VOGONS


First post, by Errius

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I have a case which is designed to always have a 3.5 floppy drive installed, so not only is there no blanking plate for the floppy bay, there is no way of attaching one even if it existed. I want to run this system with an empty floppy bay.

What I need is something shaped like a floppy drive, which can be screwed into the shelf like a floppy drive, but which presents a plain white surface to the outside of the case. Does something like this exist?

This system has no USB so a 3.5" USB port/card reader is no use.

ETA: the case in question is shown in this thread

Last edited by Errius on 2018-03-18, 22:13. Edited 1 time in total.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 2 of 10, by Errius

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That's how things are currently set up, but I keep forgetting that drive is disconnected, and keep putting floppies in there anyway. (The correct drive is in one of the 5.25" bays.) I want to get rid of it completely.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 3 of 10, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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You could fix a couple of short lengths of matchstick, vertically one either side, to act as a stopper / ledge and fit a suitable cover against those. Alternatively, Lian Li make screw in 3.5 alu bay covers (only in black / silver) which you could paint if needed.

Reply 4 of 10, by Errius

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It has to be strong enough to stop me putting a finger through it when I pick up the case. This is why I can't just cover the hole with tape.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 5 of 10, by PC Hoarder Patrol

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So something like these -

http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1298/cpa-01 … _Bay_Cover.html
http://www.frozencpu.com/products/1299/cpa-02 … _Bay_Cover.html

-might be more suitable

Reply 6 of 10, by Errius

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I have similar pieces (by Cooler Master) in my spares box, but they're just little too long and prevent the case cover from closing over them. That's what's so tricky. In most cases, the floppy drive projects through the case hole. Here, the case hole is smaller than the drive, and the drive sits behind the hole, not inside it. The blanking plate must have exactly the same dimensions as a floppy drive, with the screw holes in the same position as the floppy screw holes (1 inch from front, 4/20th of an inch from bottom.)

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 8 of 10, by Malvineous

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If the broken floppy isn't an option, maybe a 3.5" to 2.5" bay adapter could be used. You might be able to fit a 3.5" blanking plate from another case in there, then use the 2.5" adapter to press up against it and stop it from falling back inside the case.

Does it have to be a blank though? Because otherwise you could put a Zip drive there, an LS-120 drive, a 3.5" tape drive (e.g. Travan), or depending on the era, one of those cheap media bays that have memory card readers and USB ports on them.

Reply 9 of 10, by Errius

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This looks interesting:

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Lot-of-5-NEW-3-5-Fro … zMAAOSwKfVXH~ym

This system doesn't have infrared either but nobody uses IRDA anyway so there will be no confusion.

Is this too much voodoo?

Reply 10 of 10, by derSammler

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What about an LS-120 or Zip100 drive?

Apart from that, I never saw a case that doesn't allow using a cover instead of a drive. As long as there's a hole, there's a way to use a cover. You just need the correct one (which is the hardest part).