Need a plastic thingy for my hard drive

I was upgrading the hard drive on an Sony SZ series notebook and found that there is a black plastic sheet protecting the PCB side of the hard drive since that particular side faces the open vents on the bottom of the hard drive.



What is that type of plastic sheet called? Can I get it at a craft store or Home Depot? Should I attached it with thin double sided tape or something?

 

It's not really that important, as long as you don't hold the hard drive by the top and bottom (you aren't suppose to anyways, it's very easy to bend the top cover and push the head onto the platters) your hard drive will be fine. I think the plastic piece is just to prevent users from shocking the board.

However if this is really bothering you, some clear contact paper will do the trick.

 

Thanks for the reply!

That's my concern since the PCB side of the hard drive faces an open vent.

 

you should cover the vent, so that no water or dirt can get onto the harddrive. You can use a piece of acetate, or some of that plastic used in the old school projectors. You should be able to get some for free if you ask around, you only need like a 3" square piece.
You can use double sided tape to attach the plastic.

I have done the same thing on my laptop.

K-TRON