The standard is #6-32 UNC for 3.5" harddrives, and most case-related stuff including motherboard standoffs. It's M3 standard for 2.5" harddrives, 5.25" optical drives, etc, etc.
The lengths arent standard in general, though I imagine there's a fairly standard harddrive length. So you presumably want countersunk phillips head #6-32UNC screws of appropriate length Why on earth it's split between imperial and metric threads is a mystery that shall go down the ages Regards, Miles On Mon, 21 Feb 2022 at 08:37, Neil Bothwick <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Sun, 20 Feb 2022 15:05:09 -0600, Dale wrote: > > > 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??? > > Why have one standard when you can have many? ;-) > > Seriously thought, there is a standard size for hard drives and a > standard size for optical/floppy drives. I've got plenty of each that > have accumulated over the years, so if Peter lives in my neck of the > woods he can come and help himself :) > > Otherwise, I've found Amazon a good source of fastener selection boxes. > > > -- > Neil Bothwick > > "Bad dog! Leave that wire alone.....click.....###@*##....NO TERRIER
