removable 3.5" drive cage.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Gwen Morse
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Gwen Morse

I bought a thermaltake bach media center case for a pvr/gaming pc. This
was my first experience with building my own system, but, after
reasonably few hiccups I got the unit assembled and functioning. I've
spent the past few weeks just playing around with it.

Unfortunately, there's an issue with the case design and how my
particular motherboard fits in. Specifically, if any hard drives are
mounted into the interior 3-slot 3.5" floppy/hard drive cage, the ends
overlap over the plug on the motherboard for the main motherboard power
(the 24-pin plug). Effectively, this means if I put hard drives into
the 3.5" cage and mount it correctly, I can't plug in the power to the
motherboard. The cage fits into the case so that each drive is next to
the other on edge (like CD cases or books on a shelf).

If I manually turn the drive on it's "side" (so that the hard drives
stack on top of each other, like books in a "pile"), I can put 2 drives
in the top 2 slots, leave the 3rd slot empty, and the cable to the
power connector "fits". However, if I do this, the cage doesn't 'mount'
into the case. There's sliders/flanges along one side of the cage which
determines which way it 'fits'. Effectively, it looks like if I could
get a different cage with flanges on the correct (for me) side I can
continue to use my case with another 2 hard drives.

Is this the sort of thing I could buy from some sort of parts reseller
(a cage with flanges on a different side)? It looks suspiciously like
it's a reasonably 'universal' part, rather than something lovingly
custom-manufactured for Thermaltake.

Gwen
 
Gwen Morse said:
I bought a thermaltake bach media center case for a pvr/gaming pc. This
was my first experience with building my own system, but, after
reasonably few hiccups I got the unit assembled and functioning. I've
spent the past few weeks just playing around with it.

Unfortunately, there's an issue with the case design and how my
particular motherboard fits in. Specifically, if any hard drives are
mounted into the interior 3-slot 3.5" floppy/hard drive cage, the ends
overlap over the plug on the motherboard for the main motherboard power
(the 24-pin plug). Effectively, this means if I put hard drives into
the 3.5" cage and mount it correctly, I can't plug in the power to the
motherboard. The cage fits into the case so that each drive is next to
the other on edge (like CD cases or books on a shelf).

If I manually turn the drive on it's "side" (so that the hard drives
stack on top of each other, like books in a "pile"), I can put 2 drives
in the top 2 slots, leave the 3rd slot empty, and the cable to the
power connector "fits". However, if I do this, the cage doesn't 'mount'
into the case. There's sliders/flanges along one side of the cage which
determines which way it 'fits'. Effectively, it looks like if I could
get a different cage with flanges on the correct (for me) side I can
continue to use my case with another 2 hard drives.

Is this the sort of thing I could buy from some sort of parts reseller
(a cage with flanges on a different side)? It looks suspiciously like
it's a reasonably 'universal' part, rather than something lovingly
custom-manufactured for Thermaltake.

Gwen
Click to expand...

My Lian Li case has the same type of HDD rack for 5 drives. It also mounts
right where the main power plug is, but there is just enough room to get it
to slide in and put the thumb screws in. It is tight, and I have to plug the
power cable in first. My PSU has stainless mesh shielding covering all the
power cables and I have to gently bend the cable and then tie-wrap it so
that it stays out of the way.

Ed
 
Gwen said:
I bought a thermaltake bach media center case for a pvr/gaming pc. This
was my first experience with building my own system, but, after
reasonably few hiccups I got the unit assembled and functioning. I've
spent the past few weeks just playing around with it.

Unfortunately, there's an issue with the case design and how my
particular motherboard fits in. Specifically, if any hard drives are
mounted into the interior 3-slot 3.5" floppy/hard drive cage, the ends
overlap over the plug on the motherboard for the main motherboard power
(the 24-pin plug). Effectively, this means if I put hard drives into
the 3.5" cage and mount it correctly, I can't plug in the power to the
motherboard. The cage fits into the case so that each drive is next to
the other on edge (like CD cases or books on a shelf).

If I manually turn the drive on it's "side" (so that the hard drives
stack on top of each other, like books in a "pile"), I can put 2 drives
in the top 2 slots, leave the 3rd slot empty, and the cable to the
power connector "fits". However, if I do this, the cage doesn't 'mount'
into the case. There's sliders/flanges along one side of the cage which
determines which way it 'fits'. Effectively, it looks like if I could
get a different cage with flanges on the correct (for me) side I can
continue to use my case with another 2 hard drives.

Is this the sort of thing I could buy from some sort of parts reseller
(a cage with flanges on a different side)? It looks suspiciously like
it's a reasonably 'universal' part, rather than something lovingly
custom-manufactured for Thermaltake.

Gwen
Click to expand...

(VB8000BNS Install manual)
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/support/Download/SoftDriver/a2331a2328/MediaLAB_051226_EN.zip

There is room for drives under the support bar. So you could put
some there. You can also get U-channel adapters to convert 3.5"
drives to fit in 5.25" drive enclosures, so you could put 3.5"
devices underneath the CD/DVD. Such adapters used to come with
Maxtor "retail" drive packaging (and that is not very popular
these days, with many hard drive vendors selling the OEM version
which is devoid of accessories). Trying to find them for
sale separately is a chore.

In general I would not expect to find a RAID cage that "just
fits" the box. Every metal banging enclosure maker has their
own way of suspending stuff, and the odds of something fitting
are pretty low.

I note that the 3.5" (middle) drive bay, has some openings in
the front panel. Does that allow a drive to slide forward a
bit ? Maybe the 3.5" drive can be secured in one of two positions
(forward or back), assuming there is enough room in the front
panel area to move the drive forward a bit. You can drill
new holes for the retention screws (a piece of metal with
a hole already in it, clamped to the cage surface, will
prevent the drill bit from chattering or sliding around).

Unless you are really stuck for drive positions, I'd use the
room for drives on the support arm.

Paul
 
http://www.thermaltakeusa.com/support/Download/SoftDriver/a2331a2328/MediaLAB_051226_EN.zip

There is room for drives under the support bar. So you could put
some there. You can also get U-channel adapters to convert 3.5"
drives to fit in 5.25" drive enclosures, so you could put 3.5"
devices underneath the CD/DVD. Such adapters used to come with
Maxtor "retail" drive packaging (and that is not very popular
these days, with many hard drive vendors selling the OEM version
which is devoid of accessories). Trying to find them for
sale separately is a chore.
Click to expand...

I did actually look for drive rails and I couldn't find them. If you
(or anyone else) have(has) a source, I'd be glad to go in that
direction.

Also, I'm already using the two slots under the support arm. I have 2
sata drives in there. I'd like to put in 1-2 IDE drives in the cage.
In general I would not expect to find a RAID cage that "just
fits" the box. Every metal banging enclosure maker has their
own way of suspending stuff, and the odds of something fitting
are pretty low.
Click to expand...

Rats. I had sort of thought they were bought from Cage Widgets, Inc,
and I'd just have to look up the part number.
I note that the 3.5" (middle) drive bay, has some openings in
the front panel. Does that allow a drive to slide forward a
bit ? Maybe the 3.5" drive can be secured in one of two positions
Click to expand...

I'll check that again. Or, maybe I could try something with tie wraps
and the existing cage.

Gwen
--
Gwen Morse mailto:[email protected]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then
suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night,
the ice weasels come." -- Matt Groening
 
Gwen said:
I did actually look for drive rails and I couldn't find them. If you
(or anyone else) have(has) a source, I'd be glad to go in that
direction.

Also, I'm already using the two slots under the support arm. I have 2
sata drives in there. I'd like to put in 1-2 IDE drives in the cage.


Rats. I had sort of thought they were bought from Cage Widgets, Inc,
and I'd just have to look up the part number.


I'll check that again. Or, maybe I could try something with tie wraps
and the existing cage.

Gwen
--
Gwen Morse mailto:[email protected]
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
"Love is a snowmobile racing across the tundra and then
suddenly it flips over, pinning you underneath. At night,
the ice weasels come." -- Matt Groening
Click to expand...

There is a rail kit here. But normally you'd just use the
two pieces on the side. The U shaped space filling metal pieces
should also come with screws, total four piece, as you need to
bolt the U shaped metal to the drive, and then the U shaped
metal needs to be bolted to the sliders that slide into the
bay. The computer enclosure likely came with four screws,
but you'd need four more that come with the rails, to finish
the job.

http://www.dcdrives.com/itemdesc.asp?ic=CBRACKET&eq=&Tp=

This one is some kinda deluxe version, likely looking good
in a Lian Li all aluminum case.

http://svcompucycle.stores.yahoo.net/mf-515a-47.html

OK, I think I've found the right one now. This is a
10 pack for $17 and is enough to do 10 disk drives :-)
Startech.com should have the original pictures and info.

http://www.arsenalpc.com/Details.asp?Res=2&ItemID=9757

Another example here:

http://www.startech.com/Product/ItemDetail.aspx?productid=BRACKET&c=CA

Paul
 
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