MO-297 Slim SATA mounting question

[rjg123]

Was hoping to get help on MO297 / SlimSATA mounting. This small SSD plugs into a 2.5" SATA connector, parallel to the mobo. But to secure it, I am to use 4 standoffs in the corners. The trouble is, the chips on the underside of the drive are mounted such that they will scrape on the standoffs as you attempt to plug into the SATA connector. You can't really flex the small pcb to get it into the connector as that could cause more problems. And I'm worried about damage to the IC's from the scraping. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hi there & Welcome to Tom's Hardware!

Could you please give us more information about the MO-297 drive, to identify it and it's specs. What's it's physical size and also the drive capacity. I can't find it listed. Is it made by Motorola?

Also what MB are you using, possibly we can figure out how to just adapt it to a standard 5.25" bay.

 

[rjg123]

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply!
The problem is that I have a very small physical area, so larger drives won't work.
This is the perfect size and density (60GB) for the project.

Here is an image from the datasheet. You can see how the pcb holes are inline / along the same axis as the chip placements - that's what's causing the interference when trying to socket the card.

These are made by a few companies, like Viking, SMART, STEC...

 

[John_VanKirk]

Hi John,

Thanks for the reply!
The problem is that I have a very small physical area, so larger drives won't work.
This is the perfect size and density (60GB) for the project.

Here is an image from the datasheet. You can see how the pcb holes are inline / along the same axis as the chip placements - that's what's causing the interference when trying to socket the card.

These are made by a few companies, like Viking, SMART, STEC...


http://i85.photobucket.com/albums/k69/rjg428/MO297dimensions.jpg

What a small SSD! Wonder if just the connections into the data and power connector would be sufficient to keep it in place, as long as there is not movement or physical jolting. The other possibility is to use the teflon standoffs & teflon 2-56 or 4-40 screws to hold it in place. Depends how ofter the SSD has to be removed or replaced. I've seen in laptops very small devices like a bluetooth transmitter, or modem or WiFi miniature card be held in place by the connection at one end and just a single screw at the distal end.

 

[fzabkar]

Instead of threaded, screw-in standoffs, could you just use spacers and screws?