Dave's perpetual question thread

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by Wombat
I'm at my mom's place, so I don't have everything handy, but I remember a web page from a guy that made an IDE cable out of CAT5, it was very long and worked quite well.

But maybe I'd try Jammy's link first.

cat5 cable eh? Interesting...I'll keep this as an option. I wonder if at some point you run into latency issues?

Dave

[The PIT]

Shielded or unshielded.

[DukeP]

Go SATA.
Theres some VERY cheap SATA => IDE converters available, that just snap onto the IDE disks themselves.
I think some of the new motherboards actually come bundled with these!! I believe they are meant to be used especially for optical drives, since nobody have made any of those SATA yet.

~~DukeP~~

[Helevitia]

cool, I'll look for the SATA to IDE connectors when I get to that point. Thanks!

Dave

[Admiral]

I like the HighPoint RocketHead 100, most of the other converters out there are just naked (uncovered PCB, caps... ).

[UtwigMU]

IIRC 3ware sells long IDE cables which work reliably, but with just one drive.

Have you considered SCSI, with Ultra, you can have 1.5m long cables (CD-ROMs), with Fast 3m.

[Marshmallowman]

yeah, basic ultra scsi cards are very cheap and you have plenty of cable length availble, but drives are still a bit on the expensive side.

But SATA sounds like a better bet, do those SATA to PATA dongles support CD/dvd drives?

[UtwigMU]

I could route SCSI burner at the second top slot of big Chieftec dragon from the SCSI card in 3d PCI slot.

[az]

How about FireWire and one of those?

AZ

[Helevitia]

OK, I've looked for veneer at Home Depot, Lowe's, and the local hobbie store and can't find it. Where should I be looking to buy veneer? Is it called something else these days? I basically want to cover particle board to make it look nice. Maybe it is called laminate as well? I know you can buy laminate flooring, but I want something specifically for shelving/desk scenarios.

Also, I am looking for a single internal enclosure for a 5.25" bay. I find many external enclosures, but not internal enclosures. The enclosure is going into a custom made furniture. I would also like slide rails for easy removal.

Thanks! Dave

[William]

If using a SATA-PATA adaptor, ensure that it has a Silicon Image controller chip on it; Marvell ones do not work with optical drives (or any other ATAPI device).

[Helevitia]

Just so everyone knows, I no longer require the longer cables as I changed my design. Thanks!

[agallag]

http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_Cat.asp?CateID=25

For your removable enclosure, if it exists, you'll find it here.

[Helevitia]

Originally posted by agallag
http://www.kingwin.com/pdut_Cat.asp?CateID=25

For your removable enclosure, if it exists, you'll find it here.

Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, none of these hold non-hdd devices. I need an enclsoure that holds CD/DVD/multi-function displays/fan buses/etc...

Looks like I may have to make my own enclosure.

Dave

[Helevitia]

I just found out that I may be looking for Formica as opposed to veneer. We'll see