Modifying the Sawtooth Case

macaddictmacaddict
Posted:
in Current Mac Hardware edited January 2014
Drooling over how cheap 24X CDRW drives are now (Lite-On has an IDE drive with Burnproof for $80 or so street), I was wondering just how feasible it would be to install a new drive chassis in place of the 3.5 inch tray for Zip drives etc. on the G4 Sawtooth design.



Looking at the mobo right now it seems that the CPU/HS is in the way of the drive, but perhaps I coud cut a hole up above the CD drive and move the RAM I have to the upper slots. The frong graphite panel looks to be removable and the bare aluminium cage would just look so retro-cool.



There is also plenty of room at the bottom where 3.5" drives would normally fit.



An even uglier idea would be to cut a whole in the top of the case and run some IDE cables and just have the IDE drive sit on top of the case attatched with some nice duct tape.

Comments

  • Reply 1 of 8
    noahjnoahj Posts: 4,503member
    Depends on your warranty. All of them are feasible, but ugly in their own way. Personally I went with the Firewire External, but it was a bit more than $89...
  • Reply 2 of 8
    macaddictmacaddict Posts: 1,055member
    My warrenty has long since expired anyway, so that's not really an issue.



    My biggest problem right now is that I can't seem to get the front graphite panel off the aluminium shell. It seems I need to get the handles off, but I don't think I have the right tool to fit and turn those weird bolts.
  • Reply 3 of 8
    ghost_user_nameghost_user_name Posts: 22,667member
    [quote]Originally posted by MacAddict:

    <strong>I don't think I have the right tool to fit and turn those weird bolts.</strong><hr></blockquote>



    Is it a torx screwdriver you need?
  • Reply 4 of 8
    emaneman Posts: 7,204member
    Why don't you either buy it and put it in a FireWire case? Or maybe put your DVD-ROM drive in a FireWire case?
  • Reply 5 of 8
    macaddictmacaddict Posts: 1,055member
    Because that would cost me an unnecessary extra $80.
  • Reply 6 of 8
    macaddictmacaddict Posts: 1,055member
    Seeing as my Dad isn't too hot on me cutting the frame of my $1000 computer, I think I might just feed a very long IDE cable through the 3.5" bay and kind of have an external internal drive, per se.



    Now my problem is how to configure the drives on the IDE bus. I have 2 hard drives and a DVD ROM drive. The two HD's (stock 10GB and 80GB Maxtor) have the stock drive in master and the additional one in slave config. Now, do I get a split IDE cable or what? Do CD drives need to be configured into master and slave configurations?
  • Reply 7 of 8
    burnburn Posts: 49member
    Already thought of that.



    Check the specs of IDE.. 18" my friend.
  • Reply 8 of 8
    macaddictmacaddict Posts: 1,055member
    So it's gonna dangle over the front of my case. Hmmm...this will be ugly.
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