Help me reorganize my case/drives and add front USB! (with pics)

[nebula]

This all started when I decided that I wanted front USB ports. I have an extra header on the mobo and I have a backplane USB connector, the type that goes on the back and is attached to a slot on the case. I didn't want to buy one of those USB brackets that fits in a 3.5" bay, but rather mod the one I have already, sort of a little project. I'm thinking of cutting two holes in either a 5.25" or a 3.5" panel cover and mounting the USB ports to it. I hardly ever need the floppy drive and I've succesfully made a Win98 boot floppy on CD (if needed for flashing) so I was going to take out the floppy as I'm running out of bays.

Front
Front Open
Side

I did these quickly so I didn't resize them and I wanted to add some text for clarity, but here's how my drives go on the side pic:
CD-ROM
CDRW
120gb
floppy
60gb
80gb

Here's what I've thought of so far:
1) ditch the floppy and mount the USB there
2) ditch the floppy, move the 120gb down and put USB in 5.25" bay
3) ditch the CD-ROM, put USB there

I guess I could really live with only one optical drive too and I'm going to add a DVDRW eventually.

Recommendations/thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[beatle]

Keep in mind if you ever have a motherboard with an onboard SATA or RAID controller that requires drivers when installing Windows, you'll need that floppy. Unfortunately Microsoft hasn't gotten it through their heads that people would much rather have a cd for this.

As for modding, how about option 4? Keep the floppy, mount the usb ports in the 2nd 3.5" bay. This way you'll still have a floppy for those installs and other must-have moments and you won't have to move anything around. Make sure the wires attached to the usb bracket are long enough to run all the way up to the front of the case. They're often just long enough to plug into the mb and fasten the bracket to an empty expansion slot. GL!

 

[SpeedFreak03]

How about buying a front panel thing that is 5.25'' but has a HDD mount on it?

-Josh

 

[mechBgon]

Originally posted by: SpeedFreak03
How about buying a front panel thing that is 5.25'' but has a HDD mount on it?

-Josh

Yeah, Antec makes one called an EasyUSB that's about $10-$15 and you can probably pick one up at your local CompUSA if you want to see it firsthand. EasyUSB

 

[DJMiX]

I had my dlink 4 usb hub lying around so I got a old 5.25 slot and hack it away.
If Hated it I could remove it and not destroy my case.
I really like the lights that show up at night here are 2 pics,

case1case2

 

[nebula]

Originally posted by: mechBgon

Originally posted by: SpeedFreak03
How about buying a front panel thing that is 5.25'' but has a HDD mount on it?

-Josh

Yeah, Antec makes one called an EasyUSB that's about $10-$15 and you can probably pick one up at your local CompUSA if you want to see it firsthand. EasyUSB

That's neat but I just wanted to avoid spending any money since I have stuff lying around. But I haven't decided yet. Sometimes when I get an idea that's all it ends up being, I never actually do it. The more I think about it, I may just pick up one of those.