I did some Wild Stuff with my Chronos (
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zUavp2P5Kw and much more...), but Trying to replace the RAM while the Ribbon Cables are Still Connected seems too Sketchy even for my Taste.
As you did Proof, it apparently CAN be done, but i wouldnt recommend personally doing /trying to do it.
Disconnecting the Cables just seems sooo much more save for so little more Effort, its absolutely a No-Brainer for me!
Most Risky i find is the Tiny Cable coming from the Display Unit. That one is very narrow and has even tiny SMD Parts soldered onto it, and a much Wider one also with parts on it. These ones i fear breaking the Most.
The Other ones are very Cheap Standard Size Ribbon Cables, which you can just go and order at most better Electronic Stores or straight up Ebay / Amazon, The Two from the Display seem Close to Impossible to Replace without just Replacing the Display Unit or at least the LCD itself.
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Apart from that, there also is just always the Risk of Straight up Ripping the Connectors off the PCB, Possibly even Taking the Traces with them, given you manage to rip it off suddenly enough, that the Ribbon wont break or something (Seen some Nasty stuff happen with Ribbon Cables / PCB´s; so possibly i am just a little Paranoid, but these things can happen). Messing the Mainboard up very Badly in the Process of doing so...
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Have to admit, it is kinda Awkward to disconnect them and Put them back in later, cause they can be a little short to work comfortably in there, but i personally rather take the Time and be Careful, and remove them each time, than deal with the Damage once i somehow mess up and somehow drop something and break a Cable or Whole Board because of it.
Even for the Test on YT i just linked here, i tried to make Sure to prevent any Chance of the Ribbons Breaking by somewhat restraining The Three "Units" together as good as possible within reason.
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So in Short, Please dont. At least unless you have some really elegant Way of getting it done, which i am not aware of...?
Glad however, the Hardware Upgrade worked for you without breaking anything. Had to reset Trigger Settings as well, on first time turning it on, i as well did wonder if i did something wrong, as it still did record just as much time as before, but later found out to change the Trigger Settings.