Re: [gentoo-user] Hard drive screws

[Michael <confabulate@kintzios.com>]

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On Saturday, 6 June 2020 04:06:54 BST Dale wrote:

> We have reds, purples, greens and all sort of color codes for hard
> drives, maybe they need to color code their screws as well.  :/ 
> 
> Now to go find a grab bag or something.  This sucks.

Yes, getting the thread wrong and damaging the female thread in the enclosure, 
while thinking this /almost/ fits, is not good for your nerves.  There are 
thread gauges which you can match the pitch of a screw/bolt and help determine 
the thread specification, but they are typically used for larger screws/holes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thread_pitch_gauge

A way to determine a *potential* match between screw and hole, is to count the 
turns per unit of length and of course the diameter of the hole.  Use a 
magnifying glass and measure how many turns you can see inside the whole, 
while holding a piece of thin wire in it.  You need only dip the wire up to 
the first 3 threads, but if you can see further in, even better.  Then offer 
*exactly* the same length of wire against your screws and see which of these 
matches.

Then use a reference table to find out from your thread pitch and diameter a 
likely specification for your screws; e.g.

http://theoreticalmachinist.com/Threads_UnifiedImperial.aspx


P.S. if you have no magnifying glass you can use binoculars or a scope, 
looking from the far end, or the camera of a smart phone, or an SLR.


> P. S. It seems those older not working enclosures may have caused issues
> with my drive.  I'm having to dd the first one, redo the partitions and
> still having issues getting it to work.  May be a doorstop when this is
> over.

You're not saying what problems these are, but smartctl should report anything 
amiss with the drive internals.  Otherwise, check power supply and loose 
connectors.

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