HDD Bracket Rails

[beavereater]

Are all these the same regardless of where you get them? I can't find my package with all my brackets and I'm trying to move old files to a new HD...but in order to do that I'll have to dangle one of the drives (Or place it on an even surface) until all the data has moved over. Since that drive is being replaced and I'm using my current brackets on a new drive, I'll have to get some new ones for the replacement drive (3 weeks apparently).

So...are they all the same or are there any differences? AND, on a side note...is not mounting the one HD properly in the case and have it sitting on something while it runs 'unsafe'?

[usually_quiet]

I am not sure what you mean.

There are adapters that allow mounting a standard HDD in an optical drive bay, or mounting a notebook hard drive in a standard hard drive bay. Those are standardized.

I have also used rails that were attached to the drive with screws, but were held in the bay by spring tension after the drive was installed. The design was specific to the manufacturer, and varied slightly by model. There were enough provided with the case for all the drive bays.

I haven't ever used a hard drive without mounting it, so I can't answer the rest of your question.

[nic2k4]

Not all mounting rails are the same, if you're PC is made by HP, compaq , Acer... it might use "proprietary" rails. There's no danger in not properly mounting a drive if you're careful enough not to disturb it while it's running (keep cats, dogs and little children away). I have done so many times to transfer data and clone drives. Either place the PC on it's side and lay the drive flat on top of it (put a magazine in between) or use a box or a stack of books next to it, to hold the drive so that the cables aren't getting pulled.

[aedipuss]

i've even mounted drives to the side of a case with duct tape, it just doesn't matter if it's temporary.

[jagabo]

Sometimes I just use two screws on one side of the drive to mount a 3.5" disk in a 5.25" bay. And I often just leave a drive dangling or sitting on a box for temporary transfers. Also consider using trayless, hot swapable (not your boot drive obviously), removable drive bays.

http://www.amazon.com/KingWin-KF-1000-BK-Single-Internal-SATA/dp/B00126U0VA/

[beavereater]

I guess I'll bring in one that I have to the shop. My rails came with tower...Maelstrom tower is the name. On this page is a look at the rails:

http://www.thinkcomputers.org/in-win-maelstrom-full-tower-chassis-review/4/

Anyways, I just got the new 2T drive formatted and working. Everything is working properly. I'm going to do a complete diagnostic on it before I actually start transfer data over to it. That should take a couple of hours.

ETA:

Sometimes I just use two screws on one side of the drive to mount a 3.5" disk in a 5.25" bay. And I often just leave a drive dangling or sitting on a box for temporary transfers. Also consider using trayless, hot swapable (not your boot drive obviously), removable drive bays.

http://www.amazon.com/KingWin-KF-1000-BK-Single-Internal-SATA/dp/B00126U0VA/

Those hot swapable drives...are there any downsides to these? Why not make all your drives (Boot included) this for easier removal etc? Is speed affected in any way? How hard/easy is installation? From what I see, it looks pretty sweet...