Abstract:
One embodiment provides an apparatus, including: a processor; a hard drive operatively coupled to the processor; and a tray that houses the hard drive; said tray comprising a bottom, a first side, a second side, and a pivotable planar element; wherein the pivotable planar element rotates relative to the bottom to relocate from the bottom of the tray to a side of the tray. Other embodiments are described and claimed.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
     Electronic components such as hard drives (hard disk drives, herein “HDD(s)”) are often provided within a tray that attaches the component, e.g., HDD, within a system (e.g., housing of a laptop or desktop computer). Electronic components come in different physical sizes. For example, common sizes for HDDs are 2.5 inches and 3.5 inches. 
     Conventionally, different size HDDs require addition of an additional bracket to a tray of one size (i.e., a tray for the 3.5″ HHD) in order to hold an HDD of another size, e.g., a 2.5″ HDD. Alternatively, a combination tray can hold a 3.5″ HDD and/or a 2.5″ HDD, but since the supports of the combination tray are stacked on top of one another, it makes the tray much larger (e.g., taller) than an individual tray, and thus such combination trays do not fit in a standard sized HDD bay within a system. 
     BRIEF SUMMARY 
     In summary, one aspect provides an apparatus, comprising: a processor; a hard drive operatively coupled to the processor; and a tray that houses said hard drive; said tray comprising a bottom, a first side, a second side, and a pivotable planar element; wherein said pivotable planar element rotates relative to said bottom to relocate from the bottom of the tray to a side of the tray. 
     Another aspect provides a hard drive tray, comprising: a tray; said tray comprising a bottom, a first side, a second side, and a pivotable planar element; wherein said pivotable planar element rotates relative to said bottom to relocate from the bottom of the tray to a side of the tray. 
     A further aspect provides a kit, comprising: a hard drive tray, comprising: a bottom, a first side, a second side, and a planar element attached to a hinge; wherein, in a bottom position, said planar element lies flat on the bottom of the tray to form a first tray opening that accommodates a first hard drive size; wherein said planar element rotates about said hinge to relocate from a bottom of the tray to a side of the tray; and wherein, in said side position, said planar element forms a resized tray opening that houses a different hard drive size; said kit comprising a hard drive of a size selected from the group consisting of the first hard drive size and the different hard drive size. 
     The foregoing is a summary and thus may contain simplifications, generalizations, and omissions of detail; consequently, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the summary is illustrative only and is not intended to be in any way limiting. 
     For a better understanding of the embodiments, together with other and further features and advantages thereof, reference is made to the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The scope of the invention will be pointed out in the appended claims. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE SEVERAL VIEWS OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  illustrates an example of information handling device circuitry. 
         FIG. 2  illustrates an example HDD tray with an articulating, planar element. 
         FIG. 3  illustrates the HDD tray of  FIG. 2  where the articulating planar element has been laid flat against the bottom of the tray and the tray has a 3.5″ HDD therein. 
         FIG. 4  illustrates the HDD tray of  FIG. 2  where the articulating, planar element has been moved and attached into a side position and the tray has a 2.5″ HDD therein. 
         FIG. 5  illustrates a perspective view of the HDD tray of  FIG. 4  where the 2.5″ HDD has been removed. 
         FIG. 6  illustrates a perspective view of the HDD tray of  FIG. 5  where the articulating, planar element has been detached from the tray. 
         FIG. 7 (A-B) illustrates views of the HDD tray. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     It will be readily understood that the components of the embodiments, as generally described and illustrated in the figures herein, may be arranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations in addition to the described example embodiments. Thus, the following more detailed description of the example embodiments, as represented in the figures, is not intended to limit the scope of the embodiments, as claimed, but is merely representative of example embodiments. 
     Reference throughout this specification to “one embodiment” or “an embodiment” (or the like) means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Thus, the appearance of the phrases “in one embodiment” or “in an embodiment” or the like in various places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment. 
     Furthermore, the described features, structures, or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner in one or more embodiments. In the following description, numerous specific details are provided to give a thorough understanding of embodiments. One skilled in the relevant art will recognize, however, that the various embodiments can be practiced without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, et cetera. In other instances, well known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obfuscation. 
     The illustrated example embodiments will be best understood by reference to the figures. The following description is intended only by way of example, and simply illustrates certain example embodiments. 
     An embodiment provides a component tray (e.g., HDD tray) that changes its shape and thus permits housing of different sized components. In an embodiment, an HDD tray is provided that includes planar elements that are hinged. The planar elements rotate about the hinge(s) or joints to form two HDD openings for accommodating two different sized HDDs therein. The tray permits the components, e.g., HDDs, to be secured within a system, for example to be included within a system having circuitry as outlined in the example of  FIG. 1 . 
       FIG. 1  depicts a block diagram of another example of device or system circuits, circuitry or components. The example depicted in  FIG. 1  may correspond to computing systems such as the THINKPAD series of personal computers sold by Lenovo (US) Inc. of Morrisville, N.C., or other devices. As is apparent from the description herein, embodiments may include other features or only some of the features of the example illustrated in  FIG. 1 . 
     The example of  FIG. 1  includes a so-called chipset  110  (a group of integrated circuits, or chips, that work together, chipsets) with an architecture that may vary depending on manufacturer (for example, INTEL, AMD, ARM, etc.). INTEL is a registered trademark of Intel Corporation in the United States and other countries. AMD is a registered trademark of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. in the United States and other countries. ARM is an unregistered trademark of ARM Holdings plc in the United States and other countries. The architecture of the chipset  110  includes a core and memory control group  120  and an I/O controller hub  150  that exchanges information (for example, data, signals, commands, etc.) via a direct management interface (DMI)  142  or a link controller  144 . In  FIG. 1 , the DMI  142  is a chip-to-chip interface (sometimes referred to as being a link between a “northbridge” and a “southbridge”). The core and memory control group  120  include one or more processors  122  (for example, single or multi-core) and a memory controller hub  126  that exchange information via a front side bus (FSB)  124 ; noting that components of the group  120  may be integrated in a chip that supplants the conventional “northbridge” style architecture. One or more processors  122  comprise internal arithmetic units, registers, cache memory, busses, I/O ports, etc., as is well known in the art. 
     In  FIG. 1 , the memory controller hub  126  interfaces with memory  140  (for example, to provide support for a type of RAM that may be referred to as “system memory” or “memory”). The memory controller hub  126  further includes a low voltage differential signaling (LVDS) interface  132  for a display device  192  (for example, a CRT, a flat panel, touch screen, etc.). A block  138  includes some technologies that may be supported via the LVDS interface  132  (for example, serial digital video, HDMI/DVI, display port). The memory controller hub  126  also includes a PCI-express interface (PCI-E)  134  that may support discrete graphics  136 . 
     In  FIG. 1 , the I/O hub controller  150  includes a SATA interface  151  (for example, for HDDs, SDDs, etc.,  180 ), a PCI-E interface  152  (for example, for wireless connections  182 ), a USB interface  153  (for example, for devices  184  such as a digitizer, keyboard, mice, cameras, phones, microphones, storage, other connected devices, etc.), a network interface  154  (for example, LAN), a GPIO interface  155 , a LPC interface  170  (for ASICs  171 , a TPM  172 , a super I/O  173 , a firmware hub  174 , BIOS support  175  as well as various types of memory  176  such as ROM  177 , Flash  178 , and NVRAM  179 ), a power management interface  161 , a clock generator interface  162 , an audio interface  163  (for example, for speakers  194 ), a TCO interface  164 , a system management bus interface  165 , and SPI Flash  166 , which can include BIOS  168  and boot code  190 . The I/O hub controller  150  may include gigabit Ethernet support. 
     The system, upon power on, may be configured to execute boot code  190  for the BIOS  168 , as stored within the SPI Flash  166 , and thereafter processes data under the control of one or more operating systems and application software (for example, stored in system memory  140 ). An operating system may be stored in any of a variety of locations and accessed, for example, according to instructions of the BIOS  168 . As described herein, a device may include fewer or more features than shown in the system of  FIG. 1 . 
     Device circuitry, as for example outlined in  FIG. 1 , may be used in devices such as laptop or desktop computers that include an HDD  180 . The HDD  180  may be provided in a tray that attaches the HDD  180  to a bay within a system to operatively couple the HDD to the system for use in data storage. 
     Shown in  FIG. 2  is an example HDD tray with an articulating, planar element. Specifically, the tray  201  has a bottom  203  and two lateral sides  204   a ,  204   b . The planar elements  202   a ,  202   b  are attached to part of the bottom  203  such that the planar elements  202   a ,  202   b  may articulate, e.g., about a joint or connecting part, as shown. 
     The function of the planar elements  202   a ,  202   b  is to lie flat in a first, bottom position, so as to provide a larger opening within the tray  201  for accommodating a larger HDD, e.g., a 3.5″ HDD. The larger HDD may be secured by pins, e.g.,  205   a ,  205   b  that are provided in the sides,  204   a ,  204   b , respectively, of the tray  201 . 
     The planar elements  202   a ,  202   b , may be rotated from the first, bottom position into a second, side position. The planar elements  202   a ,  202   b  are shown in a partially articulated position in  FIG. 2 , i.e., in transit between the first, bottom position and the second, side position. 
       FIG. 3  illustrates the HDD tray of  FIG. 2 , where the articulating planar elements have been laid flat against the bottom of the tray and the tray has a 3.5″ HDD therein. Specifically as shown, the HDD  305  is secured within the tray  301  and is seated in the tray using sides  304   a ,  304   b  that accommodate its width dimension, i.e., 3.5″ in this example. 
       FIG. 4  illustrates the HDD tray of  FIG. 2  where the articulating, planar elements  402   a ,  402   b  have been moved from the first, bottom position into a second, side position and attached into a side  404   a . This creates an opening in the tray  401  that accommodates a different, smaller HDD  407 , i.e., a 2.5″ HDD used in this example. As shown, one of the planar elements  402   a  articulates about another planar element  402   b  to attach into side  404   a . The planar element  402   a  may be secured into position, e.g., using a series of latches or other connections. The other planar element  402   b  rotates about a connection with the bottom  403  of the tray  401  to form a new side  408 . 
       FIG. 5  illustrates a perspective view of a HDD tray where the 2.5″ HDD has been removed. Specifically, the planar element  502   a  has been moved from the bottom  503  of the tray  501  to a side  504   a  of the tray. The planar element  502   a  is detachable from the bottom  503  of the tray  501  and may be snapped into place in the side  504   a  of the tray  501 . When in this second, side position, the planar element  502   b  forms a new side wall  508  in the tray to accommodate a smaller HDD (not shown). 
     The smaller HDD may be secured into place using pins  505   a ,  505   b , where pins, e.g.,  505   b , may be provided on a side  504   b  of the tray  501  proper, and pins, e.g.,  505   a , may be provided in the planar element  502   b , e.g., along the new side wall  508  formed by the planar element  502   b . As shown, a pin, e.g.,  505   b , may be inserted through an aperture  510  and snapped into place, as further described in connection with  FIG. 6 . 
       FIG. 6  illustrates a perspective view of the HDD tray of  FIG. 5  where the planar elements  602   a ,  602   b  have been removed from the tray  601 . The planar elements  602   a ,  602   b  may be secured to the tray  601  via snapping planar element  602   b  into place along the bottom  603  of the tray and snapping planar element  602   a  into place along the side  604  of the tray. The planar element  602   b  includes pins, e.g., pin  605   a , to secure a smaller sized HDD, e.g., a 2.5″ HDD (not shown in  FIG. 6 ). 
     As described in connection with  FIG. 5 , an embodiment permits the pins, e.g., pin  605   b , to be inserted through an aperture  610  and slid into a secured position, as indicated by the dashed arrow in  FIG. 6 . This permits easy insertion, removal, and repositioning of pins within the tray  601  to accommodate various sizes of HDDs and various pin arrangements. 
       FIG. 7 (A-B) illustrates example views of a HDD tray in which a planar element has been repositioned from a bottom position to a side position. Specifically,  FIG. 7A  illustrates a HDD tray where planar element  702   a  is in a bottom position, i.e., accommodating a larger sized HDD, e.g., a 3.5″ HDD.  FIG. 7B  illustrates the HDD tray where planar element  702   b  is in the side position, i.e., accommodating a smaller sized HDD, e.g., a 2.5″ HDD. As shown in  FIG. 7A , a plurality of pins (four are shown) are provided on sides of the HDD tray. As shown in  FIG. 7B , a plurality of pins (four are shown) are provided on the sides of the HDD tray, with the underside of the planar element  702   b  forming a new side and providing two of the pins. 
     As used herein, the singular “a” and “an” may be construed as including the plural “one or more” unless clearly indicated otherwise. 
     This disclosure has been presented for purposes of illustration and description but is not intended to be exhaustive or limiting. Many modifications and variations will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art. The example embodiments were chosen and described in order to explain principles and practical application, and to enable others of ordinary skill in the art to understand the disclosure for various embodiments with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. 
     Thus, although illustrative example embodiments have been described herein with reference to the accompanying figures, it is to be understood that this description is not limiting and that various other changes and modifications may be affected therein by one skilled in the art without departing from the scope or spirit of the disclosure.