m.2 not screwed in longevity question

[piratemonkey]

Hey all! Got a new m.2 drive, but it didn't come with a screw for installation and I couldn't find mounting hardware in my shitmix of screws and hardware. Taped it down, but tape failed. Windows is still detecting it while it's sticking out. Is this viable long term? 

[Skiiwee29]

You can buy m.2 mounting hardware and screws off Amazon for cheap. Also, the motherboard is what the screws come with, not the drives. 

[RONOTHAN##]

I mean, I can't really tell a reason why it wouldn't be viable and I have personally done it for quick and dirty testing of M.2 drives, but with how cheap you can get mounting hardware why not just do it? I could be wrong and not having the right amount of tension on the pins can cause issues down the road with stability.

[piratemonkey]

7 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

You can buy m.2 mounting hardware and screws off Amazon for cheap. Also, the motherboard is what the screws come with, not the drives. 

 

3 minutes ago, RONOTHAN## said:

I mean, I can't really tell a reason why it wouldn't be viable and I have personally done it for quick and dirty testing of M.2 drives, but with how cheap you can get mounting hardware why not just do it? I could be wrong and not having the right amount of tension on the pins can cause issues down the road with stability.

thank you both.

are mounting holes universal on all motherboards? I do have stand offs and screws that fit them, but I couldn't get them to fit in the holes

[Skiiwee29]

4 minutes ago, piratemonkey said:

 

thank you both.

are mounting holes universal on all motherboards? I do have stand offs and screws that fit them, but I couldn't get them to fit in the holes

Usually they are, but sometimes not. 

[RONOTHAN##]

3 minutes ago, piratemonkey said:

 

thank you both.

are mounting holes universal on all motherboards? I do have stand offs and screws that fit them, but I couldn't get them to fit in the holes

I'm pretty sure there's a Metric and an Imperial threading for them, but I forget specifics. With all the boards I've used M.2 drives on (which granted, are mostly limited to ASRock and ASUS boards) the screws have been interchangeable though. You might just have an oddball motherboard that doesn't work with it. Speaking of which, what board do you have, and if you have the original accessories pack are there M.2 screws that came with it?

[nbrowser]

5 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

Usually they are, but sometimes not. 

Yeah I think Asus is the oddball...I've been able to swap M.2 standoffs between MSI, Gigabyte and ASRock boards...but Asus seems to be their own kinda threading.

[getdown]

I needed an m2 standoff and screw for my B550f board but couldn't find out what size to get, so I ordered this multipack and one of them fit

 

https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B08JGNXK4Q/

[piratemonkey]

1 minute ago, RONOTHAN## said:

I'm pretty sure there's a Metric and an Imperial threading for them, but I forget specifics. With all the boards I've used M.2 drives on (which granted, are mostly limited to ASRock and ASUS boards) the screws have been interchangeable though. You might just have an oddball motherboard that doesn't work with it. Speaking of which, what board do you have, and if you have the original accessories pack are there M.2 screws that came with it?

I got an Asus x470 prime. After I finished building it, I threw the remaining screws and stuff in with the hardware from the case. Like they're in their originals bags, in with the rest of the case stuff (some loose, others bagged).

What I tried using

[Skiiwee29]

1 minute ago, piratemonkey said:

I got an Asus x470 prime. After I finished building it, I threw the remaining screws and stuff in with the hardware from the case. Like they're in their originals bags, in with the rest of the case stuff (some loose, others bagged).

What I tried using

Those are motherboard standoffs, not m.2 standoffs. Normally the m.2 standoffs and screw are aluminum colored and not painted black or brass. They're also individually packages so they will be alone all by themselves in the packing with nothing but the stand off and screw. 

[piratemonkey]

3 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

Those are motherboard standoffs, not m.2 standoffs. Normally the m.2 standoffs and screw are aluminum colored and not painted black or brass. They're also individually packages so they will be alone all by themselves in the packing with nothing but the stand off and screw. 

Ah alrighty, haven't seen any aluminum things outside of one screw that didn't work. Might've just came with 1 set (which is used by another drive), even thought there's like 3 slots. Haven't seen anything anywhere I store my spare parts

[Skiiwee29]

3 minutes ago, piratemonkey said:

Ah alrighty, haven't seen any aluminum things outside of one screw that didn't work. Might've just came with 1 set (which is used by another drive), even thought there's like 3 slots. Haven't seen anything anywhere I store my spare parts

Usually if a board has multiple m.2 drive slots, it should come with mounting hardware for each slot. They will look similar to this:

 

EDIT: This is actually how they're packaged:

 

[piratemonkey]

7 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

Usually if a board has multiple m.2 drive slots, it should come with mounting hardware for each slot. They will look similar to this:

 

EDIT: This is actually how they're packaged:

 

Aight thank you. Looked again through everything I have, didn't find anything like that. Probably lost it since I moved since I built the tower. Guess I'll bite the bullet and order from amazon. Thank you all