]

nvme drives do get warm, but not enough to harm performance
the cooler is just to make it match the boards styling and hide the drive

[🦊Λℚ𝓤ΛƑΛᗯҜᔕ🦊]

Messaggio originale di _I_:

nvme drives do get warm, but not enough to harm performance
the cooler is just to make it match the boards styling and hide the drive

This is not true at all. NVME SSD's actually will thermal throttle if they get hot enough, reducing performance as much as -60%. The heatsinks are a REQUIREMENT for the PCI-Express 5.0 versions coming out now (new ones) and for all PCI-Express 4.0 drives that are rated for 5000 MB/s or faster. At least that is for any motherboard that doesn't already provide a cooler / fan / heatsink for it. Most newer motherboards have integrated cooling for NVME drives now for this reason.