[any] Hard Drive won't insert into [any] Hot Swap drive bay (FIX - Picture Guide)

WARNING: Always "ground" yourself before using sensitive electronic devices! i.e. Touch a radiator or use an anti-static wrist band connected to your PC case.

Introduction

This is a picture guide on how to fix an issue if you have issues with a hard drive getting stuck or not being able to be inserted into a hot swap drive bay:

The Problem / Issue ...

In this example I am trying to insert a HGST Deskstar 8TB NAS hard drive into my Orico Hot Swap Drive Bay (model 1106SS). However, I've had similar issues with Western Digital Gold Enterprise hard drives as well.

The problem is the hot swap drive bay's roller mechanism gets stuck in a hole at the rear of the hard drive; illustrated below:

The hole in the hard drive:

Evidence to support the claim above:

Solution:

To fix this is relatively simple. You only need a bit of sturdy tape. I HIGHLY recommend using Electrical tape, sometimes known as insulating tape. It is cheap to buy and available at any DIY store. Mine cost me £2.99 from my local store. You don't have to use black as they normally come in a selection of colours to chose from.

1. Work out where you need to place the tape on the hard drive. To do this, analyse where the roller mechanism is catching the rear of the hard drive. Just as I did above.
   
   
2. Apply tape, making sure not to cover the PCB (the green board).
   Try not to touch the SATA and Power connectors on the drive as you could get moist or dust on them which is not recommended.
   
   
3. Make sure to apply two layers of tape for extra strength. This is so that the roller will not cause the tape to sink into the hole when inserting the drive. Look closely at how I applied the tape. Looking from the rear of the drive, with the PCB side facing up; I applied two pieces of tape, vertically, parallel to each other. Then I applied a horizontal piece of tape on top of these two pieces; a total of two layers.
   

Testing

The test proves to be a success and the hard drive now inserts without issue:

Hard drive fully inserted:

Final Notes

You may need to replace the tape if you heavily swap your hard drives. For me it will take time for the tape to wear down as I only use mine for backups.

I highly recommend being gentle when inserting the hard drives into any hot swap drive bay so that the tape can withstand the pressure applied by the roller mechanism.

The end ...

No Safely Remove Hardware or Eject options (missing)?

I hope this guide was useful to you. If you have issues with getting the hard drive to appear in the "safely remove" icon in your taskbar, see my solution to that in this blog post.