# Hard Drive Installation Advice **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Tags:** computer-hardware\ **Created:** [August 31, 2025, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-installation-advice/1022629 "2025-08-31T15:41:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-installation-advice/1022629/21 "2025-09-01T05:05:39Z")
> [@gnoitall](#): > > What motherboard did you get? The case is large enough to house a Max-ATX mobo, and AFAIK only the tiniest mini-ITX motherboards have a single M.2 slot. You’re right, there should be a second slot present. But again, the amount of drive space isn’t really the issue; I just happen to have this perfectly fine additional 1TB drive at hand, so I thought I might as well use it for secondary storage, and there’s some data on it I still want access to. > [@moes\_lotion](#): > > With the case cover off, I used a couple of books to make a platform for the HDD drive beside the tower, connected the power and sata cables to it and transferred the data, then did the same for the second one. Right now, it looks like either doing something like that as a on-off, or chucking it into an external case of some sort for infrequently used ‘cold storage’ might be my best bet. > [@LSLGuy](#): > > It probably works for you on your devices because you’re logged into your account at imgbb on all those devices. I don’t have an ImgBB account—never needed one for my infrequent uploads before. Also, I tried on devices which don’t have any connection to my google profile and whatnot (work PC), from private tabs, from behind a VPN, and none of those presented an issue. Plus, several people can see the pictures. I’ve opened a [test thread in ATMB](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-you-see-these-images/1022643) to find out what’s going on. ---
**Author:** ![CaveMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cavemike/32/16379_2.png) [@CaveMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaveMike)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 12:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-installation-advice/1022629/22 "2025-09-01T12:13:41Z")
I agree with @moes_lotion . I rarely mount SSDs in drive bays. I prop them somewhere stable and let them be. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-installation-advice/1022629/23 "2025-09-01T12:41:10Z")
You don’t want to leave anything dangling in the case. However, (non-M.2) SSDs are so light\* that there are many ways to secure them. Even velcro or double-sided tape is sometimes used. And most are no longer metal, so you don’t have to worry about shorts. \*look at SATA M.2 drives. That’s as big as the drive needs to be. The rest is filler to make it match the space of a hard drive. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-installation-advice/1022629/24 "2025-09-01T14:42:11Z")
Thanks for the advice, but really, I’m not looking to add more disk space as such, I just wanted to install the drive I already had lying around. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [September 1, 2025, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-installation-advice/1022629/25 "2025-09-01T15:55:20Z")
Well, especially if we’re talking about a no-kidding 1-pound sharp-cornered metal hard drive, the external case seems like the safer answer to have the storage and the data online. For a plastic SSD, securing it to an empty spot in the chassis with velcro, tape, or zip ties would be reasonably secure. Just letting it dangle from the cables is untidy and may endanger the cabling or the connectors unless there’s ample slack, but obviously some people do it and don’t suffer any immediate consequences, so that’s a valid (albeit lazier) option. The unrelated issue of an optical media drive isn’t going to be solved _en passant_ with the hard disk unless you can track down an ancient multi-bay external drive enclosure (the kind that was oh so chic 30 years ago). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hard-drive-installation-advice/1022629.md?page=1)