5th 3.5 Inch disk in Gen8 Server

[bdazla]

Hi All,

 

First post, so Hi!

 

I was trying to find a post or a pic of someone who has added a 5th disk to the Gen 8 Servers but using a 3.5 inch disk and was unable to. Not sure if anyone has posted this before but wanted to show what I did to fit the 5th disk in one of my rigs.

 

Essentially I removed the small metal tab with blue on it as displayed with the big red arrow in the attached pictures and then I removed the blue plastic lock piece as shown with the other red arrow. I also removed the black cable holder from the server which I forgot to add an arrow for. I then bent the metal strip in towards the disk bay slightly which was behind the blue plastic lock piece so that the metal strip was flush with the rest of the panel and not poking out. I then re-routed the cables elsewhere while I was adding the disk to the panel.

 

I used a 3.5 to 5.25 bracket to attach the disk to the server as per the pictures attached. I drilled new holes in the bracket to attach the disk to the bracket and used existing holes to attach the bracket to the server panel. I drilled 2 holes in the server panel and attached M3 Nut Rivets so that I could screw the bracket to the panel nice and tight. You could use just a nut and bolt but it would be very fiddly to do and if you ever needed to change the disk, it would be harder. Still doable though.

 

I just cut some clear contact paper and stuck it on the server panel before screwing the disk and bracket on to the server panel so that there was some form of insulation between the disk circuit board and metal panel just in case it ever touched.

 

I haven't actually tried to fit the plugs to the drive yet but I'm pretty sure they will fit. Well they had better fricken fit!!! LOL

 

Anyway, hopefully this will help someone else do the same when moving from a Gen 7 server with 5 disks to the Gen 8 Server.

Edited November 15, 2016 by bdazla

[rich1983]

That's really cool thanks for sharing. There is a dual disk retaining system which is very affordable made by a member called Schoondoggy I believe. I like your set up too!

 

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[Trig0r]

I did look at that side of the case when I was expanding mind, ended up going down the SDM route so I can have 4 2.5" drives instead, given the ones I have in there are SSD's I dont need to worry about the performance hit on 2.5" spinners..

[bdazla]

I have the Schoondoggy mounts too but that is for 2 x 2.5 inch disks, not the 3.5 inch disks. I don't think you can fit a full sized 3.5 inch disk on the power supply side. You could possibly fit a slimline 3.5 inch disk but I'm not sure.

Yeah I nearly went out and bought a 2.5 inch 4TB disk but that would have been a bit of a waste since I already have the 3.5 inch disk that matches the rest which is what I want for my raid setup. I still could get another controller and mount some 2.5 inch disks on the power supply side if I need too as well which could be something I would do in the future. :-)

[tezray]

Looks really good I had a slimline 500gb seagate drive just dangling on the left side from the front inside the server but that drive complained about overheating I might do this to mine but not permanent like you need to find a way to trap it in

 

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