This is sort of following on from a post I made a while ago regarding putting SSD's in some Poweredges. It appears 3.5 inch drives are pretty expensive compared to their similar specced 2.5 inch bretheren.

2.5 inch bays are becoming quite rare in the new poweredge models, only the higher end models support them now and the specs of those machines are a little OTT (not to mention expensive). So i'm wondering if anyone has come across a bracket that would position the 2.5 SATA disc in the right position so it would fit in a Dell 3.5 drive caddy and connect properly to the SATA backplane on the server.

Lots of folk manufacture/sell 2.5"-to-3.5" brackets. OCZ, for one.

OCZ Bracket

Heck.. DealExtreme probably even sells them!

That bracket likely won't work for what Andy needs. The Dell servers are going to expect the SATA connectors in the proper spot for hot plug ability.

Good point.

Ah well.. I'm sure the beeb has a sheet metal shop of their own somewhere..

Andy hasn't worked at the beeb for quite some time now...

Hmm, yeah. I suppose I really should update my profile, but I can't really bring myself to do it. Probably for the same reason why I haven't binned my old ID or business cards....

Thanks Bitt, that looks perfect.

I have one of those Icy Dock enclosures, the PCB board near the connection side looks 'frayed'. I don't know enough about boards to know how they are made, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't inspire confidence when it is frayed like that.

Frayed? Like you can see the internal layers? Most PCBs are made from laminated layers and depending on how they're cut, you can see the layers.

Sounds like some of the fibres in the fibreglass where it was punched out (rather than routed). Rarely a big deal.

Maybe a picture of it will help identify the problem. Out of interest, what are you using it in?

I haven't been able to get a clean picture of it. My roommate might have a macro lens, but he is out for a bit.

It looks like just a few fibers that are frayed and pushed out toward the connectors. It isn't a big deal and doesn't affect the functionality at all, it is just the first time I've seen something like that.

The Icy Box came from Newegg like that, but I use it in my desktop machine. Nothing fancy, just slides on rails into the drive bay. The bay is reminiscent of removeable drives, but internal as opposed to external.