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[catilley1092]

This install is so much brighter & clearer than the original one, it looks like a new computer again! Really, I'm not kidding. The drivers that loaded with this OS are great. Thanks again for your OP on this, Nibiru! And I'll go tomorrow and get some of that compound you were speaking of, this rattling will ruin this drive. That's one of the features of the drive, no wobbling. I thought of getting another one of those drive cases (with the fans installed) and using a SATA cable that will attach to my fitting inside of my computer, and install it inside of it. But I'll hold off, I'll see how this does. BTW, when they (HP) installed this drive inside of it's sleeve, they only used the top screws. There are three more on each side, but they didn't use any of those. You would think they would, otherwise, what are those pre-drilled holes for?

 

[Veedaz]

Hi Cat, If you mean the pre-drilled mounting holes each side of your HDD there for positioning the HDD as you may have a fan in front of the HDD etc.

 

[catilley1092]

Thanks Veedaz, I thought that mabye HP was being cheap with the screws, you know how they are. I do know there are boxes made with fans in them for a drive, but have never seen one in use. I have one of those drive cases coming, I'm going to install my old drive into it, and use it for Linux. I just have to learn how to boot into the second drive, I've never had that option before. In fact, I've gotten a lot of options recently, I don't know what to do with them all. I do know one thing, I've never seen a clearer, brighter screen on a computer in my life. Why do the OEM's (HP, Dell, etc) screw everything up? No wonder there's so many "freezing" threads around here.

 

[Nibiru2012]

You don't need to use all the provided screw holes. Usually 4 screws will do the trick.

Most hard drives have 4 screw mounts on the bottom of the drive and 3 along each side of the drive. Most folks use the side screw mounts, 2 screws on each side. Some mounts use the bottome screws such as external hard drive enclosures.

 

[catilley1092]

I got the Threadlocker Blue by Permatex that you were telling me about a day or so ago, I'll redo the screws before I go to bed. I found out the many people has this problem when replacing drives. He told me that he sells at least 20 tubes of this stuff a day. Plus, I got a smaller screwdriver to work with. I hope that new drive enclosure that I bought from Amazon comes with screws. If not, I'll have to pull one of these and match it up. Really, I was tempted to get that better one for this drive, but I would have to buy a cable that would run from my SATA plug to run to the drive. The couple I saw had low feedback ratings. The main reason I was considering was for the eSATA connection that it had, to plug in to my external drive. You even said that once I had an eSATA connection, I'd never want USB (for file transfer) again.

 

[Nibiru2012]

All hard drive enclosures I have purchased have always come with screws. Usually they'll throw in an extra 2 screws, sometimes not.

I have a set of Phillips screwdrivers in #0, #1 and #2 bit sizes. Usually the #2 works for me most of the time but the #1 works better on the smaller screws for hard drives and such.

 

[catilley1092]

I got me a smaller screwdriver, it says #0 on the tag. If I need a bigger one, I'll get it tomorrow. This isn't really off topic, because of the nature of this thread. Vista SP2 looks better on this laptop than Windows 7 does. Vista was introduced only one year later, mabye that's why. You were right, you do get your money's worth out of this program. I've already downloaded and obtained keys for 4 OS's in the last two days. And they work, no BS. These OS's would cost me at least $900 on eBay & $1,200 from the Microsoft Store. And I still need three office suites, you know they cost. There's still plenty of time to take advantage of this, it costs less than a retail copy of 7 Pro (with the discount). Really, everyone ought to have this, there's no way you can lose.

 

[catilley1092]

I think I found the answer about my hard drive screws. I found some soft plastic washers, the hole in the middle of them was so small that I had to force the screw into the washers. What the problem was (or is), the screws are too long. I tried removing those silicone washers, like you said. Then, it was worse. But I found those washers, I put a drop of that compound in each hole, tightened them down (not too tight), the drive is no longer wobbly. I'm not going to cut it back on tonight, I'm letting the compound dry. If I have anymore trouble, I'm looking for some shorter screws for the job. If I continue to have trouble with this, I'll find a way to mount this drive in an external box with fans, via a cable from the connector in the computer, to the enclosure. I hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[Nibiru2012]

The screws are metric. You might be able to find them at a Lowe's or Home Depot, but I doubt it.

Go to a local computer shop and they'll probably give or sell you some screws.

 

[catilley1092]

There's a local computer shop a few blocks from here. I'm going to carry the drive (in the "sleeve", or whatever it's called), and get the shop owner to find me some screws. And see if there's anything else that causes this rattling. It's not so bad now, only a slight sound. Mabye I got hold of a noisy drive, but I doubt it, the Caviar Black is supposed to be "whisper quiet", and no vibration within the drive. I read the article carefully before purchasing the item. And it does perform well, so I don't think anything is wrong with the drive itself. Probably this cheap sleeve it's in, and screws that are too long.