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  • #1

    Any thing wrong with this idea...

    Hey Ya Folks,
    My better half has been bugging me to clean up my computer area, and I have to admit it is getting to be an eyesore. Funny how I can quiet her up when I say how much nicer a LCD screen would clear up 1/2 the desk space
    Anyways I got two computers going on a kvm switch, one is for the kids games and the wife's surfing, and the other one is all mine. What I'd like to do is to hide the computers under the desk to free up the space at the side of the desk, but I need to have the DVD drives easily accessable for the kids to use for their games and stuff. My idea is to make up a small box to sit on the desk and have the necessary cables run from the computer under the desk to the case with the dvd drives in them.
    My question is, will the length of the cables cause any problems? Or are there any other problems that I don't know about?
    Do you guys know of anything out there like this? I found something but it was $500. I may be googling wrong. I think I can build a nicer box for a lot less.
    Thanks
    R
    Tags: None
  • #2
    1. shouldn't be a problem as long as you get a long enough IDE cable, and power extensions are easy to find. You are probably better off building your own box - or just purchasing an external drive or two.
    2. buy an LCD as well
    Q9450 + TRUE, G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2, GTX 560, ASUS X48, 1TB WD Black, Windows 7 64-bit, LG M2762D-PM 27" + 17" LG 1752TX, Corsair HX620, Antec P182, Logitech G5 (Blue)
    Laptop: MSI Wind - Black

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    • #3
      IDE cables have pretty strict specs on maximum length (~60cm, I think was it), thus you'll have a hard time finding a long IDE cable - and if you do, chances are it won't work properly, max length is specified for a reason.

      SATA cables can be a bit longer (though not really long).

      An external drive (FW/USB2) bay may be the only option to get enough length, though apparently you will not be able to play DVDs then (there is a recent thread about this here by VJ).
      There's an Opera in my macbook.

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      • #4
        then just buy an LCD

        They aren't too expensive, a little over $300 CAD can get you a nice one.
        Q9450 + TRUE, G.Skill 2x2GB DDR2, GTX 560, ASUS X48, 1TB WD Black, Windows 7 64-bit, LG M2762D-PM 27" + 17" LG 1752TX, Corsair HX620, Antec P182, Logitech G5 (Blue)
        Laptop: MSI Wind - Black

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        • #5
          Originally posted by az
          IDE cables have pretty strict specs on maximum length (~60cm, I think was it), thus you'll have a hard time finding a long IDE cable - and if you do, chances are it won't work properly, max length is specified for a reason.

          SATA cables can be a bit longer (though not really long).

          An external drive (FW/USB2) bay may be the only option to get enough length, though apparently you will not be able to play DVDs then (there is a recent thread about this here by VJ).
          People have done special IDE cables out of 10 shielded CAT5 cables and made it work on 2 meters lenght

          Instructions on how to do it
          Last edited by Technoid; 26 February 2006, 04:13. Reason: Bad memory
          If there's artificial intelligence, there's bound to be some artificial stupidity.

          Jeremy Clarkson "806 brake horsepower..and that on that limp wrist faerie liquid the Americans call petrol, if you run it on the more explosive jungle juice we have in Europe you'd be getting 850 brake horsepower..."

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          • #6
            Cool
            There's an Opera in my macbook.

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            • #7
              I use DVD and CDRW burners on USB to IDE adapters in external bays at work all the time.
              There is plenty of bandwidth with USB2.0 to transfer data to the IDE bus.

              I have one machine with 10 DVD Burners, 8 external in USB2, with PCI USB2 cards to alleviate the load on the chipset.

              Doesn't burn very fast cos i havent got any multiple cd recording software thats any good. Nero is too expensive, and alcohol is unreliable.

              A nice external USB2 5 1/4 drive bay or two would be a good choice.

              edit: The external bays i use at work are powered, they have an internal 80W power supply.
              Last edited by Evildead666; 26 February 2006, 04:41.
              PC-1 Fractal Design Arc Mini R2, 3800X, Asus B450M-PRO mATX, 2x8GB B-die@3800C16, AMD Vega64, Seasonic 850W Gold, Black Ice Nemesis/Laing DDC/EKWB 240 Loop (VRM>CPU>GPU), Noctua Fans.
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              +++ : FSP Nano 800VA (Pi's+switch) + 1600VA (PC-1+Nas)

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              • #8
                heres a pic of one i found with power, usb2.0 and firewire...

                502 Server Error
                http://images.grosbill.com/imagesproduitnew/viewimggallery.php?idpics=11467#


                the price range is from 16 euro to 40 euro.

                better than 500 bucks!!
                :-)
                Last edited by Evildead666; 26 February 2006, 04:51.
                PC-1 Fractal Design Arc Mini R2, 3800X, Asus B450M-PRO mATX, 2x8GB B-die@3800C16, AMD Vega64, Seasonic 850W Gold, Black Ice Nemesis/Laing DDC/EKWB 240 Loop (VRM>CPU>GPU), Noctua Fans.
                Nas : i3/itx/2x4GB/8x4TB BTRFS/Raid6 (7 + Hotspare) Xpenology
                +++ : FSP Nano 800VA (Pi's+switch) + 1600VA (PC-1+Nas)

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by az
                  An external drive (FW/USB2) bay may be the only option to get enough length, though apparently you will not be able to play DVDs then (there is a recent thread about this here by VJ).
                  My question concerned connecting a usb dvd drive to a media device.
                  For a PC, a usb drive is just like an internal one re. functionality.

                  Jörg
                  pixar
                  Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die tomorrow. (James Dean)

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                  • #10
                    Oh, good

                    Then I think an external drive bay is the neatest solution, and not very expensive.
                    There's an Opera in my macbook.

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                    • #11
                      Ah that's super.
                      I knew there was a PROPER way of doing this. Thanks for the links guys.
                      Shhhh...but I may be getting that LCD screen after all, but only after I paint this room and install a new floor.

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                      • #12
                        well THAT'S cost effective. "Sure honey you can have that $400 useful thing you'll use for years... but only after i get $2000 worth of home renovations"
                        Wikipedia and Google.... the needles to my tangent habit.
                        ________________________________________________

                        That special feeling we get in the cockles of our hearts, Or maybe below the cockles, Maybe in the sub-cockle area, Maybe in the liver, Maybe in the kidneys, Maybe even in the colon, We don't know.

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                        • #13
                          How about eSATA? External SerialATA. It's an official spec now. Cables up to 2m (6ft).

                          SATA-IO | The Serial ATA International Organization
                          http://www.sata-io.org/esata.asp


                          Although, I haven't seen any eSATA DVD drive enclosures around yet, just external hard drives so far. I'm sure you could hack something together though.
                          Lady, people aren't chocolates. Do you know what they are mostly? Bastards. Bastard coated bastards with bastard filling. But I don't find them half as annoying as I find naive, bubble-headed optimists who walk around vomiting sunshine. -- Dr. Perry Cox

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                          • #14
                            eSATA is the same as ordinary SATA with a more rugged plug.
                            There's an Opera in my macbook.

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                            • #15
                              ...and cables. The cables have tougher ESD & EMI requirements.
                              Gigabyte P35-DS3L with a Q6600, 2GB Kingston HyperX (after *3* bad pairs of Crucial Ballistix 1066), Galaxy 8800GT 512MB, SB X-Fi, some drives, and a Dell 2005fpw. Running WinXP.

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