Raspberry Pi Minimalist Drive Rails for SSD or 2.5" Hard Drive(s)

thingiverse

Thingiverse is doing that thing again where, when you make a new thing, some of the details are filled in with details from somebody else's thing. Something about an umbrella this time. Ugh... So if some of the details about this thing (tags or whatever) don't make sense - it's because of that. --- This thing is just really simple rails to mount a 2.5" drive on the bottom of a Raspberry Pi. I made these because I want to start a NAS project, but I kind of didn't know where to begin. So I made some rails to fit the bottom of my Mini Desktop Case - just to move past that intimidating blank sheet of paper that kills so many projects before they even start - and I realized that they worked really well without the case. Obviously not a long term solution for a NAS, but something you can print in less than an hour to get started on your own NAS project. The rails are the same left and right. There's one for a single drive. One for dual drives. And one with dual drives and a couple of mounting ears for a fan - because I can't seem to do anything in CAD without slapping a 40mm fan on it (stay tuned for a fan variant of toothbrush holder). Necessary screws are m2.5 x 4-6mm. These will work with any Raspberry Pi other than the Zero. Even the humble little 3A+, but obviously it's best with a Pi 4 because the Pi 4 has USB3 and true gigabit ethernet (if you're using this to build a NAS). They will also work with the Ice Tower Coolers. Just attach them to the Pi with the standoffs from the Ice Tower kit and then attach the Ice Tower to the standoffs with the screws included in the Ice Tower kit. You'll need a SATA to USB3 cable. One that's 4" (100mm) or less would be ideal. I don't have a recommendation for that, the one I have is 18" long and will wrap around the Pi one and half times - way too long. The dual drive versions use screws to retain the drive - m3 are the size most (all?) drives use and you need them short - like 4mm or else they will bottom out in the holes on the drive. The single drive version has little conical protrusions on the inside so the drive will clip in without fasteners. But they also have 3mm starter holes on the outside of the clips so you can drill them out and use screws if you'd prefer. They have provisions on the bottom for 8.5mm x 2.5mm round rubber feet. https://www.amazon.com/eBoot-Adhesive-Bumpers-Dampening-Cabinet/dp/B06XD47D79 Oh, and did I mention this is compatible with my Mini Desktop Case? I have uploaded an alternate bottom panel that has screw holes in the same pattern as the Raspberry Pi screw hole pattern. So these will screw to the bottom of that case now. It's not the most elegant solution to adding a drive to a Raspberry Pi case, but it works and doesn't require reprinting the whole thing if you already printed that case. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:4249203