Mounting 2.5" SSD in Antec Atlas 550's 3.5" bay
- by cecilkorik
Just got some new SSDs to add to my servers, unfortunately there doesn't appear to be anywhere to actually mount them.
The cases are Antec Atlas 550 mid-tower server cases. The problem is that the 3.5" bays are intended for 3.5" hard drives (obviously) not SSDs, so they are mounted from the bottom with rubber grommets to reduce vibration. There are NO side-holes in any of the 3.5" bays, all mounting has to be done from the bottom of the drive, through the thick rubber grommets, which requires special extra-long screws with large heads. Those screws will not work with the SSD, the thread is too coarse, 2.5" drives apparently use M3 screws with a finer pitch.
The case's 3.5" bays have holes aligned for 2.5" drives and by moving the grommets into the appropriate holes they line up with the SSD. But that's as far as I can get. I don't have and cannot find any screws that use the finer M3 pitch that are long enough and have the wide head. I can't remove the grommets because the screw holes are much too wide without them, the entire head of the screw fits through. And again, there are no side-holes, so I can't use the mounting bracket that came with the drive nor any other 2.5"-3.5" bracket I've found.
Here is a pic of what I am dealing with (note that the SSD is just resting on the case, it's not currently screwed in if that's not clear)
Any ideas for safely mounting these little guys without resorting to duct tape or superglue would be very appreciated. If anyone knows where I could buy the appropriate type of M3 threaded screw or has any other ideas please help me out here.
