Dual Slimline Rack in 5.25" Bay for DVD&HDD from Laptops

thingiverse

This project offers a convenient solution for users who need additional drive bays in their small form factor (SFF) PCs. It provides two slim hot-plug laptop drive bays that can be used to insert CD/DVD or 2nd 2.5" HDD drive modules commonly found in notebook PCs. These modules are often required when working with data from clients' laptops, making it essential to have a convenient way to connect them to the desktop PC without having to open the case or use external cables and adapters. The project's idea arose from the need for more storage options in SFF PCs, which typically only have one 5.25" drive bay occupied by the DVD drive. By adding two additional drive bays, users can easily connect 2.5" hard disks from laptops to their desktop PC, allowing them to copy, backup, mirror, inspect, or salvage data as needed. Having a separate drawer for each hard disk drive also makes it possible to use multiple PCs with different operating systems and data sets, making it a convenient solution for shared workspaces or multi-user environments. Since most SFF PCs only have one 5.25" drive bay, I designed this project to include two slots that can be used for either a slim laptop DVD drive and a 2.5" HDD drawer or two 2.5" HDD drawers, allowing direct copying between drives. The DVD drives and HDD drawers I use are from Lenovo ThinkPad laptops, known as "Serial Ultrabay Slim" devices. They feature slimline SATA connectors with 13 pins, consisting of the standard 7-pin data part and a 6-pin power part that provides 5V DC to the device. Many other laptop manufacturers also produce similar devices with the same dimensions and SATA connectors, making this project compatible with various brands. I sourced my DVD drives and HDD drawers from Lenovo ThinkPad laptops, but there are many "no-name" slimline 2nd HDD drawers available on eBay or AliExpress for under $4 USD that fit perfectly into this project.