Favorite 5.25" External Bay Accessories

[desktopia]

Hey all. I'm putting together a hackintosh with a case that has a single 5.25" external bay. I'll probably just stick a card reader in there since I'm a photog and I'll be using this rig primarily for Adobe CC, but I'm curious as to whether y'all did something different (besides optical drives or hot swappable HDs--I just don't need one of those in this unit).

 

[pastrychef]

I'm a big fan of hot swap cages...

 

[desktopia]

Thanks. At first I wasn't into any hot swap options but the more I look at them the better they look.

 

[pastrychef]

It adds a great deal of convenience and keeps everything nice and neat. I've gone through many, many hard drive failures during my lifetime and hot swap bays really save a lot of time.

 

[nobodynose]

It seems kind of silly and low-tech, but I have one of these (not necessarily this exact one) in my spare 5.25" bay and I find it extremely useful - it's a great place to store USB thumb drives, spare mouse and Bluetooth dongles, and similar items.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06X17NP7K/?tag=tonymacx86com-20

 

[trs96]

These work well in older cases that have no mounts for 2.5" SSDs.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01IE37ZRU/?tag=tonymacx86com-20