Mounting a hard drive inside console

[ppentertainments]

I am wondering how everyone mounts their harddrive inside the console - or any other place.

At present mine is held on with velcro :eek: . Not ideal but so far has been ok and allows easy removal from the console to update. I have tried looking for brackets etc. to no avail.

What do you use ? Must be easy to remove to update.

[A1DL]

I was looking at this for a customer recently whom wanted a rackmount solution to use in conjunction with a DN_HD2500

The only range of rackmount drives I could find was the Glyph:
http://www.glyphtech.com/products/2u.html

The drives, quality & build appear to be superb, however all these drives are firewire interface, which is not supported by the Denon Media Players (being USB only)

Attaching a plastic cased domestic hard drive from Maplin or Cash Converters with velcro, elastic bands, glue or tape isn't a consideration, neither is budget, the spec for this job was a top end rackmount solution with redundancy, to be provided in a shockrack.

[Vectis]

1. Take a 1U shelf
2. Take an off-the-shelf plastic or aluminium-cased 3.5" powered HDD ideally one with a fan or a clear heat exhaust route.
3. Wrap a piece of foam rubber (like you get on the back of carpets) around the drive caddy making sure there's enough ventilation.
4. Take a strip of mild steel and using a vice create two brackets - one to cover the drive (and rubber) side to side and the other front to rear
5. Bolt the brackets to the 1U shelf encompassing the drive caddy drilling the shelf if necessary to provide mounts.

Job done, for about a tenner. Plus the drive of course.

[Paul S]

Hi,

I use an old 1U server case that I bought from ebay for a tenner, which now has two removable HDD racks in the front. I then have an empty caddy on my computer that I can put them in to update the tracks.

If you've got the space in your flight case it makes sure they don't move about.

Cheers

Paul

[Solitaire Events Ltd]

Is it a must to have the drive in the case? Why not just have the USB cable loose and plug in every booking, putting the drive on your stand or whatever?

[ppentertainments]

Is it a must to have the drive in the case? Why not just have the USB cable loose and plug in every booking, putting the drive on your stand or whatever?

Not neccesary, just at the moment all I need to do is plug 2 xlr sockets into amp 1 plug to mains and thats it all set up. In the rack I have cortex, cd decks and controller and karaoke/dvd player all encased. The main problem is mounting the hard drive in a way I can remove it easily.

At the end of the day I probably will leave it loose, as you suggested, like what I used to, just wondering if anyone had any 'bright ideas':)

[Vectis]

I have an old 3.5" drive mounted in the console as above with a snapshot of my tunes library which I probably update once a year at most. This is just a fallback drive and I rarely access it... but it's there if needed.

Then a portable 2.5" drive gets connected temporarily on a flying lead during the gig - this is updated more regularly.

And in my pocket a 4GB memory stick with any gig-specific tunes or maybe this week's new top 40 tracks that I haven't got round to merging onto the HDD yet.

[blitz]

how about hard mounting the drive and fitting a panel mount usb conection on the case so you just plug your pc or laptop into that to up date the hard drive.
thats what i do for my denon hd2500 with one of these http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?ModuleNo=219901

[Shakermaker Promotions]

Mine is a bodge job but it is secure and never needs to come out. It's secured in the case with gaffa tape!! It's all over the housing of the HD and it won't move at all. The only time I unplug the usb lead is when I am updating the HD and connecting it to the Denon software on my other laptop. Ok, loads of people will probably have a moan about it but it's all ok for me. Once I duplicate the HD, the other one will be seperate in a case as backup and put on in the back or to the side at every gig.

[A1DL]

It appears from the above posts that there is no perfect solution to this, with DIY options being in abundance.

I'm no computer expert, but did wonder if there was a firewire to USB converter/adapter which would enable the Glyph drives to be used with an HD2500, or if there was a USB equivalent of the Glyph from anotehr manufacturer that anyone knows of?

[rob1963]

My hard drive is contained within an ipod, and my console has a neat little carpeted slot at the front which it drops into & where it sits on it's side.

Job done!

[ppentertainments]

It appears from the above posts that there is no perfect solution to this, with DIY options being in abundance.


Seems to be the case !
I wonder with the digital dj becoming ever more popular if there could be a market for this. I am suprised no manufacturer has came up with a device to mount 2 ordinary hard drives into a 1u slot where the hard drives were easily removed to update. 1 hard drive to use and the second ready for back up (sorry we have to leave the backup at home don't we :D :D )

If only I was more technically minded :(

[ppentertainments]

My hard drive is contained within an ipod, and my console has a neat little carpeted slot at the front which it drops into & where it sits on it's side.

Job done!

Do you charge extra for that :D :p :D

[rob1963]

Do you charge extra for that :D :p :D

Of course!

I tell customers that they don't HAVE to have it, but if they want any music, then it will be required...and will cost an extra tenner!

:D :D :D