Installing Windows 10 on HDD, then on SSD

Winuser said:

On one of my old HP desktops I used velcro to hold a SSD to the bottom of the case. Worked great.

I really would prefer to empty the drive bays altogether and just stick the Samsung on the floor of the case. I'll have to find somewhere that sells sticky-backed velcro now.

The thing I'm wondering about is: if you've stuck your SSD to the case with velcro but then the drive fails under warranty, will the manufacturer accept the SSD if it's got velcro tape stuck on it? Or if it's had velcro on it but it's been ripped off since?

Foebane72 said:

The thing I'm wondering about is: if you've stuck your SSD to the case with velcro but then the drive fails under warranty, will the manufacturer accept the SSD if it's got velcro tape stuck on it? Or if it's had velcro on it but it's been ripped off since?

Good point. I would put the SSD drive in a drive bracket and velcro the bracket to the base of the PC case. You could drill 4 holes through the PC base and fasten the SSD to the base with screws. However, you will need to be very careful to prevent metal swarf damaging your PC components.

Steve C said:

Good point. I would put the SSD drive in a drive bracket and velcro the bracket to the base of the PC case. You could drill 4 holes through the PC base and fasten the SSD to the base with screws. However, you will need to be very careful to prevent metal swarf damaging your PC components.

Excellent idea! Would it work with small 2.5" HDDs as well?

Foebane72 said:

Excellent idea! Would it work with small 2.5" HDDs as well?

Your 2.5" SSD should have 4 screw mounting holes in its base. You could drill 4 holes in the base of the PC case and screw into these SSD mounting holes. Be extremely careful of metal swarf. You might want to remove the motherboard if you do this and seal off the rest of the case.

Steve C said:

Your 2.5" SSD should have 4 screw mounting holes in its base. You could drill 4 holes in the base of the PC case and screw into these SSD mounting holes. Be extremely careful of metal swarf. You might want to remove the motherboard if you do this and seal off the rest of the case.

I'm not even going to think of attempting that, so... no.

I ordered the adaptor a while ago, but I'm sorely tempted to just velcro the SSD to the floor of my case, as I've seen so many others do.

Using an adaptor like that is a convoluted idea, anyway: I'd have to take the SSD and screw it to a piece of metal, then screw that piece of metal into the PC case (opening both side covers as well to do so), when really, I could just secure the SSD with velcro in an openly-accessible part of the case and just remove and replace it if I needed to, no hassle.

1. Don't modern PC cases do away with 3.5" and 5.25" bays? They should do, because if you're going to insist on using HDDs, then 2.5" HDDs are identical in operation and capacity to 3.5" HDDs, but they're smaller and take up less space. And as for 5.25" bays, those are only used for ODDs, and who the heck uses those these days? I use one, but it's external, which is much better.

2. Why hasn't anyone developed a 2.5" to 3.5" adapter where the SDDs can simply be slotted into place, rather than screwed in? You could fit at least two SSDs in something like that. Looks like an untapped market there, and what's more, the adapter can remain screwed in forever.

Foebane72 said:

I'm not even going to think of attempting that, so... no.

But you might want to consider getting a cheap bracket for the SSD, and then two-sided tape or Velcro the bracket holding the SSD to the case. That way the tape is not applied to the SSD itself, it will be applied to the bracket.