First post, by Odiseo
Hi all. I have a case like the one you see in the photo. It is a Chieftec Dragon. They were also sold under the Antec brand name. (I found this image on Google Images... The case you see in the image is not the specific one that I own).
The previous owner of the case could not give me the drive bays that go with this model.
I will want to add a few extra hard drives to this case in the future. Can you guys tell me where I can find the drive bays that fit in this case? I looked on ebay and elsewhere around the internet (such as the Antec and Chieftec webpages), but to no avail. Do the drive bays from other Chieftec (or Antec) cases fit in this model? Do any other brands of cases produce drive bays that would (theoretically) fit?
This afternoon I pulled a drive bay from the case of an HP computer that I had lying around. I installed it in my Chieftec case on the metal tray where drive bays are supposed to go, and, for now, the setup is ok like this. But I do not want this to be a permanent workaround. For one thing, this HP drive bay is a long shot from a perfect fit. It is too small, and, more importantly, I could align only one of the two screw holes in the metal tray with one of the (many) screw holes in the drive bay. That means only one screw fastens the hard drive and drive bay to the case. They are fastened tight onto the metal tray, and they do not pull strongly on the screw, so I do not suspect the screw to come loose or break. And if it does, the drive bay wil remain where it is: on the metal tray. In these circumstances, the hard drive and drive bay will not be going anywhere.
Still, this solution is substandard at best (mostly because of that one screw). I need something better. That means a drive bay either for this specific model of case, for other models of Chieftec (or Antec) cases, or for cases of other brands. I do not care about brand or model names. As long as the drive bay fits, I do not care whether it was produced with this specific model in mind, or other models of whatever brand.
A small extra to illustrate just how difficult it is to find spare parts for this model of case.
The guy who sold me this case had only one pair of drive rails (used to install optical drives in this type of case; see image) that he could give me. More than two years ago I began looking around for these drive rails because I wanted to add extra optical drives. I found three pairs, eventually, but not before weeks (maybe a few months) of searching.