A way to mount 3.5 inch HDD under 120mm fan mount

[Rebel640]

My Lian Li PC Q38 Case comes with just a single mount for 3.5 inch HDD. There is some space at the top of the case where a 3.5 inch HDD can fit in (right under an unused 120mm fan mount for top exhaust).

Is there any mount you can recommend for this? There is space for just about 1.5x the height of 3.5inch hdd so a cage that I can screw into the 120mm fan mount holds would be perfect.

If you look at the picture below, I'm referring to the top / front part of the case. There are two 120x120mm fan mounts there at the top.

 

[tinyitx]

I did a quick and casual search and found a bracket that might work for you.
A 3.5'' HDD can be fixed to the bracket which can be then mounted to a 120mm fan 'opening' by silicone fan mounts.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/5-25-to-3-...ay-Cooling-Fan-Mounting-Bracket-/171994678479

If this turns out OK, would you report back here and might perhaps post a pic or two to help the next guy who might stumble upon a similar problem?

 

[Rebel640]

Thanks @tinyitx

I just received that bracket.

It seems to be fit for the job but requires a few sacrifices in my small case (which I've yet to decide).

Note: I've placed the bracket on top of the case for visiblity. It'll of course go under mounts like the Fan you see on left side)

You can basically position the bracket like in this screenshot, but then there's not much space for the power/sata cable for hdd:

OR like below but then the hdd flows into where I have a top fan over the cpu/mother board. so the fan has to go. I could probably slide the hdd to the right by a few inches while keeping the bracket in the same position but that'd require drilling new holes into the bracket for hdd screws. This' keep the fan position unaffected I believe but I do not have the tools (drill etc) and expertise.

In this second state, I"d also need to trim the bracket by an inch (at the bottom with above photo perspective) for the mounting holes in the bracket to align with the mounting holes in the case.

The fan was kinda nice. It brouht down temps by 3-4 degrees as my cpu cooler is slim profile too (Scythe Shuriken with same NF-A12x15 noctua slim fan.

Decisions decisions ... i'll report back with more.

 

[Laquel]

Hi @Rebel640! Nice to see somebody posting pictures with this case as I've been thinking about getting one. Do you think it would be possible to fit one of those noctua 15mm thick fans under the gpu on the case floor? If were talking about a 2+ slot thick gpu.

 

[Rebel640]

Hi @Rebel640! Nice to see somebody posting pictures with this case as I've been thinking about getting one. Do you think it would be possible to fit one of those noctua 15mm thick fans under the gpu on the case floor? If were talking about a 2+ slot thick gpu.

I don't think there's enough space under the gpu for that. My 1080 Ti FTW3 was pretty tight fit as it is.

 

[SeñorDonut]

If you insist on having a 3.5" drive (future proofing for a size not available in 2.5"?) I can 3D print a bracket for you. It won't look super pretty, but it should work just fine. Just play around with drive placement, making sure that you can see all 4 screw holes on the bottom of the drive through the top of the fan opening, and then send a picture so I can know exactly where to place the holes.

However, it may be much less of a hassle to simply trade it for a 2.5" drive since it's only 1TB.