Help with cable sizes...

[Kitrax]

OK, so I'm starting to design a custom case that places ALL the drives at least 5 feet from the motherboard and the PSU. Actually getting the cables isn't the problem, since I'll be splicing them together and then covering them with cusom sheathing.

My question is: How long can the cables run without running into problems...like longer seek times for the HDD, and other stuff like that. The cables that I need to exten up to 5 feet will be the power, SATA, IDE, floppy, fan controller cables, and a few USB cables.

Thanks.

 

[Matthias99]

I believe IDE is specced for 24", and maybe 36" for ATA100/133 (with 80-conductor cables, etc.) "at least" five feet is probably pushing it. Standard SATA cables are 1m; I'm not sure if longer ones wil work.

If you want to use drives that far away, hook them up via FireWire or USB with enclosures. I know HighPoint (I think it's them) makes "external SATA" controllers; you might want to look into those.

 

[Zepper]

Actually the spec for IDE cables is still 18" for both 40- and 80-wire - I have seen longer but that is strictly YMMV. You will not be able to extend them that far unless you run them over Firewire or USB 2 (2nd choice). I don't know the spec on SATA, but I would hazard a guess that they would have trouble too at that kind of distance on normal cables - shielded SATA cables might work but I haven't seen any. Perhaps you could rig a notebook drive to fit in with your mobo to act as a boot and OS drive (notebook to 3.5" adapter available at compgeeks.com) and run the rest over FireWire...
.bh.

 

[Kitrax]

Hmmm....I didn't think of using an enclosure and convert them to USB. That would actually help me out since all the cables for all the drives must fit through a 3.5" tube before entering the mobo section of the "case"...wich is turing out to be more of a piece of art. I'll have to cut up some old USB cables and modify them so they can hook up to the internal USB stand-offs. :thumbsup:

 

[Chaotic42]

I use two 36" IDE cables that both have two drives on them. No problems here.

YMMV.

 

[Kitrax]

I just ran into another problem....I want to attempt the Hard Drive Window mod! But that would be useless unless I could find a clear enclosure, or at least one that has a big window on top.


Does anyone here know where to find a all clear enclosure or one with a window in it big enough to be effective to see the HDD window?

Also, I wouldn't be able to use a RAID 0 array if I use a USB external encosure will I?

 

[Terumo]

You'll want some type of external NAS storage. Longer the cable the less throughput you'll get and 5ft is a long transverse for a data cable -- just like with USB lengths. Plus more chances in interference (something you don't want in a RAID setup, more read/write errors).

If you have the money, this would be ideal....
http://www.adaptec.com/worldwi...Storage%2fSnap+Servers

In extended lengths fiber optic NAS storage is best (and FO drives can be found on eBay at fairly cheap rates on small drives). It's again, the controller card that costs in that setup. But it's sweet.