safe to screw an internal HDD to base of pc?

[Kingpin]

hi guys,

 

i havent got a slot to install my hdd, despite trying to bend the steel bracket of the floppy drive (to no avail) i have finally given up and just wanted to know would it be safe to screw my hdd to the bottom of the base so it would be on its side?

[BeeCeeBee]

If I understand you correctly you want an old hard drive added to your system as an internal hard drive, perhaps as a slave. You have nowhere to put it so you want to screw it onto the metal case and run the cabling to it from inside the cabinet. Is that correct?

 

Leaving aside the fact that there is nowhere to safely screw a hard drive to anything, I figure it will take about 10 minutes for the static electricity to hit it.

 

If you want to use the drive I would suggest you get a caddy for it and use it as an external drive.

[Spools]

I wouldn't recommend that at all. If you have an open 5.25" drive bay you could install some adapters to fit your HDD.

Here's an example: Newegg.com - StarTech BRACKET Metal 3.5" to 5.25" Drive Adapter Bracket - Case Accessories

[Kingpin]

its my primary drive mate, no where to put it, all the steel has been bent out of place and dont know what to do, ive fallen on hard times and thus cant afford to buy anything, how would i make a case>? or could i cable tie it on?

[DirtyPolo]

Do you mean you have NO HDD slots at all, or that they are already full with other HDDs?

 

I would NOT recommend placing your HDD anywhere other than a proper HDD cage, as it needs no pressure places upon it, it also needs good ventilation and good access to connect it to the mobo, so my answer would be, no it isn't.

 

As BeeCeeBee has already stated, it would last less than a day most probably. That also incudes the floppy drive you said about trying to bend open to make it fit.

 

Buy a caddy as suggested above or upgrade your case would be the other option.

 

EDIT:

 

You state it is your primary drive? yet you MUST have other HDD slots taken up. If you wish to keep this as a primary drive, take out one of the other HDDs and use the space for this drive and transfer any files you need from the drive that you dont have room for, to this one.

Edited March 3, 2009 by DirtyPolo

[Kingpin]

i havent got any slots mate, just the top two cd slots, floppy drive and NOTHING else at all!

[BeeCeeBee]

This is totally confusing to me. There has to be a place for a hard drive. If you have only room for one then there are ways to improve your capacity using external measures. But there has to be a place for a hard drive.

[Kingpin]

there are only slots for 2 cd drives and a floppy, which i have bent all out of place..

 

i removed the steel cages and installed it in my current pc, but i cant remember how to remove them?!

[DirtyPolo]

well you cannot install a HDD without a HDD cage, which by reading your above post, you have put into a different PC.

 

either purchase a new one, which will be hard, or remove the old one form your current PC.

 

why did you do this anyway? your current PC should also have come with enough space to fit a HDD or two.

Edited March 3, 2009 by DirtyPolo

[Kingpin]

i would have used my current pc's hdd to install in my old tower, however my old motherboard doesnt have a sata drive connection and this hdd is sata

 

how do u screw those, "rounded" hole like screws out of the base?

[DirtyPolo]

What does the type of connection have to do with why you took the HDD cage out of one pc and installed it (god knows how) into another PC?

 

When you buy a case, it will have some sort of HDD Cage.

 

You should not need to install more, or take out these for any reason. they are generally built into the case themselves, but if they do come out, they should not be used inside other cases as they will not fit properly.

 

what I don't understand is why you said you took your HDD cage out of your old PC to fit it into your current one.

Edited March 3, 2009 by DirtyPolo

[Kingpin]

true, lol

 

prob just gonna have to end up buying a new tower then, do u know off hand what a P4 motherboard will fit into?

 

having nothing but probs

[Kingpin]

What does the type of connection have to do with why you took the HDD cage out of one pc and installed it (god knows how) into another PC?

 

When you buy a case, it will have some sort of HDD Cage.

 

You should not need to install more, or take out these for any reason. they are generally built into the case themselves, but if they do come out, they should not be used inside other cases as they will not fit properly.

 

what I don't understand is why you said you took your HDD cage out of your old PC to fit it into your current one.

 

 

there was only the one slot available mate in my current one mate, before i took the cage out, but i desperately want to use my old tower now

[BeeCeeBee]

Kingpin, I am not having a go at you when I acknowledge that times are rotten and that we need to save where we can.

 

That doesn't change the fact that you need to have a hard drive properly supported as Dirty Polo already noted.

 

Truthfully, each time you try to explain what you have done I get more confused.

 

The brackets or cage that used to support a hard drive have been removed and put into some other tower or case. Is that correct?

 

The fact remains that you need to match up the set screw holes on the hard drive with a bracket to hold it properly. I have no idea what these rounded screws look like. For all I know they are rivets.

 

If you want to try to find a picture or a link to what you mean I am sure that someone will point out the proper tool if there is one.

Edited March 3, 2009 by BeeCeeBee

[Plastic Nev]

Hi Kingpin, Beeceebee's idea of pictures would be good if you can get some and post them, so we can then see what you mean. Either from a digital camera, or even a mobile phone camera would do. Show us the case, the mother board, the hard drive etc, as much as you can please.

[Dalo Harkin]

Right lets clear this up:-

In order to fit an HDD into a case that only has optical drive spaces which are 5.25 inch seeing as though all HDD's other than lappy ones are 3.5 inch you need to use the brackets as said by spools, you attach them to the HDD to make it 5.25 inch and install the whole unit.

You cannot just screw a HDD anywhere - you need to take into account the fact that it gets hot and that it vibrates.

 

If you have bent all the caging on the optical (5.25 inch) slots then yes you will need a new case