Maby a different HTPC design? (1 Viewer)

[Loxuz]

First of all this is my first post at the forum, so... well... Hi all!

Now that we've gotten that out of the way, my first question:

How long can an IDE cabel be?
I was thinking of having the DVD-rom in a seperat box on top of my tv-table and the rest of the computer built in to the tabel. Anyone tried something like this?

 

[ASiDiE]

I just looked on newegg and found a 26 inch cable... if they sell it.. it must work. If you are going to do it with an IDE cable, I would suggest using the rounded cables. In fact, if I was going to do it... I would get an external USB enclosure like THIS one and going with a slim USB cable. Thats what I would do.

I just found that one on newegg very quickly, I am sure there are cheaper ones out there.

 

[marshall]

Hi.

Cables to go has 36-inch ones, which are the longest I recall having seen. Don't forget that drilling through the table is also a possibility for getting the shortest possible route.

Having built a PC into a table before, I have to suggest that maybe putting the drive under the table is a better option though, either with the drawer coming out from the edge, or cutting a slot in the tabletop and using a slot-loading DVD drive. Depends on the look you are going for.

Yeah, 2 wooden boxes and one table under the belt, so if you have any more questions, feel free.

 

[Loxuz]

I thought about using an usb drive, but they don't come cheep.
A nother reason why I want to use an internal drive is because I want to make "my own" design for the box.
(I want to mimic the tivoli hi-fi system).
And by using a usb drive I feel that this will be harder. I might be wrong...

 

[brainbone]

I thought about using an usb drive, but they don't come cheep.

You can purchase an external 5.25 USB 2.0 enclosure for ~$20.00 USD. Simply place your internal DVD-Rom in that enclosure.

If the plastic enclosure doesn't fit the look you're after, simply strip the guts and place it in a custom enclosure.

 

[Loxuz]

Weah, that could be a way to go.
But why not just build your own enclosure right from the start?

Anyway, I'll look a bit mor inn to it and se were it takes me

 

[brainbone]

why not just build your own enclosure right from the start?

Because with USB 2.0, you can go 15 feet with one, thin, cable. Also, the price of just a USB->IDE adapter is not much lower than the complete enclosure, and you get a nice little power supply with the enclosure.

Here's a cheap one, with ugly case you'll remove anyway:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817186103

 

[ohdarklord]

There was a guide on how to make a 5ft ide cable using cat 5 but the links dont work any more.

Heres a bit about it.
http://www.hackaday.com/entry/1234000413073474/


If you want to make your own enclosure yopu can buy usb to ide addapters that come with a psu just for the drive.