Most of these rails (the green ones, anyway) are a lot longer than
will fit in my Optiplex 760, which is USFF with limited space. I
think the the 'C49' is the key to what I need. I will look some more
You sure? The screws in the rails look to be at the standard distance
apart for the threaded holes in hard disks. The screw farthest into the
case is near the end of the rail so there would nothing of the rail to
stick back farther than the drive. The drive is a lot longer from its
rear screw hole than is the length of the rail beyond its back screw.
The front screw is very near the tang or lip in the rail that would snap
into a recess in the drive cage/bay.
Are you sure you are positioning the drive and rails on top of the tab
guides in the drive cage?
Do you really need the rails? The Google pic for the 760 USFF at
http://tinyurl.com/nhenarx shows how the tangs on the rails would snap
past the metallic fingers at the end of the cage. However, if you have
no plans to remove the drive (except to replace it every few years, or
longer, or never), you could could use long zip ties to hold the drive
into the cage. I did that with an old computer that had a Slot2 Pentium
CPU. The retaining bracket broke that holds it into the slot. I just
ran zip ties through the holes in the mobo bracket (into which the
retaining bracket snapped) and over the Slot2 CPU. Worked that way for
around 6, or more, years until I trashed the old computer. If the cage
is larger than the hard disk which means the drive would be loose inside
the zip ties, pile up some double-stick foam tape on the non-PCB side of
the drive to fill the gap between drive and zip tie.
I wouldn't use gorilla/duct tape since after a time the glue would dry
and you end up with a mess on the drive cage when you remove the tape.
That means the next tape job won't have a good clean surface on which to
adhere. Zip ties easily snip so you can remove the drive, put in a new
drive, and use new zip ties. I'd get the pricey wide zip ties just to
ensure the locking mechanism was beefier.
The pic doesn't show the side door for that case. If it is just a solid
metal side panel, you could skip using the cage (although you'll
probably have to remove it to get it out of the way) and drill holes
into the case that match up with the screw holes on the bottom of the
hard disk. Those holes are at standard distances so they'll work for
the next hard disk replacement. They you mount the drive to the side
door. Sure, you'll need to slighty open the side door to disconnect and
reconnect the power and data cables but how often do you do that? If
the power and data cables aren't long enough, get a Y-adapter for power
and a longer data cable from mobo header to drive.
http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41S9aCRqYFL._SX300_.jpg shows a
SATA drive bottom mounted to an 5-1/4" bay adapter. There are screws on
the bottom of the drive that can be used, too, to mount a drive.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/z_000436mountingholes.jpg
The hole on the right is for side mounting. The hole on the left is for
bottom mounting. They use the same thread sized screw.
http://www.pcguide.com/ref/hdd/op/z_000436mountingholes.jpg
Here's another pic showing the bottom mounts. Notice the PCB is slighty
recessed to prevent shorting against a metal plate when bottom mounting.
Sometime a mylar shield is included for added protection. The recess
should be sufficient but if you're concerned then apply some self-stick
mylar film to the metal plate (side door), the same stuff you get at
office supply stores to protect sheets of paper, like for IDs.
