I had success in taking of the protection / heat sink using a hair dryer a metal spud and a laser infra-red thermometer.
Once my hair dryer was not so strong temperature didn't passed from 70o Celsius
I didn't wanted the ssd hotter than 80. C.
After some minutes it realized With little effort on the spud.
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I did it to use the ssd from the mac pro in my Macbook Air 11.
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I don't think it is necessarily to use that plate if you upgrade your mac pro. it doesn't seem to be a heat sink since it is plain and it is glue with 2 stickers. It will not cooler the ssd, maybe will even keep the heat inside of it since it is a air cushion
I had success in taking of the protection / heat sink using a hair dryer a metal spud and a laser infra-red thermometer.
Once my hair dryer was not so strong temperature didn't passed from 70o Celsius
I didn't wanted the ssd hotter than 80. C.
After some minutes it realized With little effort on the spud.