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Side screws on old hard drive

T

TheBandit

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Dec 28, 2014
21
0
I just bought a Samsung 1TB SSD, and installed it on my computer. It has significantly improved my computer and I'm loving it so far. However, I still have my old hard drive sitting around. I had bought a 2.5 inch SATA USB Hard Drive Enclosure which I was going to use to hook up to my computer as an external drive to either store old files on it or use it as a backup.
However, I cannot fit my old hard drive into it because of 4 screws on the sides. I don't know if I can remove them without messing anything up, but if I don't remove them there's no way I can fit the hard drive in there. The hard drive is a HGST SATA 5400rpm 750GB. Can I remove these screws? And if so what kind of screw driver do I need?
 
Yes, I have never seen such an elegant mounting method in other laptops.

More practical, yes.
 
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I can't transfer them to the SSD because they aren't needed in it. They are screwed into the sides of the old hard drive and the new SSD does not have space for them. I'm not sure of their purpose, but are you saying it's safe to remove them?
 
It seems you have your SSD just dangling around.

In any case, the next owner of the laptop will expect the screws to be included and the drive properly mounted.
 
Well I'm not giving my laptop away lol
So they are used to make sure the drive is not dangling around? I talked to a friend and he mentioned it would do that but said it wouldn't be a problem. But that means I can take the screws out of the old hard drive right?
 
I think the SATA cable is quite delicate, maybe it can get damaged.

AFAIK, even 7mm 2.5" drives have side holes.
 
the screws in the side of the drive are what hold it in place in your laptop. they are Apple parts, not drive parts. you should take the screws out of the drive and use them to mount whatever replaces that drive. if you installed the SSD without them, then nothing is holding the SSD in place.
 
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TheBandit said:
I just bought a Samsung 1TB SSD, and installed it on my computer. It has significantly improved my computer and I'm loving it so far. However, I still have my old hard drive sitting around. I had bought a 2.5 inch SATA USB Hard Drive Enclosure which I was going to use to hook up to my computer as an external drive to either store old files on it or use it as a backup.
However, I cannot fit my old hard drive into it because of 4 screws on the sides. I don't know if I can remove them without messing anything up, but if I don't remove them there's no way I can fit the hard drive in there. The hard drive is a HGST SATA 5400rpm 750GB. Can I remove these screws? And if so what kind of screw driver do I need?
Click to expand...
I just used nose plyers to remove those screws
 
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The little "nubs" screwed into the side of the drive are "bosses" so that the drive will "set down into the slot" on the laptop.

They can be removed with a TORX T-6 driver.

If you don't have one, just use a pair of needlenose pliers, as aerogel suggests above.
Be careful, just use enough pressure to loosen them a little, then "turn them out" with your fingers.

If you know you'll never need them again, just toss 'em...
 
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