Replace SSD without unplugging laptop battery

Question

Is it normally safe to replace a laptop SSD without unplugging the battery?

I wish to replace the SSD on my Samsung NP900XCE, which required me to remove the entire back panel. So far so good, but unfortunately I failed to remove three of the screws holding the battery in place. The heads (Philips) got a bit damaged by my attempt.

I did manage to remove the screws holding the mSata SSD in place, so physically I can replace it, but I'm afraid of damaging the motherboard or SSD if I replace the SSD with the battery still attached. I suspect that the laptop is never completely turned off while the battery is still attached. One indication of this is that the charge level of the battery drops with about 5 % per week even when I'm not using the laptop at all. I'm not using sleep mode or anything, but the laptop is really fast at booting.

There is a small button on the battry for "Emergency cutoff" of the battery power, in case water is spilled on the laptop. But the manual says:

"Do not cut the battery power under normal conditions. This may result in data loss or a product malfunction."

Supposedly, "if you connect the AC adapter, the battery power will be supplied again", but I'm not to keen on testing if it works...

Solution

Generally swapping a SATA-based drive with power on will not damage the hardware, as SATA drives are inherently hot-swappable (the controller may not be though, depending on age and settings). Even when hot swapping is fully supported, it still may cause data loss or corruption, depending on what the drive is doing when you pull it. But as long as you have a backup, you shouldn't lose anything. ;)

"The heads (Philips) got a bit damaged by my attempt"

Perhaps get a set of stripped screw extractors and remove the screws properly (and carefully).

Otherwise, use the provided emergency power cut-off. Changing the SSD is not "normal conditions", and they are referring to hitting it while the computer is on and functioning normally -- much in the same way you wouldn't pull the power cord to a desktop PC from the wall under "normal conditions", as it may cause corruption and data-loss.

"I'm not to keen on testing if it works..."

If you are afraid to try things because it might wreck something, then you should probably pack it up and take it to a qualified service depot so they can bear that responsibility.

Comments

[Fredrik]

Thanks, lots of good info! Unfortunately Samsung no longer sell laptops in Europe, and I've never seen a better laptop than NP900XCE, that's why I'm being careful.