ZBook Firefly 14 G9 DRAM and m.2 nvme SSD upgrade (missing heat shield)

[HPPhotodoc]

Hi everyone!

I just received a custom built HP ZBook Firefly 14 G9 Mobile "workstation," built in China in May 2023. Intentionally minimal memory configuration with only 8GB DRAM and 256 GB m.2 nvme SSD, with plans to upgrade both ASAP.

Purchases:
2x SODIMMs from Crucial.com (DDR5 5200MHz to upgrade DRAM to 64GB total)
Samsung 990 PRO 2TB Gen 4 m.2 nvme SSD. (yes, I upgraded the firmware immediately to get rid of the premature drive wear bug)

Upgrade:
Removed back panel, disconnected battery, removed DRAM shielding.
Installed DRAM SODIMM modules, reconnected battery, and rebooted.
(I thought the upgrade failed, as the fan went to super high speed, and nothing was happening. Powered down, re-seated modules, and rebooted. Same result. Turns out you have to wait almost 5 full minutes for the system to self-test the new DRAM SODIMMs. Then, it gives an alert window indicating that there was a hardware change, shows the new correct DRAM amount, and asks to proceed. Phew! )

Then, I took a look at the stock 256GB m.2 nvme SSD drive. According to the HP video on "removing and replacing parts for HP ZBook Firefly 14 G9," there should be a drive shield over the drive that needs to be removed. In other laptops I have owned, it is actually a heat sink with a thermal pad between the nvme drive and the heat sink. In this computer, however, there was NO heat sink or shield at all. Is this normal ???

There was an approximately 9mm x 9mm square of PINK thermal pad below the m.2 drive, on the motherboard, and another 9mmx9mm square BLUE pad on the back panel of the laptop, which appeared to be in contact with the m.2 drive when the cover is replaced. However, these two dinky little pads can't possibly provide enough thermal transfer for a 2TB m.2 nvme SSD.

The drive installed without a hitch, and I cloned the existing drive onto the Samsung 990 Pro 2TB drive using Macrium Reflect, resizing the OS partition to take advantage of the extra capacity. It runs, but I'm worried about thermal wear and tear.

QUESTIONS:
1. Has anyone else opened up a recently-purchased HP ZBook Firefly 14 G9? Can you confirm whether there is a heat sink/drive shield over the factory-installed m.2 nvme SSD drive?

2. Has anyone upgraded to a 2TB (or higher) capacity m.2 nvme SSD drive and can confirm that the drive does not overheat because of the limited thermal dissipation provided by the two tiny squares of thermal transfer pad? (Can you spare a square, Elaine?)

3. Has anyone installed a 4TB m.2 nvme SSD (like Western Digital Black SN850x 4TB) into this laptop? Does it even fit?

Thanks in advance!