OCZ SSD 3.5" Adapter in Antec P180?

[VictorT]

Got my first SSD today, a Vertex 2, went to install it and unless I'm doing something wrong, I can't seem to get it installed with the included 2.5 to 3.5 adapter. The holes in the adapter don't at all line up with the hole spacing on a standard 3.5" drive. I could use the front two screws but then the back would just flop around. Why aren't the holes in the adapter spaced at the standard 3.5" spacing?

Second, the Antec P180 utilizes a drive tray to hold four 3.5" drives. There are also silicone grommets used to help with vibrations. The screws supplied with the case are too large for the 2.5 to 3.5 adapter. This seems weird. Wouldn't OCZ use standard sized 3.5" drive screws for its 3.5" adapter? I understand they won't fit into the SSD itself, but they should fit into the adapter. Anyway, the screws supplied with the SSD are too short to accommodate the silicone grommets and also lack a washer, making them unusable for the adapter as well.

I guess I need to pick up some of those dual 2.5" in one 3.5" adapter rails i've seen from Bytecc.

Has anyone run into similar problems with OCZ drives and Antec cases?

 

[Zargon]

i only have vertex ones so no adapter provided.

 

[Sahakiel]

I have a first gen Agility which didn't come with an adapter. I've installed it in a Solo, P180, and P182 (don't ask why).
I bought the Silverstone adapter. This one, if I remember correctly: http://detonator.dynamitedata.com/c...com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817997007http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817997007
It fits fine in all my cases, with mount holes on bottom and sides to accommodate both tray types, so I'm assuming it's the OCZ adapter that has problems and not your case. I would contact them and see if it's simply a manufacturing defect. They may send you a replacement.
Another option if you don't particularly care is simple tape. SSD doesn't vibrate and has a higher shock tolerance than any spindle drive, so you shouldn't have problems taping it to a case panel. Not the prettiest solution, but works very well especially if your case is cramped.

 

[Necrolezbeast]

I just had the same thing with my Phoenix Pro, I just put it in the cool little bracket and slid it in the very bottom slot of the upper 2.5" rail, the rail that uses the quick release brackets, the drive in the adapter slid in the bottom area and runs tightly against the little anti-vibration rubbers... doesn't even move around at all.

 

[WildW]

I had this last week when I put an SSD in a P180 with that same OCZ adapter. The P180's hard drive area only has holes to fix into the front and rear (not middle) holes on standard hard disks. The OCZ adapter also only has 4 holes, but they include those you'd normally screw through into a hard disk's middle holes.

In the end I gave up and used extra adapters to mount the whole thing in a 5.25" bay. . .which looks rediculous, but works. I was this close to using sticky-tape.

To this day I've never managed to install an SSD in a sensible manner in any case. In my main machine now my SSD is resting on top of my DVD drive, with one screw attaching it in the 5.25" slot above. Any spare hole a screw will go through is usually the plan. . . but the P180 doesn't really have any :/

 

[razel]

I was this close to using sticky-tape.

That's not necessarily a bad idea. 🙂 For the OP, SSDs are durable and don't weigh much. If fact most of it's weight is the metal outer case. If you can do so, without voiding warranty, you could take the internal out and just duct-tape or use picture mounting putty it anywhere preferably where there is the least amount of stress on the SATA and/or power cables.

 

[franco_foxx]

I'm glad I'm not the only one to run into this issue.

During a build over the weekend, when the time came to mount the system's SSDs in a Lian-Li PC-V1110B case and all I had to hand were 3 (yes 3!) OCZ 2.5" to 3.5" adapter plates, I quickly realised I was...

:sneaky:



... screwed.

The V1110B uses a quick-release anti-vibration grommet mounting system too. (For anybody interested, here's a shot of the HDD bays http://www.ocia.net/fullsize.php?filename=288_36.jpg.)The OCZ adapter does not accept the mounting screws because they are too large. Here are the screws (OH-01A):frozencpu.com or overclockers.co.uk

Not knowing the name of those screws or at least the standard, 'grommet-less' version, my Googling started off a little desperately, e.g. 'can't mount SSD with case screws' and (after finding this tread) 'ssd anti-vibration grommet screws'. Schmoogling.

But after borrowing the terms 'coarse thread' and 'fine thread' from this... :sneaky: thread (http://community.spiceworks.com/topic/424701-mount-ssd-in-hp-elitedesk-800), I was brought to Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_case_screws) and thereupon enlightened. There's even a picture of both screws next to each other and everything!

Now correct me if I'm wrong, but it looks like the OCZ SSD adapter plate uses the smaller M3 screws on both the base and sides. The threads of the M3 screws are 0.5 mm apart in the coarse* version and its outer diameter is 3 mm. The case mount screws are based on the 6-32 standard whose threads are 0.79375 mm apart and have a diameter of 3.5052 mm. These, unsurprisingly, do not fit the adapter's holes.

This is probably really obvious to a lot of people here, but there you go. When you're sifting through the bags of screws that came with your case (and adapters) and looking at the adapter and looking at the HDD bays and looking back at the screws and then at the adapter, etc. you start to feel like you're taking crazy pills.

I like the look of the SilverStone bay converter Sahakiel linked to. I presume that it accepts 6-32 screws. I'm 3.5 years late to this party, but if anybody could confirm that it does or suggest alternatives, I'd appreciate it. Thanks!

*Apparently there's a coarse and fine variant of each ISO metric screw size, and so it's not a question of having 'coarse' case screws and 'fine' adapter screws, as I initially (mis-)understood from skim reading the spiceworks.com thread.

 

[franco_foxx]

If anybody else is looking for an adapter with which to mount an SSD in a 3.5" hard drive bay using 6-32 type screws, then I highly recommend Scythe's Twin Mounter 2.5 adapter (http://www.quietpc.com/twin-mounter-25).

After a few hours of searching, I had resigned to the fact that there didn't seem to be anything more promising-looking than either the Akasa AK-HDA-03 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Akasa-AK-HDA-03-2-5-3-5-inch-Adapter/dp/B005ZWGFAC) or the Kingston SNA-BR_35 (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kingston-Storage-bay-adapter-3-5/dp/B002HJFSKO). I was going to settle on the Kingston-made brackets, but I couldn't find a merchant that posted to my location (Ireland).

Fortunately, I stumbled upon the Quiet PC website and their Scythe adapters—how exactly, I can't remember. The reviews for the adapter were very favourable and it seemed almost certain that they were compatible with the 6-32 screws (based on the report of at least one helpful reviewer who described the case mounting holes as being of the 'wide thread' variety). I ordered 4 sets. I think they arrived within 3 working days. The postage was a very reasonable £6.49.

The important thing is: They worked as hoped, i.e. they were compatible with the 6-32 type anti-vibration grommet screws required by the Lian Li case. Check out the pictures here:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/w8xcjchcp23l2v7/AAA1b5m00abgExFtamHU14J5a

(Note: Don't do what I did and mount 2 drives in the same orientation (IMG_1184.jpg) because the SATA power connector—and, if your cables have them, the angled SATA connector—of one of the drives will probably obstruct the same in the other. IMG_1193.jpg shows the alternative arrangement with cables connected. And don't worry, I straightened out those cables and made sure that that top SATA power connector was properly pushed in all the way after taking that photograph. )