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Review on πŸ”§ Hftywy 2Pack SSD Bracket Adapter 2.5 to 3.5 - Mounting Kit for SSD HDD Hard Disk Drive Bays Holder - Metal Mounting Bracket Adapter with Screws for PC SSD by Patrice Lippmann

Revainrating 4 out of 5

Not the best design, but easy to modify

This adapter is designed to make it easier to install a 2.5" SSD or laptop drive in a slot designed for a 3, 5-inch desktop drive is designed. The adapter is 3.5" wide with screw holes on the edges ("A" in Image 1A) so that the adapter can be installed in place of a 3.5" drive. The adapter has four additional holes ("B") for attaching a 2.5" drive to the adapter plate. (For brevity, I'm referring to a 2.5" SSD drive, although of course this could refer to any 2.5" laptop drive, not just SSDs.) These holes are on the center of the SSD aligned on the adapter plate. However, I believe it should be designed to offset the SSD, so I drilled two additional holes ("C") to mount the SSD in an offset position. Picture 1B describes the location of my two additional holes. Note that the SSD is only secured with two screws; not perfect but seems solid enough. Also note that the SSD does not need to be flush on one side as there needs to be room for the drive cage pins or mounting screws, so I left 4.5mm from the edge to the center of the hole. Pic 2 shows those SSD offset mounted. the drive's SATA connectors where they should be on a 3.5-inch drive. It should be clear that: ANYWHERE THIS ADAPTER WILL BE USED IS DEFINITELY A LOCATION WHERE THE COMPUTER EXPECTS THE SATA PORTS TO BE IN THE SAME PLACE AS THEY ARE ON A 3.5" DRIVE WILL! was designed to put the SSD connectors in the same place that a 3.5" drive would have, rather than centering the SSD to make it look nicer. For illustrative purposes, images 3A and 3B show the SSD installed in the middle position and the adapter installed in the plastic case of a Dell desktop computer. The SATA connectors are in an awkward and difficult to access location after the case is inserted into the computer case as shown in the 5A and 5B images. Figure 3B also shows that the two SSD mounting screws are in the way of the case. The screw heads warp the plastic case, making it difficult to insert the warped case into the drive bay inside the computer. In contrast, images 4A and 4B show the SSD installed in my offset position and the adapter installed in the case. Note that the SATA connectors are now aligned where they would be if the 3.5" drive was in the cage. Also note in Figure 4B that the two offset screw holes do not interfere with the basket. even if it's just a coincidence. with this particular Dell case. Picture 6 shows my SSD mounted offset in the case and drive bay, showing how the connectors lined up perfectly where the OEM cables should be. I encountered another small issue related to the hole spacing on the side of the adapter. A 3.5 inch drive has holes that are exactly 4 inches apart. As shown in Figure 1C, the corresponding holes on the adapter were inexplicably only slightly (about 1mm) further apart. can be a problem as most of the screw drive bay holes are slotted instead of round, which gives a bit of wiggle room, spaced exactly 4" apart so they don't line up with the adapter holes. My solution was to just drill the adapter holes a little more to accommodate the slightly shorter span of the dolly pins. The center hole in pic 1C is the original hole size while the outer two holes were drilled larger. Despite these problems I still give it four stars because the adapter is easy to change and after the change it is almost perfect. Most competitor adapters also center the SSD but cannot be easily changed. Nothing is perfect but this is the best adapter I have ever come across and I will continue to use and recommend it.

Pros
  • Nice to use
Cons
  • Something's wrong