Convert Crucial M4 from 9.5mm to 7mm

[#1]

I recently bought a new Crucial M4 SSD 128Gb for my Notebook in a travel to USA. When came home, I tryed to put in my notebook but realized that can't fit to original space due his size. Samsung ultrabook just accept 7mm SSD and this SSD is about 9.5mm.

I notice that SSD has a plastic spacer that maybe can be removed and converted to 7mm SSD. Is it safe to do this? I will loose the warranty if do this?

I don't have another option, I can't return it.

[#2]

That's exactly what I did except it was with a C300 that I bought with a short warranty which had expired. When you take the drive apart the plastic spacer comes away and the case fits back together without it, and it's now 7mm (or less).

I cut a piece of thin plastic film to place on the inside bottom case to give a layer of insulation just incase there was a chance it may touch the circuit board, I don't think it would, but it seemed like good practice as the gap between them them was now very small.

The original casing screws were now too long, but I was happy to accurately line up the case and secure with tape, these  are very light and thin metal parts and good quality tape held them securey in place, not the most elegant solution but I couldn't move them and was happy they would stay that when fitted.

Obviously this is only to be done when you don't have any warranty left. My C300 is now in a Samsung Z700 that would only take a 7mm drive.

Its an easy mod and if done carefully there is no reason to damage the drive. I did wonder about heat build up as there is less air inside the case, but then there is no ventilation either so I decided in the end it wouldn't matter.

Let us know how you get on.

[#3]

Hi all, I thought it worth replying. I had a 128 GB M4 in my work laptop and upgraded 1 year later to the 256 GB M4.

I bought my wife a Asus Vivobook for Christmas and am planning on dropping the 128 gigger in there. So, I needed to convert from 9.5 to 7 mm. As noted, I took out the spacer but then the screws were too long. I was able to solve the problem by simply using wire cutters to snip the screw in half, about half way up the threaded part. I did this to all 4 screws and all 4 had no problem threading and bolting down the top plate.

The previous two posts convinced me I could convert it, so I just wanted to reply with this as it makes the board part of the drive not shake around when it's bolted down. Good modding!

[#4]

Thanks for the info.  I had a two year old 256 SSD that I also wanted to install in my Acer notebook.  Like the above I didn't know a 9.8mm SSD wouldn't fit in the notebook.  I did read were you can remove the spacer but like others the screws become to long.  I followed your idea about cutting the screws in half.  Once done it took a little elbow grease to catch the threads on the SSD.  All 4 screws did catch and the SSD is tight.  I then backed up the notebook to the SSD and then installed the SSD in my notebook.  Works great.  Thanks for the idea about cutting the screws in half...  Anyone else reading this remember that once you remove the screws the warranty is VOID.