Minor question about a quick-fix to a Klooge for SSD installation

[BonzaiDuck]

Background: Since I retired, I been a ba-a-d boy -- and stopped caring for my dental hygiene despite the semi-annual checkups and x-rays from my dentist. I had $1,700 worth of "repairs" discovered during my October visit. My dentist and I share a certain "computer enthusiast" interest which overlaps.

He's foregone building more machines by himself, opting for purchase of surplus OEMs like a Dell OptiPlex 760. He wanted to clone the 760's HDD to a new Kingston SSD. I offered to loan him my Acronis Disk Director self-booting CD, but he asked if I would just do the clone for him, offering a discount on the fillings.

Brought it home today -- my mouth still numb from the first of three scheduled visits. I won't go through the troubles this Dell piece-a-s*** gave me, but I finished the job, using a Thermaltake Blakx docking station and the system's eSATA port.

When I opened the box to replace the HDD with the newly-cloned SSD, I discovered that "somebody" had just jammed the HDD in there under the BD/optical drive, without any securing screws or brackets. It occurred to me that an essential bracket was missing. Somebody had stuck the HDD on the bottom chassis with white sticky-tape, and then put a block of gray foam-rubber packing material between the HDD and the optical drive (which latches into place) so as to keep the HDD from "moving around."

I finally just decided to use Velcro hook-and-loop patches on the 2.5" SSD adapter bracket I decided to "throw into the bargain" -- given the discount.

The patches are stuck to the bottom of the adapter bracket.

Is there much risk of some . . . sort of static charge . . . arising from pulling the hook-and-loop patches apart if the Doc ever wants to remove that SSD?

I HATE solutions like that, but the situation left me no choice. IN any case, I put a Notepad "summary of everything" on the Doc's Windows desktop, warning him to remove the SSD-with-adapter carefully.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

I found another web-site -- maybe HardOC forum or something -- that discussed use of Velcro to secure SSDs. The consensus there suggests "no harm, no problem."

Anyone with an opinion which departs from that consensus can post it here. If there aren't any, then I guess this is "Case Closed."

 

[corkyg]

Interesting. I can only say that Velcro works for me with no problems.

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Interesting. I can only say that Velcro works for me with no problems.

That's what they all seem to say, and it seems to be a common way of securing those feather-weight SSDs. Even so, the worst thing about Velcro on metal: the adhesive tends to dry out, or the hook-and-loop adherence is stronger than the glue.

By the way. Does ANYONE have an idea why it is impossible for me to enter the BIOS of an OptiPlex 760? All the advice seems to say "F2" or "Del," but when I do that, the machine generates a continuous beep and just locks up. How the hell is that possible? Is there some BIOS feature in the Dells by which the owner can change the function-key or key-stroke sequence to enter the BIOS?

The cloning was a complete success; the Event-Logs are mostly all "blue" except for what I regard as benign errors or warnings. But I almost regret laying my hands on my dentist's system if I can't enter the BIOS and it behaves this way when I try and do so.

The OEM systems may be fine for mainstreamers, but every time I open one of them up, my disgust and contempt increases another notch.

I would have to be near-indigent to consider buying one of those boxes . . . That's likely opposite my dentist's income profile, and I know he just wants a ready-made machine-to-go.

But . . . they SUCK!! Like Linda Lovelace and the chrome on a trailer hitch!!

 

[Cerb]

Try a different keyboard. F2 is the right key.

While it is what I've done, you don't need to hang the SSD with velcro. Velcro can be used just to keep it from moving around when moving the PC. For one work PC, when out of rail adapters, I used velcro to fit an SSD to the drive caddy, right-side-up. The PC will be on it's 2nd or 3rd owner, if not just dead, by the time that velcro fails, if it even does.

And, I dunno...the OEM install should have, at worst, an easy to remove, if done early, piece of outsourced Dell security software, and maybe MSE. If it's a refurbisher's image, the sky's the limit, though.

 

[Elixer]

You don't even need that much velcro, you just basically use it to stop it from moving around, so your cables don't come off.
You don't want to put the velcro on top of any sticker though, since, when it comes time to RMA it, it is possible that when you remove the velcro, it will take the sticker with it.