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Trying to create an external enclosure I can slip a bare HDD into.

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superboyac:
Hi everyone, I'm attempting to create a special external hard disk enclosure.  What makes it special is it's universal versatility in every sense of the word.  Firstly, I want to be able to take any full size SATA hard drive and slip it in/out of the enclosure.  Bare.  I don't want to screw the drive in, nor do I want to use a tray of any kind.  So, just like this:


Now, that drive caddy pictured above can fit into any 5.25" standard slot.  So I'm assuming I can find an enclosure that is meant for a normal optical drive (cd/dvd/bluray) and instead of sticking in an optical drive, I slip in that thing above which will then allow me to slide in a Sata drive in and out without any extra screwing or trays.  Pretty cool, right?

So then I thought, why not just use one of these universal hard drive adapter cable thingies?  See below:


And I already have one of those, and they are great.  However, there's something about having a bare hard drive hanging off of a cable that I find uncomfortable.  So that's why i want an enclosure...but a very flexible one.

The problem I am running into is the enclosure itself.  I want one that can not only support that hard drive sliding device, but I also want one that has connectors for USB, firewire, and esata all available.  So finding something with all these requirements is proving rather difficult.

Any thoughts?

mouser:
what you are asking for is readily available everywhere and we've talked about it in the past plenty of times.

for example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007705%20600006253&IsNodeId=1&name=5.25%22

just make sure it has an open front for optical drives and it will hold those rack systems fine. i've used one for many of years and like it a lot.

Deozaan:
Or if you're only interested in being able to quickly swap HDDs and you don't care about other things (Optical Drives), you can get a "Toaster."

superboyac:
what you are asking for is readily available everywhere and we've talked about it in the past plenty of times.

for example: http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=100007705%20600006253&IsNodeId=1&name=5.25%22

just make sure it has an open front for optical drives and it will hold those rack systems fine. i've used one for many of years and like it a lot.
-mouser (September 16, 2010, 05:02 PM)
--- End quote ---
Thanks!  Actually, the more helpful part is knowing that you've been using this happily.  I wasn't sure if there was some thing about it I was missing that would make it frustrating to use.

mouser:
only words of advice i would give is to make sure you get a rack which doesnt use a special inner tray.

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