StarTech BRACKET125PT 2.5-Inch to 3.5-Inch Drive Bay Adapter Bracket

Overview

The StarTech BRACKET125PT is a plastic drive bay adapter that lets you install a single 2.5-inch drive — SSD, HDD, or SAS — into a standard 3.5-inch bay without cutting, bending, or sourcing a third-party tray. If you're retrofitting older tower workstations, NVR chassis, or desktop surveillance recorders with a modern 2.5-inch SSD and the 3.5-inch bay won't hold it natively, this is the straightforward mechanical fix. At 33 grams and measuring 15 cm × 10.2 cm × 1.3 cm, it sits flat in the bay and adds virtually no thermal mass or weight concern to the host chassis.

Key Features

• Universal 2.5-Inch Drive Interface Support (SATA, IDE, SAS, U.2): Works with the full range of 2.5-inch drive standards — not just SATA SSDs. If you're deploying U.2 NVMe drives in a surveillance server or working with legacy IDE notebook drives in a retrofit scenario, the bracket accommodates all four interface types without modification. You're not buying a new bracket every time the drive standard changes.
• Supports 7mm and 9.5mm Drive Heights: The two most common 2.5-inch form factor thicknesses both fit — thin 7mm SATA SSDs (common in modern laptops and SSD-only NVRs) and thicker 9.5mm drives (older HDDs, some SSHD hybrids). Maximum supported drive height is 9.5mm, so confirm your drive's physical thickness before ordering if you're working with anything non-standard.
• Single 2.5-Inch Bay Capacity: Designed for one drive per bracket. If you need to populate multiple 3.5-inch bays with 2.5-inch drives — a common scenario in multi-channel NVR builds — you'll need one BRACKET125PT per drive. Plan your bracket count before ordering.
• Lightweight Plastic Construction at 33g: The all-plastic build keeps total weight negligible — 33 grams means no risk of unbalancing a chassis or stressing the 3.5-inch drive rails. For rack-mounted NVRs where cumulative weight matters across many bays, this is a practical advantage over steel alternatives.
• Compact Footprint — 15 cm × 10.2 cm × 1.3 cm: Dimensions match a standard 3.5-inch drive bay footprint. The 1.3 cm profile keeps the adapter flat and avoids cable clearance issues inside tight chassis that have minimal vertical space above the drive bays.
• Black Finish: Matches standard chassis interiors — not a cosmetic concern for rack deployments, but useful if the system has a transparent side panel or the installer prefers a clean internal presentation.
• 2-Year Manufacturer Warranty: StarTech backs the BRACKET125PT with a 2-year warranty, which is reasonable coverage for a passive mechanical component with no moving parts and no active electronics.

Integration and Compatibility

The BRACKET125PT is compatible with any desktop, tower, or rack-mounted chassis that uses standard 3.5-inch drive bays. In surveillance and security contexts, this covers most standalone NVR units with open 3.5-inch bays, as well as tower or 4U rack servers repurposed as network video recorders. The bracket itself is interface-agnostic — it provides physical mounting only. Actual data connectivity between the drive and motherboard depends entirely on the cables and connectors already present in the host system. SATA data and power cables are not included. If you're installing a 2.5-inch SSD or surveillance-grade HDD into a system that currently uses 3.5-inch SATA drives, you'll need a SATA power adapter if the PSU only supplies 3.5-inch Molex or SATA power connectors sized for larger drives — verify this before deployment. For U.2 installations, confirm the host system has a U.2 connector or an appropriate adapter card. This bracket does not include screws for securing the drive to the bracket itself — check the drive accessories section for compatible fasteners if your drives did not ship with mounting screws.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: What drive interface types does the BRACKET125PT support?

A: The BRACKET125PT supports 2.5-inch drives with SATA, IDE, SAS, and U.2 interfaces. It is a mechanical mounting adapter only — it does not convert signals between interface types.

Q: What is the maximum drive height (thickness) the BRACKET125PT supports?

A: The bracket supports 2.5-inch drives up to 9.5mm in height. Both 7mm and 9.5mm drives are compatible. Drives thicker than 9.5mm will not fit.

Q: Does the BRACKET125PT include screws or cables?

A: Based on available product data, no cables or drive-mounting screws are listed as included. Verify with your drive's included hardware whether you have the appropriate M3 screws to secure the drive to the bracket.

Q: How many drives can I install per bracket?

A: One 2.5-inch drive per BRACKET125PT. For multi-drive builds, you will need one bracket for each drive bay you want to populate.

Q: Is the BRACKET125PT compatible with rack-mounted NVR chassis?

A: Yes, provided the chassis uses standard 3.5-inch drive bays. The bracket's 15 cm × 10.2 cm footprint matches standard 3.5-inch bay dimensions and will fit in most tower and rack systems that accept 3.5-inch drives.

Q: What is the warranty on the BRACKET125PT?

A: StarTech covers the BRACKET125PT with a 2-year manufacturer warranty.

James Everett

The BRACKET125PT comes up regularly when integrators are populating NVR builds with 2.5-inch SSDs and the chassis was designed around 3.5-inch bays — which is still the majority of tower and 4U rackmount recorders on the market. At 33 grams of plastic, the bracket itself is never the concern; the concern is always cable compatibility and screw availability, which the product doesn't address for you.

Technical Highlights:

• Four Interface Types (SATA, IDE, SAS, U.2): Covers the full range of 2.5-inch drive standards in a single SKU — useful for mixed-fleet environments where storage procurement isn't standardized across all recorder units.
• 7mm and 9.5mm Drive Height Support: Thin 7mm SSDs common in modern deployments and thicker 9.5mm legacy HDDs both fit, so you're not locked into a single drive generation. The 9.5mm ceiling is the hard limit — nothing taller will seat correctly.
• Compact Profile — 1.3 cm Height: The bracket sits flat at 1.3 cm, which matters in chassis with minimal vertical clearance above the drive cage. Dense 2U and 4U NVR enclosures often have tight tolerances here.

Deployment Considerations:

• The bracket provides mechanical mounting only — no data or power conversion. In SATA installations, confirm whether the host PSU's power connector physically fits the 2.5-inch drive's smaller SATA power port, or source a Molex-to-SATA adapter before you're on-site.
• No drive-mounting screws are confirmed in the package. Many 2.5-inch SSDs ship without screws assuming a tool-less chassis. Have M3 x 3mm screws available before installation to avoid a second trip.

This bracket is the right call for NVR integrators retrofitting surveillance recorders with 2.5-inch SSDs in 3.5-inch bays — particularly in multi-camera edge recorder deployments where storage drive selection varies by site and a universal, interface-agnostic mount saves procurement overhead.