HD in 5.25" Bay

[F1N3ST]

I want to put my 3.5" HD in a 5.25" bay. Is this possible without buying something? And, will a 3.5" HD fit in a Floppy drive bay? I am building a PC, and my motherboard has one IDE channel . But, it does have 5 SATA lol.

 

[Rik]

In the floppy bay, if the holes lign up then it will fit.

In the 5.25" bay you can screw it to one side but it doesnt hold the drive all that securely. Bay converters are very cheap and do a good job, thats what i use!!!!!

 

[YosefM]

I found several removable HDD bays at my local computer surplus store - $5 ea. These things are great - just dont forget to engage the lock as most have an interlock between lock & power (a personal most embarrassing moment)

 

[F1N3ST]

Haha, but will it fit in a floppy drive? This would save a little hassle.

 

[SNGX1275]

Yes it will physically fit. There should be holes that will line up with the hard drive too, but if there aren't make (drill) your own. Nearly all cases use aluminum to hold the drives so its easy to drill or punch.

Actually though, at least 2 of the holes will line up (1 on each side) and thats all you need anyway.

 

[F1N3ST]

Yes it will physically fit. There should be holes that will line up with the hard drive too, but if there aren't make (drill) your own. Nearly all cases use aluminum to hold the drives so its easy to drill or punch.

Actually though, at least 2 of the holes will line up (1 on each side) and thats all you need anyway.

Thanks, i have only 2 screws in my vertical HD, so this new horizontal installation should be even better.

 

[Rik]

A vast ammount of cases are made of mild steel, very few use aluminium unless you spend quite a lot!!!!!

 

[F1N3ST]

Lol, i can drill through it, reguardless of what it is. Except diamond and titanium, among other things that cases are not made of lol.

 

[YosefM]

I went looking for adapter rails to let me put 3.5" HDDs in 5.25" bays - found the removable drive bays. they have power & activity lights & a small fan each. Better than adapters, and about as cheap, especially if you find em salvage. I have mounted a 3.5" HDD in a floppy bay - worst case is it sticks out a bit. I've also simply placed a drive in a 5.25" bay (on top of a plasic "insulator"). This is the worst method as it looks really ghetto, and you cant move the machine when powered up, but it wont hurt your drive if you're careful. You can also use large O rings to suspend your drive in a 5.25" bay - this idea stolen from a silent PC product.

 

[SNGX1275]

A vast ammount of cases are made of mild steel, very few use aluminium unless you spend quite a lot!!!!!

Perhaps I'm just getting lucky then. I've never spent much on a case, and every case I've had has alumninum drive holders. The external casing has been steel on a few, but not where the drives are held. In fact just recently I bought a Spire case for $22 on newegg to build and that was entirely alumninum (also about as thick as heavy aluminum foil - felt like a stiff breeze would crumple it). Also just scrapped an old HP system from around 98 (pent 2 300) and the actual case itself (after all the plastic crap removed) was alumninum.