On 2022.02.20 16:05, Dale wrote:
Peter Humphrey wrote:
> Hello list,
>
> This has nothing to do with Gentoo, but I don't know where else to
ask.
>
> I have a couple of vertically mounted easy-swap disk caddies in the
back of my
> workstation, and I'm having trouble finding screws to mount the
disk in the
> caddy. Clearance is nil, so the screws must be countersunk so they
aren't
> proud of the surface. They seem to be m3 perhaps 5mm long.
>
> I just can't find any via Google. Can anyone in UK please help out?
>
I'll add this just to show how confusing this is. My old DVD burner
and
new Blu-ray burner uses a different screw than the hard drives.
Luckily
my case has slots for hard drives but my external enclosures require
screws which is how I know they are different. Some will work fine
with
what looks like a bolt head while others, like yours, require a
counter
sunk screw head that sits flat. Generally, the local home type stores
don't have any of this either. I checked my local Lowes once. They
have tiny screws but either the head is wrong, the threads, length or
something.
It is annoying. I ended up getting two types of screws. One that
fits
my DVD/Blu-ray drive and one that fits a hard drive, so far at
least. I
mostly have WD and Seagate. Some other brand may have something
different. The one I have that seems to work best is this: 6/32 6-32
6#-32 I put all the combinations of that just in case. The most
common
is 6-32 but could vary by website. Your mileage may vary tho.
My advice, buy a grab bag of hardware for puters. Then pray. Or,
find
what should fit, even if it is more than one type, order them all. I
have collected a storage bin full of screws over the years. I got
case
type screws covered but drives seem to be different.
Why can't they pick one screw type and make it the standard???
But that's the great thing about standards - there are so many of
them. (https://xkcd.com/927/ which I think has been posted here before)
Hope that helps.
Dale
Have you tried asking at a local PC shop? They might just hand you a
few from the piles on their workbench.
