hiding ide's

[leprosy]

any ideas on where to hide ide cables good? ive seen the method of just cutting and taping to make it circular but i was wondering what you guys had in mind, or what methods you have used to hide them.

[xmastree]

I saw one photo (on here somewhere) with the drives turned round, such that the connectors are behind the front panel.

[Cagedconnerman]

i think that'd cause an issue with most ide cables, but in my case i took the ribbon and cut every 3rd wire, then taped it all together and put it inside some wire loom. just gotta cut between the actual wire where theres a small indent, i'll post a link to where i got the instructions in a minute.

little tip: if u accidentally cut into the wire itself, start from the other side and finish that cut, then just tape over the spot with some electrical tape.

edit: http://www.gruntville.com/howtos/rounded_cables/

[Bucko]

I bought some round, braided IDE cables at my local Computer shop for less than $10 each.

[progbuddy]

i think that'd cause an issue with most ide cables, but in my case i took the ribbon and cut every 3rd wire, then taped it all together and put it inside some wire loom. just gotta cut between the actual wire where theres a small indent, i'll post a link to where i got the instructions in a minute.

little tip: if u accidentally cut into the wire itself, start from the other side and finish that cut, then just tape over the spot with some electrical tape.

edit: http://www.gruntville.com/howtos/rounded_cables/

I did that, but I didn't shred the cable into pieces. I just folded it into thirds and taped it over.

[.Maleficus.]

I cut a little slit every few wires, and slowly ripped them down the middle. Then I stuffed them inside some split loom. Since the ends are big, and the ugly greyish-piss color still showed, I just took some black electrical tape and taped up the end.

[luciusad2004]

IF you dont have any split loom you can also use zip ties to keep them togethor. In the end it really doesnt look all that bad and it maintains a decent amount of flexibility. It makes them much easier to manage than split loom but split loom looks better.

Another option that doesnt involve cutting the cables is to just try to tuck them in places out of the way. What i try to do is run them along flat surfaces. Try not to twist them when changing direction but instead fold them so they stay flat. It's much more difficult to manage them than it would be if you rounded them. Sorry if that didnt make any sence im haveing a hard time explaing how you would want to fold them.

[leprosy]

ok, thank you, ill try turning the hd's around that seems like a good idea, anybody remember what the post was?

[wingman358]

Standard ribbon IDE cables are incredibly flexible. I typically buy the longer ones so I have plenty of slack. It might seem counter-intuitive to buy longer cables, but if you try it you'll see what I mean. Some good places to hide IDE cables are behind the mobo itself, the other side of the case (if it has a door/panel on the other side), and behind the hard drive/5.25" drive cages.

Here are two of my cases with some cable management:
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/4678/computerred0068zl.th.jpg (http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=computerred0068zl.jpg)
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/6776/computer0044ii.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=computer0044ii.jpg)

[armadilloben]

Standard ribbon IDE cables are incredibly flexible. I typically buy the longer ones so I have plenty of slack. It might seem counter-intuitive to buy longer cables, but if you try it you'll see what I mean. Some good places to hide IDE cables are behind the mobo itself, the other side of the case (if it has a door/panel on the other side), and behind the hard drive/5.25" drive cages.

Here are two of my cases with some cable management:
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/4678/computerred0068zl.th.jpg (http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=computerred0068zl.jpg)
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/6776/computer0044ii.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=computer0044ii.jpg)

wingman gj on ure managament i have a thermaltake armor and i hide all of the spaghetti behind the mobo try there are these lil slots in the corner were they all go through

are you running 3 gfx cards!?!?!?

[Nagoshi]

If I take a closer look... yes, it seems like he runs 3 video cards. One 3D video card, and two "standard" PCI video card. What are these three screens for? :P

[wingman358]

Well, that picture is from a while ago - about 6 months. I just wanted to see how many screens I could hook up. I got 4 hooked up (2 in 1 AGP, 2 in separate PCI), but I couldn't find the freakin' power cable for my 4th monitor so I really only had 3 working. You can see the 3 I had working below.

http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/244/computerred0015wt.th.jpg (http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=computerred0015wt.jpg)

[intergalacticman]

Standard ribbon IDE cables are incredibly flexible. I typically buy the longer ones so I have plenty of slack. It might seem counter-intuitive to buy longer cables, but if you try it you'll see what I mean. Some good places to hide IDE cables are behind the mobo itself, the other side of the case (if it has a door/panel on the other side), and behind the hard drive/5.25" drive cages.

Here are two of my cases with some cable management:
http://img219.imageshack.us/img219/4678/computerred0068zl.th.jpg (http://img219.imageshack.us/my.php?image=computerred0068zl.jpg)
http://img216.imageshack.us/img216/6776/computer0044ii.th.jpg (http://img216.imageshack.us/my.php?image=computer0044ii.jpg)

nice case, i like that most of the components are matching red

but ive tried all those ide cable management tricks and my favorite is to twist tie them together and stuff them behind the 5 1/4 and 3 1/2 drive bays

[Drew]

I still prefer the bought round cables.

If you get flash ones (maybe UV reactive) they can make a nice feature (esp, if you make sure all of the plugs are used).

And does anyone know if rounded floppy cables are avaliable with just one floppy connector on? I can only find ones with a: and b: connectors... I only got one floppy drive and have to try to hide the b: connector. Not good.

Sorry bout the hi-jack, I'll be gone in a minute or two...

[xmastree]

And does anyone know if rounded floppy cables are avaliable with just one floppy connector on?A pair of scissors soon sorts that little problem out.
Especially if the header is near enough to the drive to allow you to cut off the untwisted section of the cable.

[Drew]

Cool, I didn't want to go chopping up my cables, find the MoBo going spazzy and end up needing to get another one to use my floppy (oo-err).

Cheers Crimbotree :D

[xmastree]

Just remember that the plug for A: is after the twisted section. This means that the plug for B: is a direct pin - pin duplicate of the motherboard plug.
If you're not sure, try the cable using the end plug in the drive, and the middle one in the board, before cutting it.
If it reaches, and it works, you're good to go ahead and cut it.

[b4i7]

ive got a single connection floppy cable that is rounded...so they do exist....

[moon111]

I'm using black flat ribbon cables and find they're very easy to hide. Just like intergalacticman has done. Also, I've folded mine to make 90 degree turns. Because the cables are so narrow, they fit between my drive cages etc. Rounded cable would have to be left in the open.