Question: Hello,
I have a spare 3.5″ hard drive that I am planning to mount directly to the base of the 5.25″ bay and secure it using wire ties(I know there’s an adapter for 3.5″ to 5.35″ but it takes more than 45 days to get it delivered to my place). The PCB of the drive and the screws that hold the PCB are touching the base of the bay. Is it safe to mount like that or does it harm the drive or create some kind of short in the system?
Answer:You can virtually mount the drives in any orientation that you want. If your 5.25 bay has holes in it, should to mount a cd/dvd drive, you can use those hole to screw the drive into the cage. you will only be able to mount 1 side but atleast it will be screwed in and not rely on foam pads and zip ties.
Here is one of my old computers, the two lower drives are Solid state drives, while the top two are Western digital blue 500GB, drilled holes and mounted to the motherboard tray.