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Necron_99 · Mar 8, 2002, 12:07 PM

I want to add 2 more drive to my Dual800.
I currently have 4 drives installed.
The 2 on the built in IDE connection.
and 2 master drives on an ATA100 PCI card.
I can add two slave drives, but I need to secure them in the case.
I wish I could by that little 'H' clamp the first two drives use.
Anyone know of something I could buy??
Any ideas about homebuilding something out of sheetmetal.
I don't want to buy bigger drives instead.

dvd · Mar 8, 2002, 01:40 PM

hey do u know if its possible for me to install a harddrive where the zip drive supose to be?

rambo47 · Mar 8, 2002, 04:04 PM

An old Erector Set would have the perfect parts to do the install. Probably wouldn't take too much jostling around, but it would stand up to normal use.

If you're looking for the original bracket for stacking hard drives in PowerMacs, the part you're looking for is the "Stacked Rev.2 Vertical Hard Drive Bracket", Apple part # 076-0778. It came in the rev.2 Blue&White PowerMacs, but many were "liberated" when the machines went in for a service call or were factory upgraded. Tough to find.

Necron_99 · Mar 8, 2002, 04:18 PM

You can install a drive in the Zip bay.
If you don't mind it running at ATA33 speeds.
It's a slow bus.

petoria · Mar 8, 2002, 05:13 PM

You can install a drive in the Zip bay.
If you don't mind it running at ATA33 speeds.
It's a slow bus.

Couldn't you just instal the drive in the zip bay, but then hook it up to the ATA-100 PCI card?

l008com · Mar 13, 2002, 10:51 PM

Doubling up the drive on the bottom may cause the bottom layer ones to overheat. You can fit one in the zip bay (I fit a DVD ROM in mine) A place i also tough of it above the CD drive. These is alot of dead space right up there, with the help of erector, you could whip up a nice little framework up there. Throw in an extra fan to keep the air moving. Thats where i'd put them. You might have a problem powering all these drives though. Thats alot of juice, especially if their fast ones.

Paul S · Mar 14, 2002, 12:59 PM

Go to www.proline.com for the dual drive bracket. They sell it for $16.95. You can only fit it in the front or back bay, not the middle. The logic board power connection occupies the space directly above a hard drive installed in the middle. That gives you room for 5 drives across the bottom.

They also sell a kit that allows you to install a drive above the CD/DVD bay. You could get a longer IDE cable and install one above and one in the Zip bay, but using a ribbon cable connected to your card, not the Zip bus.

Proline also has power cable splitters.

I have 4 drives in my 933. 2 in the back and one each along the bottom of the front bays hooked up to a Sonnet card. I am likely going to buy another drive soon as a slave on one channel. To handle the heat issue, I went to www.startech.com and bought an additional fan. Select the parts link, then compute cooling. Search for "FANCASE" and it will bring up 2 options. I got the FANCASE (as opposed to FANCASE2). It was cheap and moves a ton of air.

They also have a hard drive fan, but don't get it. It's configured to fit on a drive that mounts from the side screw holes in a 5 1/4 bay. I got it and can't use it because the dual drive bracket doesn't have room for it and the bottom or original bracket mounts by the bottom, so the fan won't fit there either.

Nicholas Savage · Apr 1, 2002, 12:04 AM

Originally posted by dvd:
<STRONG>hey do u know if its possible for me to install a harddrive where the zip drive supose to be?</STRONG>

Don't ; They can overheat. Also, the controler board on the bottom of the hard disk ends up sitting quite close to the metal shielding.

Had one customer fry a drive that way.