_ZZ wrote:

snip

Thanks to all for some great ideas that never occurred to me.

I should have explained a bit better: By 'Drive Case' I meant that
this is an external USB 2.0 case. I'm not dismantling the actual
drive--it's intact, inside this case.

The original objective was to buy the external USB2 case with a larger
drive, then swap the drive in the laptop with the drive in the case.
Imagine my surprise. 'Pre-stripped' means that the original Torx (if
that's even what they are) have barely any edge...very rounded, almost
like an allen indent, but even rounder. They obviously didn't want
people messing with their drive case. I've seen tons of cases like
this, and this is the only one that uses such a bizarre screw.

Also, the screws are slightly indented. Metal from the enclosure
forms a shoulder around it. But the idea of sawing a flat-blade slot
may work. I may be able to get a small blade in there.

Then I should probably find replacement screws. They'll probably be
some odd Martian thread.

They may *not* be Torx screws. Google "safety screws" for more info
on head/driver designs.

Notan