I'm have more hard drives than I need for normal use, so I've been thinking about making a small cabinet with slots sized for hard drives to sit on my desk, so that they will be safe and handy. However, before embarking on that project, I'm wondering if there is anything ready-made for this purpose?
There are fan cooled usb, eSata, 1394 firewire, and some with ethernet external enclosures that will hold 2,4, even some supporting upto 6 drives.
Typically you would use mostly larger capacity drives for external backup. Or you could plan a W7 home server setup depending on the drives you have.
They will vary in price however. Some non cooled are less then $10- while others can run over $200-! depending on your price range.
Here's one I may ponder on being a USB 3.0 4bay enclosure. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16817576009
Last edited by Night Hawk; 08 Mar 2011 at 00:53. Reason: Additional link
Are these internal drives?
I just put mine in antistatic bags and put them in a drawer. right now I have 3 sitting on my desk since I haven't put them away yet.
An option would be to buy a few of these and install 1 cage in the machine and the drives in the racks and that way each drive is protected and you you can easily store them in the cabinet you are building.
Newegg.com - ICY DOCK MB876SK-B Aluminum Internal Mobile Rack Enclosure
I am thinking of getting one of these,
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...-071-_-Product
No, I guess that I didn't make myself clear. I don't want another external case which connects to the PC, I already have 2 of them, one for each PC. All that I'm thinking of is a small wooden shelf/cabinet with no purpose other than storing extra drives. I have found some storage cases, but they are primarily for travel, kind of like a laptop case, only smaller. I also found a storage box, but it, like the previous case is designed for only one hard drive (it wasn't clear from the ad whether this box was metal or cardboard).
What I'm considering is nothing more than a small cabinet, with 4 shelves/slots, that will sit stationary on my desk, so that if need be, I can reach out and grab a drive for whatever reason, without digging through the closet, and not have to worry about the drives getting knocked around.
check this out,
NewerTech StoraDrive: Stackable anti-static... (HDSTORA35) at OWC
Not as nice one but cheaper at Amazon,
http://www.amazon.com/I-NC05-3-5-Inc...9565810&sr=8-4
another cheap one, only $6,
http://www.amazon.com/IO-Crest-3-5-I.../ref=pd_cp_e_1
and if you need to transport up to 10 of your drives,
http://www.amazon.com/WiebeTech-Hard...565970&sr=8-25
I just measured a drive and it's 4"x6"x1"
Last edited by Zepher; 08 Mar 2011 at 01:43.
There are some storage cabinets found in places like office supply and other retail outlets(usually plastic) with drawers deep enough to stack drives once wrapped in esd bags. Some of those will 3-6 drives placed in them laying flat rather then individually stood upwards however.
How many drives are you looking to store? If less then a dozen a low cost option would be something along those lines. Some have extra separators which would allow you to stand them on end. Laying them down flat however is safer when you don't have the cushioning you would see in a carrying case however.
Hmm, I still like my idea of a wooden shelf better, but that NewerTech item has it's merits,but it would be a lot easier than making one for myself.
I can't imagine anyone needing that 10 drive case, unless they were a computer salesman going to computer shows, but it look like a good item, if one wanted to pay that price.
If you are looking to store them in, say a shelf above your desk, then this should be fairly easy.
Just get some flat wood (particle board would probably work fine for this), and figure out your dimensions.
Depending on your storage location, you might need to do 1 drive wide, by however many tall, though I think a 2 drive wide would look better, and allow more storage in the long run (assuming a 2x5 as opposed to a 1x10).
I would add maybe 1" extra space per drive slot in both width and height, and you could glue some soft foam into the slot so it is nice and padded (would allow this to transport drives nicely).
So as a simple overview, lets say the drive is as Zepher says above 4inches wide by 6 inches long by 1 inch thick. So each slot would be 5inches wide, by 6.5 inches deep, by 2 inches high. You would glue just under 1/2 inches of foam on each side (top, bottom, both sides and back) to keep the drive slot padded and gentle on your storage. From there, lets say you use 1inch thick particle board; the total width of the slot (assuming 2x5 layout and including wood thickness) would be 13 inches long, by 7.5 inches deep, by 16inches tall.
In text layout, it might look like this:
==========
=____=____=
==========
=____=____=
==========
=____=____=
==========
=____=____=
==========
=____=____=
==========
with the = being the wood walls, the ____ representing the padded drive bays (not at all to scale).
Let me know if you would like an actual technical drawing, or if I could clarify more. The nice part of this, is you could make it any size you wanted :)
~Lordbob
That't not too different than I imagined, except that I would make it out of oak, for both toughness and preference, and I would probably make the slot dimensions a little different, because I do not plan on moving the case around, so it wouldn't need padding. However, to prevent scratching the oak finish, I will probably line the interior with felt...at least the top of each shelf, so that moving the drives in and out don't damage it. I will make the depth ~ 3/4" shorter than the drives are, so that with the 3/4" lumber that I will use, will provide a gap between them, so that they are easy to grab. With stationary usage, they don't need to be totally enclosed.
Oh, oak is MUCH nicer, good choice.
The reason I suggested putting the foam in wasn't just for transport, it would just generally protect the drives. Felt is a good start, but the problem is that the surface beneath and around is still hard. Shouldn't be a problem in general, but it is a personal choice.
~Lordbob
Quote