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Looking for internal 3.5" drive mounting solutions

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Obioban

Obioban

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May 12, 2016
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A perfect solution would allow drives to just be inserted from the front, like on the pre trash can Mac Pros. Slide to insert, SATA connectors and power on the back, and I could wire that to motherboard SATA and power.

But, failing that, something that would allow me to stack 4-6 drives vertically.

Thoughts?
 
PowerMac G7
MAXIMUS VII GENE |  i7 4790K |  RX 580 Pulse 8GB
I used one of these hot swap caddies by Lian-Li...

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...age_-_Quadruple_35_Drives_-_Silver.html#blank

I stripped away the fan, the door, and 5.2in mounting bracket and made four 2.5in long aluminum standoffs to mount to the bottom of the case and raise the cage high enough to clear the bottom edge of the G5 case opening.

Here's what mine looks like at the moment. Please excuse the ugly cable management (or lack there of), I'm still working on that!

My current HDD cage placement ensures some good airflow through the HDDs and on to the CPU. It also allows space above it for a second cage at a later stage, should I ever need 6-8 drives. The open space below the cage (thanks to the standoffs) also allows for some airflow to reach the CPU and is a nice place to hide a few cables too.

As you can see, my mod was done with expansion in mind. There's ample room for another HDD cage, an ATX mobo (I currently use a mATX board), more graphics cards and a better CPU cooling solution.

image.jpeg image.jpeg image.jpeg
 
Obioban said:
A perfect solution would allow drives to just be inserted from the front, like on the pre trash can Mac Pros. Slide to insert, SATA connectors and power on the back, and I could wire that to motherboard SATA and power.

But, failing that, something that would allow me to stack 4-6 drives vertically.

Thoughts?
Click to expand...


Humm... well did you see my TOP project? A bit extreme with a 5 drive Icy Dock access from the rear.
See it here: http://www.tonymacx86.com/threads/neilharts-tower-of-power-top-for-short-a-file-server.104010/

Good modding,
neil
 
AppleMacIdiot said:
I used one of these hot swap caddies by Lian-Li...

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1...age_-_Quadruple_35_Drives_-_Silver.html#blank

I stripped away the fan, the door, and 5.2in mounting bracket and made four 2.5in long aluminum standoffs to mount to the bottom of the case and raise the cage high enough to clear the bottom edge of the G5 case opening.

Here's what mine looks like at the moment. Please excuse the ugly cable management (or lack there of), I'm still working on that!

My current HDD cage placement ensures some good airflow through the HDDs and on to the CPU. It also allows space above it for a second cage at a later stage, should I ever need 6-8 drives. The open space below the cage (thanks to the standoffs) also allows for some airflow to reach the CPU and is a nice place to hide a few cables too.

As you can see, my mod was done with expansion in mind. There's ample room for another HDD cage, an ATX mobo (I currently use a mATX board), more graphics cards and a better CPU cooling solution.

View attachment 198259 View attachment 198260 View attachment 198261
Click to expand...

That looks like EXACTLY what I want, in a build that's fairly similar to mine. Thanks!
 
Obioban said:
Annnnnd ordered!
Click to expand...

Yaaaaaay! Nice one!

Shout if you have any questions. Like I said before, I had to custom make four aluminum standoffs of about 2.5 inches long. I drilled pilot holes in each end and then tapped each one with a M3 thread on both sides. I then used M3 screws to attached them to the base of my case and on the other side into the existing threaded holes of the HDD cage. Of course if you've kept the original G5 PSU enclosure in place you could just mount the cage to that instead.

Good luck with the rest of your mod!
 
Like this?

100_1677.jpg


chaos.
 
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