Anyone ever run HD's outside of case?

My case ran out of space to add HD's so I will add a PCI ide card and run the cable to another HD and sit it on the bottom of the case or lay it down outside. I wish they sold the little metal things so i could just *****/pop-rivet it to the bottom of the holder thats there. The pop-out removeable media trays would be nice also but don't have any slots for that either.

 

Depending upon what you have to access, they do sell for about $12-45 removeable carriages for hard drives that fit in CD bays. It works on the same principle that removeable cassettes in cars did.

 

I have not premanenty run HDs outside of the case but I have temporarily run them sitting on a plastic or cardboard box.

NO NO NO to sitting it on the metal bottom of the case. Unless you have something plastic or cardbpard inbetween. Some Hds are not that well protected on the bottom.

Food for thought.

If your case has run out of room for additions, is it possible that the Power supply has also ?

BillyBob

 

i have a 450 PS, no problem and realize i need a new case. I wish they made a tower case so i could install HD's top to bottom if ness. AND No power supply because my PS is new.....

 

i have a 450 PS, no problem

Well, there should be no problem there I guess.

I asked that only because I have seen too many cases where users would ask about adding more hardware without taking the PS into consideration.

BillyBob

 

I'm running a Maxtor 3000LE Personal storage. Basically it's an encased 40 GB Hard drive. I access it through a USB cable.

Here's the link to get the specs...

Maxtor Storage

 

That's cool drive....

Ok, i guess it's ok...........appricate it gang.

K

 

I'm thinking strongly of getting a firewire hard drive. Then I'll have a place to back up my ever-expanding collection of MP3s.

 

Check out this item:
http://www.newegg.com/app/Showimage.asp?image=11-999-501-01.JPG/11-999-501-02.JPG/11-999-501-03.JPG

It's a removeable hard drive bracket with base. It's $10. I bought one just to have around in case I ever ran into your situation. Assuming you have some room at the bottom on your case, you simply need to drill two small holes in the bottom of your case and s-c-r-e-w the base to the case (I feel a rap tune coming on...s-c-r-e-w the base to the case, yeah! ).

Then s-c-r-e-w the HDD to the caddy and slide the caddy into the base until it "snaps ". You can also order rubber shock absorbers from the mfr. to attach the drive to the caddy. I did.

It's available at: http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProduct.asp?submit=manufactory&catalog=98&manufactory=1470&DEPA=1

 

Great, didn't think it was avail.........

Thanks
K

 

I keep a couple of small externals on hand for customer crisis calls. Slick little cases that accomodate up to 9.5mm laptop drives and will fit in a shirt pocket. USB with no external power required other than the port itself. Compatable with 95,98,2000 and XP. Case runs about $20 and 10 - 20 gig laptop drives run about $72 -$100. Format 'em with a 40/44 pin adapter in a regular machine and take 'em anywhere.

Use removable hotswap drive bays and caddies for secondary drives on my own machines. Adds new meaning to the concept of plug and play.

 

One thing I've done is used 3com's double sided tape. It's about 3'4-1 inch thick and has tremendous holding power. Tape your drive to the bottom of the case. with 4 or 5 small pieces Works well!

 

another way

You can also take the plastic wire ties (straps) and suspend the needed item from the one above, and it your somewhat mechanical, you can sort of accordian a few new addons and even dangle a fan in front to cool em off, set a second PS on the case bottom to power the puppies if needed, ventilation is the main concern, mopre heat, more air needed, this can also be done on the roof of the case too, and a fan on the side with vent holes and youre set to go