P183 and SSD's

[syee]

Looking to get some suggestions from the wise folks in this forum on how people have mounted their SSD's (or I guess any 2.5" drives) in an Antec P183.

I'm having some difficulty finding a suitable mounting method for a pair of SSD's (Intel x25-m) in my case. Basically, the two options I've looked into so far:

1. Top drive cage. Horizontally mounted and screw in from the bottom.
2. 3.5" drive cage in the bottom chamber. Drives are mounted vertically.

My case is the older P183 so it doesn't have the SSD mounting holes.

Since it's a 2.5" drive, it's naturally not going to fit in any of the 3.5" drive bays without an adapter, so the first option I tried was the cheapest one - cheapo drive rails to fit in a 3.5" bay. I bought this: http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0316761

Was able to mount the two drives together on the one 3.5" bay. However, I ran into a problem with each mounting option.
Option #1: Top cage has mounting holes on the bottom of each drive bay. Brackets don't have holes on the bottom so I was SOL on this option.
Option #2: The drive adapters basically run the length of the 2.5" drive. As we all know, the 2.5" drives are shorter than a 3.5" drive, and with the bottom cage, the location of the points where you can screw in are fixed. (i.e. it basically only has 4 holes which would fit a 3.5" drive) Drive too short means I can only screw 2 screws in while the other end remains unscrewed. I guess I could leave it like this but I didn't like the idea of the drives flapping around.

Anyways, I got the bright idea that maybe I could find an enclosure that would fit in a 3.5" bay and was roughly the length of a regular HD. I came across this
http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vie ... K:MEWNX:IT on eBay so I picked one up and thought that was problem solved. I could just mount this in the bottom 3.5" drive bay and be done with it. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Because of the rubber grommets for anti vibration, Antec uses their "special" screws. Screw threads didn't match so basically I couldn't screw it into the enclosure. In addition, because this was meant to slide into where the floppy drive would go, it sticks out and gets in the way of where the fans would be. No luck here either.

So, my question goes out the the SPCR readers who have an SSD (or preferably two): What solutions do you use for mounting your SSD? I'd prefer a single bay option but I'm open to using 2 drive bays. I'd like to find one that could fit the bottom drive cage first (just for the cleaner install and plus, I've installed the fan on the back side of the top drive cage so if I have to use the top drive cage, I'll have to remove the fan.

I'll take pictures tonight to better illustrate it but hopefully most of you will get the gist of what I'm saying.

[rpsgc]

Take a look at Scythe's Bay Rafter
http://www.scythe-usa.com/product/acc/0 ... etail.html


Personally I use the (discontinued?) 2.5" to 5.25" bay Rafter.

[syee]

Hmm...looks interesting.

Seems to work fine with the top cage mount which is my second preference.

Might not fit in the bottom cage since I suspect that the rear screw location would line up with the elongated hole (and won't be able to be screwed in securely).

I'll have to go to my local store and check it out and see if they have one I can look at.

[danimal]

Since it's a 2.5" drive, it's naturally not going to fit in any of the 3.5" drive bays without an adapter, so the first option I tried was the cheapest one - cheapo drive rails to fit in a 3.5" bay. I bought this: http://www.microcenter.com/single_produ ... id=0316761

Was able to mount the two drives together on the one 3.5" bay. However, I ran into a problem with each mounting option.
Option #1: Top cage has mounting holes on the bottom of each drive bay. Brackets don't have holes on the bottom so I was SOL on this option.
Option #2: The drive adapters basically run the length of the 2.5" drive. As we all know, the 2.5" drives are shorter than a 3.5" drive, and with the bottom cage, the location of the points where you can screw in are fixed. (i.e. it basically only has 4 holes which would fit a 3.5" drive) Drive too short means I can only screw 2 screws in while the other end remains unscrewed. I guess I could leave it like this but I didn't like the idea of the drives flapping around.

i'm confused... those adapters you linked to are designed so that you can screw rails onto the sides of the adapter, and slide the entire assembly into the upper bay drive rails of the p183, just as if the assembly was a dvd drive or similar... there are plenty of rails included with the p182.