Suspending a hard drive - how to tie the knot?

[EPAstor]

Hey everyone,

I took much advice from these forums and SPCR in general in building my newest computer - and I'm thrilled. My specs are below, and I hope in general they pass muster. The one component in which I let my desire for speed get past my ideal of a quiet computer a bit is the 74GB Western Digital Raptor.

In general, this isn't much of a problem... even the seek noise honestly isn't bad in the course of casual use, since I have music playing most of the time. The problem, though, comes when I'm not using the computer and the scheduled virus run comes along. Or, for that matter, when I want to run a defragmenter. It's really not bad then, either - but the rest is silent enough that this has become annoying.

To my point, then: I decided that suspending the HD probably wasn't a bad idea. I've bought two rolls of 1.8mm Stretch Magic (cheap), and found several ways to run the cord for suspension, both vertically through the 3.5" cage and horizontally in the free 5.25" bays in my SLK3000B. Now I've found a new problem: how are all of you tying the Stretch Magic while keeping the proper tension on it? I've looked into possible knots, but those I've found are either too difficult under tension or fail on the slightly slippery Stretch Magic.

Cooling-wise, there are actually 4 120mm Nexus fans in this system: the processor's fan, the video card's fan, the rear exhaust fan, and the front intake fan. The intake fan forces air over the Raptor, so I'd like to suspend it vertically in the 3.5" bay if possible.

I'd be happy to hear any suggestions or ideas! Thanks very much.

Specs:
Antec SLK3000B
Athlon 64 3200+
Thermalright XP120 heatsink
Seasonic S12 430W power supply (slightly overpowered, I know)
Gigabyte passive-cooled X800XL (with a Nexus 120mm fan suspended on elastic blowing against its top)
MSI K8N-Neo4 Platinum (northbridge heatsink replaced by a Zalman heatsink, with a few fins taken off via hacksaw/pliers)
2GB of Corsair XMS CAS-2 DDR3200 RAM
Optical drives: NEC 3520A DVD+/-RW & a Samsung DVD/CD-RW combo drive (supposed to be the quiet one, but discovered the NEC is quieter)
Hard drives: 74GB Raptor and a 300GB external Maxtor OneTouch II ("suspended" with two strips of Stretch Magic between it and the stand)

[tay]

Try this thread.[/url]

[KnightRT]

I ran into the same problem.

I have a Seagate 200 GB suspended in the bottom 5.25" bay, positioned conventionally, with 1.8mm Stretch Magic.

My solution was to cut an extended length of SM, put both ends together, and then push the loop end through the various holes as necessary to form a suspension just like that already a part of my Antec P150.

Then I made a basic knot to hold the two cable ends together and supply some size, and threaded it through the tight Stretch Magic on one side of the drive bay. There is no direct tension on the knot, and it's not about to pull itself through.

To counter the power cable tension pulling from the back, I left in the two rear drive screws in, attached to nothing, but pushing against the Stretch Magic running under the drive.

This is not an OEM-worthy solution, but it's as least as sturdy as the pre-existing rubber straps. The drive hasn't shifted at all in a month.

------

To mount vertically, I'd leave all four drive screws in (with flanges) and play around with the cabling scheme. A basic knot/friction system as above will still work to keep it secure.

DI

[EPAstor]

tay: Thank you for being polite... searching more than cursorily on these forums probably would have been a good idea.

I'm going to have to try out a few of the ideas around here... I'll post what works for me later, since I figure one more opinion can't hurt!

[Felger Carbon]

I've bought two rolls of 1.8mm Stretch Magic (cheap), and found several ways to run the cord for suspension, both vertically through the 3.5" cage and horizontally in the free 5.25" bays in my SLK3000B. Now I've found a new problem: how are all of you tying the Stretch Magic while keeping the proper tension on it? I've looked into possible knots, but those I've found are either too difficult under tension or fail on the slightly slippery Stretch Magic.

If you will look on the back of the cardboard package SM came in, it shows how to tie the knot. If you tossed the package out, Google "using Stretch Magic" and look at the first hit.

[EPAstor]

Well, that would work... *slaps forehead* Thanks!