2.5 inch HDDs in Expansion Card Slot

[CAT-THE-FIFTH]

Looks a good idea to me:

http://www.techpowerup.com/94325/Nov...ard_Slots.html

Cooling would be the only concern though.

[Funkstar]

for a 2.5" drive? I wouldn't worry about cooling.

Perhaps if you put one of the new SAS Velociraptors in there, but a regular 2.5" drive only draws ~500mA, and SSDs don't get hot do they?

I like the idea though

[scaryjim]

Woot - great idea with SSDs coming down in price every day. Shame about the price though - around £30 on top of the cost of the drive is a bit steep...

[kalniel]

Nice idea. Are there any cases with 2.5 bays yet?

[shaithis]

With SSD capacities rocketing and prices plummeting, I cannot see a long-term need for these.

I am sure it won't be long before cases come with an abundance of 2.5" drive slots and a lot of RIAD-style cages appear that convert multiple 3.5" and 5.25" drive bays to 2.5"


Really looking forward to the day when there are no noisy, hot and (relatively) bulky drives in my PC

[scaryjim]

I'd think it's more likely that drive manufacturers will start packaging SSDs in 3.5" cases, no? Then they can charge a premium for 2.5" sized drives! That's what I'd do, anyway...

[kalniel]

I'd think it's more likely that drive manufacturers will start packaging SSDs in 3.5" cases, no?

No. Primary market for SSDs is laptops, which make up more than 50% of PC sales anyway, so no point designing for the minority.

[scaryjim]

Primary market for SSDs is laptops

While this is true currently, do you not think, as SSD capacities increase and prices drop, they are going to become more prevalent in the desktop and enterprise markets? Assuming this does happen, it would make more sense for SSD manufacturers to design into that market than to expect that market to adapt to a new hard drive standard...

[david@scan]

I rather like this one - as it's a bit easier to get to the front then the rear bay:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Jou-J...-single-35-Bay)

[kalniel]

While this is true currently, do you not think, as SSD capacities increase and prices drop, they are going to become more prevalent in the desktop and enterprise markets?

Yes.

Assuming this does happen, it would make more sense for SSD manufacturers to design into that market than to expect that market to adapt to a new hard drive standard...

No.

Desktop PCs are all about adaption to new standards. As long as you can fit a 2.5 drive into a 3.5 bay using a bracket then they'll continue to be 2.5 - it happened for the switch from 5.25 to 3.5, so I don't see why it won't happen from 3.5 to 2.5. We just need some forward-looking case manufacturers to start including 2.5 mounting bays.

[kalniel]

i rather like this one - as it's a bit easier to get to the front then the rear bay:

http://www.scan.co.uk/products/jou-j...-single-35-bay)

404?

Ah, needs the ) in the url!

Correct link:

http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Jou-J...single-35-Bay)

That looks neat. Do want

[Funkstar]

This is also very cool (4x 2.5" in 1x 5.25"):
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/RakMa...-inc-2x4cm-fan

Or indeed this (8x 2.5" in 2x 5.25"):
http://www.scan.co.uk/Products/Super...tswap-SAS-Rack

[kalniel]

And at some point we'll end up paying more for the bracket than the hard drive...

[scaryjim]

Oooh, I do like the 8x2.5 hotswap. Shame it's about 3 times the cost of most cases I'd consider buying