I splurged and bought an external SSD (Sabrent Rocket) that is already in a case with a cable, etc. These get extremely hot, too hot to touch when working hard. My desk is wood so I don’t want to set it on the text. I put it in an insulated coffee cup for now. Its functional but looks pretty funky. I’m looking for something else prettier or stylish. For some inscrutible reason I don’t want a cup sitting next to all my electronic equipment. I could go to therapy and figure out why this bothers me, but I am hoping someone else in the same situation can show me or describe what they use.
Do you think it would get too hot in the insulated cup? I would think that you need something to dissipate the heat, not contain it. I googled it, and the Sabrent site seems to indicate that the performance can decline if the SSD gets too hot. They make a heat sink for this. It’s not pretty, though. 
Yes, I am concernted about containing the add. My SSD is already in an enclosure (it’s a plug in and go) so a heat sink won’t work. Time to get creative…
So far the best thing I have found is an aluminum cell phone holder that doesn’t have a solid back (that rests on the device) so I think that would give it some breathing room. I’ll give that a try in awhile unless I get some better ideas.
A different thought.
I wonder if it should be that hot.
Is that normal?
Have you tried just running a small desk fan with the drive getting air blown over it all the time?
Lanis, yes it is normal. SSDs get very hot, especially the most fast types like NVDME ones. Keith, thanks for the suggestion. I will use a fan if the heat ends up being a speed problem. I probably won’t be doing intensive large data transfers which is the most heat producing thing. My immediate problem is how to keep it on my desk: in a cup or glass, lying on a plate, etc. I think a cell phone holder will be the ticket.
How about something like this – a thick cork mat for putting under hot dishes?
Rather than an insulated pad, you might look at a highly conductive aluminum or silver trivet. I just did a quick search on aluminum trivet and got a number of hits including Wayfair which had quite a selection.
But wouldn’t that conduct the heat to the tabletop? Or maybe there are some with insulation on the bottom.
Thanks for all the suggestions! I think this will work just fine, especially since in my normal use it doesn’t get too hot to touch. That was only when I was moving 6 TB of photos onto it. So far in day to day use it only gets warm (not hot) to the touch. My device is on its side next to the iphone holder.
@Diane_Miller The metal in the trivet conducts the heat so it’s uniformly distributed and its a very good radiator of heat. That keeps the temperature down. Some do have feet as well which helps even more. Tony’s solution should work just fine as well.
Or, just hang it off the desk in space. The cables are generally pretty tight on an SSD and will easily support the light SSD drive. It will use the atmosphere as a heat sink instead of putting it against something that retains heat. If it does happen to fall you don’t have to worry about damaging the unit. Unlike a spinning drive they are not delicate and usually are guaranteed against shock up to 2 meters.