DIY Home Optical Bay HD Suspension

[mgsarch]

Anyone sucessfully suspended drives in the optical bays? I have two 500gb WD SE16s that I would LOVE to take off USB and put into that 2nd bay.

I've suspended drives in my windows machine and the "kit" I had used was basically two heavy rubber bands.

I don't want to pay for another one of these and I'm pretty handy so i'm hoping to search through my old crap and find something that might work.

Anyone have any advice? These drives will be used for scratch, nothing critical.

EDIT: haha, I guess another questions is whether or not you can even fit two 3.5" drives in there without disturbing temperatures. These drives definitely get warmer than the 4 x WD 640s I have.

 

[Salavat23]

Anyone sucessfully suspended drives in the optical bays? I have two 500gb WD SE16s that I would LOVE to take off USB and put into that 2nd bay.

I've suspended drives in my windows machine and the "kit" I had used was basically two heavy rubber bands.

I don't want to pay for another one of these and I'm pretty handy so i'm hoping to search through my old crap and find something that might work.

Anyone have any advice? These drives will be used for scratch, nothing critical.

EDIT: haha, I guess another questions is whether or not you can even fit two 3.5" drives in there without disturbing temperatures. These drives definitely get warmer than the 4 x WD 640s I have.

You have to buy a 5.25" to 3.25" drive bay adapter.

You can find them in any computer store.

Something like this will work

 

[Shelton]

I actually did make a little HD drive bay for my optical slot. I have a 120GB WD HD sitting around that I wanted to use for windows (Man, it is a loud drive -- my mac pro went from silent to "high pitched hum"). I didn't want to buy a drive bay, because the HD is worth, maybe, 35 bucks. So, I decided to make one.

I tore apart old hardware that I had collected over the years. First, I took my Creative Audigy drive bay controller, and tore it apart, until it was just an empty 5.25 shell. Then, I secured a single 3.5 inch drive holder inside the 5.25 bay. It definitely is not an ideal solution, and I am not sure if it will cut down on the life of the 120GB HD, but it works, and the HD is not too important.

It is a pretty slow HD, too.

Edit to say:

If you want to make one, cannibalize an old CD-ROM drive. It should take 15-30 minutes to build the thing from start to finish with basic tools. What I would do, is take an old CD-ROM drive, cut the top right down the middle, gut it, then fold the top in such a manner that you have a drive holder.

 

[Shelton]

Here is a quick, crude drawing of my idea.

Assuming you have the tools to do it, even with improvised tools, you're looking at an easy job. There are also a lot of other routes to go if you have access to any scrap metal and some shop tools.

 

[mgsarch]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the suggestions but I'm trying to suspend the drives to eliminate noise.

This is what I'm talking about: http://xona.com/2006/08/02.html

I just was wondering if anyone had done this in their MP so I could get an idea without pulling the case open.

 

[JonR356]

These aren't too expensive:

http://www.transintl.com/store/category.cfm?Category=2704

 

[Tbarr]

MaxPro

I like the assemblies seen here;
http://www.maxupgrades.com/istore/index.cfm?fuseaction=product.display&product_id=158

Especially the one that just adds 2 SATA drives in the lower bay. Kinda expensive...for now. Maybe later. I just used the old adaptors that came with one of my Seagate drive kits, and mounted a single ATA drive in the lower bay...for now. I really don't think Suspension is necessary. My MacPro is quieter than my external OWC Mercury Elite Dual enclosure, which is why I'm looking to put the drives internal. I'll just keep the OWC enclosure on standby...err, off.

 

[Firefly2002]

I actually did make a little HD drive bay for my optical slot. I have a 120GB WD HD sitting around that I wanted to use for windows (Man, it is a loud drive -- my mac pro went from silent to "high pitched hum").

Haha.. yeah. I had the same drive lying around in my basement and decided to put it in my old Beige G3... put it in the Zip drive bay which wasn't intended for hard drive's, so it took a bit of work... and the stupid drive is so whiny, especially when it spins up. What a pain.

 

[mgsarch]

Haha.. yeah. I had the same drive lying around in my basement and decided to put it in my old Beige G3... put it in the Zip drive bay which wasn't intended for hard drive's, so it took a bit of work... and the stupid drive is so whiny, especially when it spins up. What a pain.

i love how maxupgrades has strategically kept hidden what the thing looks like ....

129 .... man, thats another 640GB!!!!

 

[mgsarch]

just finished the surgery on a tdk 48x cdr ....

not too impressed with my attempt of "securing" a 3.5" in there .

what did you do?

 

[Cryptic1911]

if you're gonna try a diy suspension, go to a michaels craft store, or something of that sort, and look for something called "Stretch Magic". I bought a couple rolls of 1.8mm for like $2.50ea and this stuff is practically unbreakable, doesnt deform, and keeps its elasticity

 

[rtrt]

a

 

[Tbarr]

mailed them a month or 2 ago asking for more info - no reply - read into that what you will.

You know, a couple weeks ago, when I first heard of the part, I thought I saw a picture of it. I believe it just looked like the normal optical bay but had two trays in the bottom bay. I sure can't find that page now. Well, I heard about it here;
http://discussions.apple.com/thread.jspa?messageID=6426588&#6426588
And if you check the right hand column, the guy that mentioned it spends an awful lot of time on that board
Whatever, I'll keep my eye on it. I just got the MacPro and I need some time to recover from the expense.