I need some cleaner looking SATA connectors

[berthez]

Hey guys, I'm stuggeling with messy cable management issues for the home server I recently put together. If any of you got a brilliant idea of how to fix this problem I would be a very happy man, I won't move the harddrives any further appart because I will need the space underneath them for new harddrives in the future.
The 2.5" harddrives will eventually be removed and replaced by 2TB drives from Western Digital and an SSD. I think the 2.5" drives is causing 30% of the bad cable management, and the braided powercables is causing 70%.

I just think it could looked a little bit better.

Link to rig gallery: http://forum.overclock3d.net/showthread.php?t=51910

 

[airdeano]

velco the 2.5" drives to the back of the motherboard tray. thatll relieve that knot
of cabling easy enough.

 

[jamesriley94]

What about flipping the drives round so the connectors are at the front end? Then route everything round the back to the front.

Won't be able to see anything then.

Can't be done in some cases, but it's worth a try.

 

[SeekaX]

velco the 2.5" drives to the back of the motherboard tray. thatll relieve that knot
of cabling easy enough.

wtf mate, i hear so often from people using velcro. i mean cmon, it's velcro, why would i want that in my rig. it's like that short time solution that really should be fixed soon, just with the exception that people stick with the velcro for a long time.

 

[Timeless]

Get other SATA cables? I know DeLock has cables from 10cm to a meter with connectors in every possible direction. Maybe other brands have them too but it was the first time I saw left and right SATA connectors.

 

[berthez]

Thanks for the reply lads!

velco the 2.5" drives to the back of the motherboard tray. thatll relieve that knot
of cabling easy enough.

I could do that, just need some sort of flat sata power connectors, the ones I have is L shaped and will just pop right out of the harddrive if I velco'd it to the motherboard tray. I will look more into this option tho.

What about flipping the drives round so the connectors are at the front end? Then route everything round the back to the front.

That was the first thing I tried when I build this rig, problem is that its to tight for the cables to be fitted that way and I'll end up damaging the connectors and I wont be able to fit a fan to cool down the harddrives. I will take a closer look into something like your idea, maybe turn the harddrive cage 90*, that way I may have a lot more space for the cables to be hidden. The design of the harddrive cage is also preventing me from turning around the 3.5" hdd, you can see that there is a big part of the HDD sticking out where the connectors are, that will smash right into the front of my case if I decide to turn it around, because there is only 1 way to screw the hdd in right so it dont swobbles around like something you would have on your cars dashboard, lol.

Cheers!

Get other SATA cables? I know DeLock has cables from 10cm to a meter with connectors in every possible direction. Maybe other brands have them too but it was the first time I saw left and right SATA connectors.

Thanks for the advice, but I do think that I just have to turn the harddrive cage 90* now to hide the cables, there is just no way it will look radically cleaner with angled sata connectors. I just dont see it being a lot cleaner if Id put them in. I will try to see if there is a way to turn around the harddrive cage, but I think the 3.5" will be a tight fit, I hope it will work.:huh:

 

[SeekaX]

Get other SATA cables? I know DeLock has cables from 10cm to a meter with connectors in every possible direction. Maybe other brands have them too but it was the first time I saw left and right SATA connectors.

those 90° to the side cables are so stupid. at least those i have. the bent side doesnt fit in the harddrive because the sata power cable blocks it.

 

[airdeano]

wtf mate, i hear so often from people using velcro. i mean cmon, it's velcro, why would i want that in my rig. it's like that short time solution that really should be fixed soon, just with the exception that people stick with the velcro for a long time.

its sorta like some people cannot mechanically attach a device so a solution
could be the use of velro. simply peel backing off of the pieces and attach to
clean surfaces.
this can be a short-time or long-time solution. depends on the ability of the
installer.. even assuming they own or can operate power tools i have found
is numbing.

im glad you wouldnt use velcro in your rig, but the OP hasn't disclosed their
mechanically ability so for now, yes velcro.

 

[berthez]

The final solution was to mount the harddrive to the top of my case. Its a perfect fit, and the only place I could put the harddrive unfortunatly (without having the cable management to look like a jungle) but I think it turned out just fine.

There was no way to turn the harddrive cage around 90° with the tools I currently have.

^Final results

^Harddrive screwed in here

 

[Snortan]

That's actually quite ingenious and looks good. Does it make more noise than before or it isn't a noisy drive?

 

[SavageCupcake]

Great idea there mate Only thing i would be worried about is noise/ vibrations?

 

[berthez]

I screwed the harddrive very tight in place so I woudnt get to much noise/ vibrations, so there is not a notable difference in increased noise from the computer, I can't notice any noise from the harddrive really. Its the stock intel cooler that makes all the noise to be honest with ya