T510: replacing original Lenovo DVD with new super slim drive? (massive gap)

[blackthinkpad]

The new drive is super slim and now there's a massive gap in the drive bay due to the difference in thickness. The drive is held in place by SATA only and not very secure. Is there a proper mount or spacer for this? Thanks.

[TPFanatic]

Only a 12.7mm height drive will fit properly.
Non-Thinkpad SATA optical drives can have the Thinkpad Ultrabay faceplate and latches moved to it. Just need to be careful prying on the faceplate and for the latch you need a tiny screwdriver. Sometimes the original plastic is brittle and breaks.
I've done this for BD reader retrofits.

[nfraser01]

A lot of early SSD drives used to come with a shim to make them thicker for broarder compatability. Would one of those work?

[axur-delmeria]

A lot of early SSD drives used to come with a shim to make them thicker for broarder compatability. Would one of those work?

My brother bought a 1TB Crucial MX500 and a shim is (still) included.
That said, the SSD shim is for 7 --> 9.5mm (2.5mm), the optical drive is 9.5 --> 12.7mm (3.2mm).

[kfzhu1229]

A lot of early SSD drives used to come with a shim to make them thicker for broarder compatability. Would one of those work?

No because then the screw hole positions will still not line up nor will the face plate so you still can't mount either the plastic rails nor the optical drive face plate.
Just get any 12mm thick SATA optical drive and put them in here. They are literally everywhere. You can even put BD-ROM drives if you are really into that.