Solve : Can not find hard drive holder things?

1.	Solve : Can not find hard drive holder things?
Answer» I bought a second hard drive for my computer. My computer arrived with one hard drive in it, held in place by these two plastic sticks with small screws in the side. You can gently press on the sides of the sticks and slide the sticks (with the hard drive in between them) out of the place where the hard drive is kept (which I'll just call the hard drive bay for the rest of the post). Attachment 1 should be a picture of the sticks. Attachment 2 should be a picture of the hard drive bay with my first hard drive in it, held in place by the sticks from hard drive one. Now, I needed more memory on my computer so I bought a second hard drive. It's the exact same model as my first hard drive, and is identical to it. It arrived with no cables or plastic sticks. I found a cable for it easily enough. I can't find the sticks or anything similar. I've searched high and low. From Amazon to Newegg. I've googled everything from "hard drive mounts" to "hard drive holder" to "hard drive caddy" to "hard drive case" to the numbers written on the side of the plastic sticks. I haven't found anything that would work. I'm apparently in possession of the only hard drive holding stick things to have ever been manufactured. I also thought I was in possession of the only two four inch hard drives to ever be manufactured. Both hard drives are exactly four inches wide. For what I'm guessing is a really, really stupid reason, computer people who you'd think would be logical have taken to calling four inch wide hard drives 3.5 inch hard drives. I googled four inch hard drive questions and learned that. So I tried searching for 3.5 inch hard drive holding things and again came up empty. I've searched and searched and searched and had no luck. I bought a hard drive mount thing that didn't work. I'll elaborate on that below. Some measurements. My 3.5 inch hard drives are each 4 inches wide. The hard drive bay's inside is 4.5 inches wide. If you measure the whole metal hard drive bay thing, it's about five inches wide, but the inside is 4.5 inches wide. The hard drive holder that I bought that didn't fit is 4.65 inches wide. With the hard drive in the holder thing, it won't fit into the hard drive bay. If I take the hard drive out, I can jam it in there if I bend the holder, but this means there's at least .15 inches too much plastic on the outside bit of the holder. I suppose it would fit if I could somehow shave plastic off the sides, but I don't think I can do that. Attachment 3 should be the second hard drive and the holder thing, attachment four should be the second hard drive sitting inside the holder thing. So the plastic sticks comfortably fit inside the hard drive bay while there's a hard drive in between them. The second plastic holder thing, however, is .15 inches too wide to fit into the hard drive bay. I've found a bunch of things that won't work while searching for things to put the hard drive in. I've only found two that could work: The plastic holder thing, which I bought and was too wide. And these metal bracket things that apparently you screw into the side of the hard drive. The problem with those is, I don't see how they could work. There should be a picture of the hard drive bay among the attachments. I don't see how the metal brackets would work. It looks like they screw into the side on the hard drive bay, but I don't see how I could screw anything in there unless I could somehow take the entire front end of my computer off. So yeah, that's it. My hard drive didn't ship with two of those plastic holding things like in attachment one. Those things came with the computer and were holding my first hard drive in. I can't find anything like them anywhere. Does anyone know where I could get those things, or at least what they're called? Anyone have a similar hard drive bay and a second hard drive that they've added? Anyone know if installation of the metal brackets is simpler than it looks? I've already bought one thing that didn't work. For the record, I tried to search this site for similar questions. The closest I ended up finding was a guide to installing a second hard drive, but that didn't mention acquiring a hard drive holder thing. The hard drives hold 1 TB of memory. The brand is called Seagate. A sheet I have of the stuff in my computer SAYS "Seagate 1TB 32MB SATA3 Hard drive". This is my third time trying to post this. Luckily I copied my post before posting the first time. I'm going to try posting it now without uploading the attachments, and maybe I can edit in the attachments afterwards. It would say "Uploading attachments." and a percentage, then go to the new post screen (the screen I had before typing in the topic name and description. I'm going to COPY this too just in case it doesn't work again. EDIT: Posting with attachments wouldn't work. Can't add attachments in the modify screen. I hope my descriptions were okay. It turns out my attachments can't be added because they're over 700KB. Quote from: ExasperatedVulture on August 16, 2013, 01:59:07 PM It turns out my attachments can't be added because they're over 700KB. Right. Use a photo editor to crop or residue the image. Save it as a JPG with a ration of about 12 to 20 for moderate compression. Did you say this was a Dell or HP computer? Quote Did you say this was a Dell or HP computer? Knowing the exact model of the computer would help greatly as for many different ones exist! If you run into a situation where they are hard to come by for some or dont want to spend whatever the fee is for replacements you can always fabricate your own using another bracket in the case as a reference. I have used all sorts of materials to make hard drive rails .... destroyed a wooden ruler to make as set as well as rubber hose cut down its center which works best and all you need are 2 holes to mount the rubber 1/2 tubes to each side of the drive and its a snug fit but also not so snug of a fit that you need a set of vice grips to remove the hard drive either. Rubber Hose cut down its center and mounted via HDD mounting screws is the best alternative I have come up with if you need to fabricate a set since one 4" length of tube is probably all you need then use a utility knife or a ban saw to cut it down the center to have 2 half tubes. I used 3/8" ID rubber hose that is commonly used on automotive applications its black and has nylon cords in it to make it strong but still flexable. Its commonly used for applications like fuel line links between fuel rail and metal fuel line as well as transmission cooler hose for automatic autos which have 2 of these hoses that go to the radiator. Since I also work on cars in addition to computer and other IT stuff I had a few feet of it coiled up to cut a 4" section off of and make HDD bracket out of for an old HP Proliant Server. * The only DRAWBACK to rubber hose is if you are running drives that heat up and rely on the chasis to heatsink away the heat. If the drive just runs normal temp when operating then the rubber hose is ok, however if you have one that runs hot and needs its heat sinked away then I'd buy the proper metal rails or make some out of metal stock to ensure that heat is conducted to the case to keep the drive cool. [recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin] Quote from: Geek-9pm on August 16, 2013, 02:03:11 PM Right. Use a photo editor to crop or residue the image. Save it as a JPG with a ration of about 12 to 20 for moderate compression. Did you say this was a Dell or HP computer? I have no idea what you mean in the second sentence of the first line, but I resized the images. I don't think it's a Dell or HP computer. I bought it from IBUYPOWER about a year and a half ago. On the sheet that lists the parts, the case is listed as (BLU) XION ECHO CASE (NO POWER). It was one of the cheaper cases available. In any case, the attachments should work now. Before, I'd just duct taped two pencils into the holes in the sides of the hard drive bay, set the hard drive on top of it, and ran some duct tape along the bottom that stuck to the hard drive. I had the part with the directions facing down because I didn't want to have the circuit board looking part rubbing against the tape. That setup hasn't caused me any problems, but I recently had to get something in my computer fixed, so I took it and the second hard drive out so I wouldn't be bothered about it (and for the record, the second hard drive wasn't the problem). Now I'd just prefer to get something more "official". Something that isn't two pencils and a bunch of duct tape. And when I opened it to take the second hard drive out, the duct tape on the bottom had come loose, so I'd also like something more secure (if my computer had been tilted, there would have been nothing to stop the second hard drive from sliding around). If I can't find an actual mount, I'll probably just buy some large cable ties or something, but I'd prefer a mount. [recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin](BLU) XION ECHO CASE = Walmart Case Technical Support Technical Support Hours: Mon - Fri: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm PST Toll Free: (888) 618-6040 Phone: (626) 269-5170 http://www.txcesssurplus.com/servlet/the-8964/HP-406006-dsh-001-WorkStation-Hard/Detail Google Image Search; entered "hard drive fixing rails" without the quotes; dozens of results... above is just an example. Lotsa drama for not contacting the case manufacturer... The HDD manuf. btw have nothing to do with it... Quote from: patio on August 17, 2013, 05:27:23 PM Lotsa drama for not contacting the case manufacturer... The HDD manuf. btw have nothing to do with it... I'd assumed that since there's presumably thousands of "3.5 inch" hard drives that the case wouldn't matter, and that some sort of device to mount 3.5 inch hard drives in a case would be COMMON. I didn't know I needed to find out who made my case just to get something so simple. Every Case manufacturer has it's own designs... It's kinda like a Chevy fuel pump for example...it's not gonna work in a Ford. Quote from: Salmon Trout on August 17, 2013, 03:11:30 PM http://www.txcesssurplus.com/servlet/the-8964/HP-406006-dsh-001-WorkStation-Hard/Detail Google Image Search; entered "hard drive fixing rails" without the quotes; dozens of results... above is just an example. Thanks. I hadn't tried searching "hard drive fixing rails" specifically, but sure enough it's exactly what I'm looking for. Found a pair of sticks on sale for 2.99 with free shipping. Hallelujah. I GUESS this question is solved now. The holder things are called "fixing rails". They are called quite a lot of names... Quote from: patio on August 19, 2013, 08:44:27 PM They are called quite a lot of names... Maybe so, but I couldn't find them when using a bunch of similar terms.

Answer»

I bought a second hard drive for my computer. My computer arrived with one hard drive in it, held in place by these two plastic sticks with small screws in the side. You can gently press on the sides of the sticks and slide the sticks (with the hard drive in between them) out of the place where the hard drive is kept (which I'll just call the hard drive bay for the rest of the post). Attachment 1 should be a picture of the sticks. Attachment 2 should be a picture of the hard drive bay with my first hard drive in it, held in place by the sticks from hard drive one.

Now, I needed more memory on my computer so I bought a second hard drive. It's the exact same model as my first hard drive, and is identical to it. It arrived with no cables or plastic sticks. I found a cable for it easily enough. I can't find the sticks or anything similar. I've searched high and low. From Amazon to Newegg. I've googled everything from "hard drive mounts" to "hard drive holder" to "hard drive caddy" to "hard drive case" to the numbers written on the side of the plastic sticks. I haven't found anything that would work. I'm apparently in possession of the only hard drive holding stick things to have ever been manufactured.

I also thought I was in possession of the only two four inch hard drives to ever be manufactured. Both hard drives are exactly four inches wide. For what I'm guessing is a really, really stupid reason, computer people who you'd think would be logical have taken to calling four inch wide hard drives 3.5 inch hard drives. I googled four inch hard drive questions and learned that. So I tried searching for 3.5 inch hard drive holding things and again came up empty. I've searched and searched and searched and had no luck. I bought a hard drive mount thing that didn't work. I'll elaborate on that below.

Some measurements. My 3.5 inch hard drives are each 4 inches wide. The hard drive bay's inside is 4.5 inches wide. If you measure the whole metal hard drive bay thing, it's about five inches wide, but the inside is 4.5 inches wide. The hard drive holder that I bought that didn't fit is 4.65 inches wide. With the hard drive in the holder thing, it won't fit into the hard drive bay. If I take the hard drive out, I can jam it in there if I bend the holder, but this means there's at least .15 inches too much plastic on the outside bit of the holder. I suppose it would fit if I could somehow shave plastic off the sides, but I don't think I can do that. Attachment 3 should be the second hard drive and the holder thing, attachment four should be the second hard drive sitting inside the holder thing.

So the plastic sticks comfortably fit inside the hard drive bay while there's a hard drive in between them. The second plastic holder thing, however, is .15 inches too wide to fit into the hard drive bay. I've found a bunch of things that won't work while searching for things to put the hard drive in. I've only found two that could work: The plastic holder thing, which I bought and was too wide. And these metal bracket things that apparently you screw into the side of the hard drive. The problem with those is, I don't see how they could work. There should be a picture of the hard drive bay among the attachments. I don't see how the metal brackets would work. It looks like they screw into the side on the hard drive bay, but I don't see how I could screw anything in there unless I could somehow take the entire front end of my computer off.

So yeah, that's it. My hard drive didn't ship with two of those plastic holding things like in attachment one. Those things came with the computer and were holding my first hard drive in. I can't find anything like them anywhere. Does anyone know where I could get those things, or at least what they're called? Anyone have a similar hard drive bay and a second hard drive that they've added? Anyone know if installation of the metal brackets is simpler than it looks? I've already bought one thing that didn't work.

For the record, I tried to search this site for similar questions. The closest I ended up finding was a guide to installing a second hard drive, but that didn't mention acquiring a hard drive holder thing. The hard drives hold 1 TB of memory. The brand is called Seagate. A sheet I have of the stuff in my computer SAYS "Seagate 1TB 32MB SATA3 Hard drive".

This is my third time trying to post this. Luckily I copied my post before posting the first time. I'm going to try posting it now without uploading the attachments, and maybe I can edit in the attachments afterwards. It would say "Uploading attachments." and a percentage, then go to the new post screen (the screen I had before typing in the topic name and description. I'm going to COPY this too just in case it doesn't work again.

EDIT: Posting with attachments wouldn't work. Can't add attachments in the modify screen. I hope my descriptions were okay. It turns out my attachments can't be added because they're over 700KB. Quote from: ExasperatedVulture on August 16, 2013, 01:59:07 PM

It turns out my attachments can't be added because they're over 700KB.

Right. Use a photo editor to crop or residue the image. Save it as a JPG with a ration of about 12 to 20 for moderate compression.

Did you say this was a Dell or HP computer? Quote

Did you say this was a Dell or HP computer?

Knowing the exact model of the computer would help greatly as for many different ones exist!

If you run into a situation where they are hard to come by for some or dont want to spend whatever the fee is for replacements you can always fabricate your own using another bracket in the case as a reference. I have used all sorts of materials to make hard drive rails .... destroyed a wooden ruler to make as set as well as rubber hose cut down its center which works best and all you need are 2 holes to mount the rubber 1/2 tubes to each side of the drive and its a snug fit but also not so snug of a fit that you need a set of vice grips to remove the hard drive either. Rubber Hose cut down its center and mounted via HDD mounting screws is the best alternative I have come up with if you need to fabricate a set since one 4" length of tube is probably all you need then use a utility knife or a ban saw to cut it down the center to have 2 half tubes. I used 3/8" ID rubber hose that is commonly used on automotive applications its black and has nylon cords in it to make it strong but still flexable. Its commonly used for applications like fuel line links between fuel rail and metal fuel line as well as transmission cooler hose for automatic autos which have 2 of these hoses that go to the radiator. Since I also work on cars in addition to computer and other IT stuff I had a few feet of it coiled up to cut a 4" section off of and make HDD bracket out of for an old HP Proliant Server. * The only DRAWBACK to rubber hose is if you are running drives that heat up and rely on the chasis to heatsink away the heat. If the drive just runs normal temp when operating then the rubber hose is ok, however if you have one that runs hot and needs its heat sinked away then I'd buy the proper metal rails or make some out of metal stock to ensure that heat is conducted to the case to keep the drive cool.

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin] Quote from: Geek-9pm on August 16, 2013, 02:03:11 PM

Right. Use a photo editor to crop or residue the image. Save it as a JPG with a ration of about 12 to 20 for moderate compression.

Did you say this was a Dell or HP computer?

I have no idea what you mean in the second sentence of the first line, but I resized the images.

I don't think it's a Dell or HP computer. I bought it from IBUYPOWER about a year and a half ago. On the sheet that lists the parts, the case is listed as (BLU) XION ECHO CASE (NO POWER). It was one of the cheaper cases available. In any case, the attachments should work now.

Before, I'd just duct taped two pencils into the holes in the sides of the hard drive bay, set the hard drive on top of it, and ran some duct tape along the bottom that stuck to the hard drive. I had the part with the directions facing down because I didn't want to have the circuit board looking part rubbing against the tape. That setup hasn't caused me any problems, but I recently had to get something in my computer fixed, so I took it and the second hard drive out so I wouldn't be bothered about it (and for the record, the second hard drive wasn't the problem). Now I'd just prefer to get something more "official". Something that isn't two pencils and a bunch of duct tape. And when I opened it to take the second hard drive out, the duct tape on the bottom had come loose, so I'd also like something more secure (if my computer had been tilted, there would have been nothing to stop the second hard drive from sliding around). If I can't find an actual mount, I'll probably just buy some large cable ties or something, but I'd prefer a mount.

[recovering disk space, attachment deleted by admin](BLU) XION ECHO CASE = Walmart Case

Technical Support

Technical Support Hours:
Mon - Fri: 8:30 am - 5:00 pm PST

Toll Free: (888) 618-6040
Phone: (626) 269-5170

http://www.txcesssurplus.com/servlet/the-8964/HP-406006-dsh-001-WorkStation-Hard/Detail

Google Image Search; entered "hard drive fixing rails" without the quotes; dozens of results... above is just an example.

Lotsa drama for not contacting the case manufacturer...
The HDD manuf. btw have nothing to do with it... Quote from: patio on August 17, 2013, 05:27:23 PM

Lotsa drama for not contacting the case manufacturer...
The HDD manuf. btw have nothing to do with it...

I'd assumed that since there's presumably thousands of "3.5 inch" hard drives that the case wouldn't matter, and that some sort of device to mount 3.5 inch hard drives in a case would be COMMON. I didn't know I needed to find out who made my case just to get something so simple. Every Case manufacturer has it's own designs...
It's kinda like a Chevy fuel pump for example...it's not gonna work in a Ford. Quote from: Salmon Trout on August 17, 2013, 03:11:30 PM

http://www.txcesssurplus.com/servlet/the-8964/HP-406006-dsh-001-WorkStation-Hard/Detail

Google Image Search; entered "hard drive fixing rails" without the quotes; dozens of results... above is just an example.

Thanks. I hadn't tried searching "hard drive fixing rails" specifically, but sure enough it's exactly what I'm looking for. Found a pair of sticks on sale for 2.99 with free shipping. Hallelujah.

I GUESS this question is solved now. The holder things are called "fixing rails". They are called quite a lot of names... Quote from: patio on August 19, 2013, 08:44:27 PM

Solve : Can not find hard drive holder things?

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