Hanging Hard Drives

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Personally I really like this hanging hard drive concept, it keeps your external hard drive up and out of the way and it seems like it would be fairly practical. Take a look at these pics and tell me what you think. Do you like it or not?
 
About six months ago, I was looking for something like this. I would for sure buy something like...
 
I like it, but I personally don't think I'd use it. I have enough laptop hdd space so I rarely use my external, but for people who do I can see this.

This may be good for things like EEE pc's and the like.
 
Meh, it's a good concept but I don't see it's use, especially with the new led displays which are brittle and thin or the displays with very small borders. Secondly, you have to deal with the fact that you have two bright leds distracting you.
 
There's a difference between concept and reality. Concept looks great and functional, but in reality most laptop screens are not at 90º so the HD weight would pull up the screen.
 
It sure looks purdy.

The thing looks like it has no ventilation of any kind though.
 
Looks pretty cool, but no room on my desk to hang anything with the 21 in sun crt i 'borrowed' from the server room. I would much rather see a keyboard with room for 2 hdd under it. ooooo thats what we need, eSATA keyboards!
 
Am I the only one here who sees the flaw in the plan? The weight of the drive will tip the laptop screen or the entire unit back. Also the hinges on lappies bearly stand up to the abuse they get where I work (granted that includes some people who can't take care of themselves let alone any computer equipment). This will cause the screen them to fall apart even sooner. If it was built to take it and the weight was worked out so they didn't tip then happy days, but I think that would need the system builders (HP/Dells of this world) to get involved.

IMO :D
 
I can forsee people ringing up Tech support saying their screen is cracked and getting laughed out of the place when they ask for an inwarranty repair if they've used that thing
 
It is OK, but I have a tablet. So, it won't work for me. I'd like to see notebooks come with some sort of industry standard mounting solution for things like this. Something like rails on an assualt rifle. You can mount anything to those. :D
 
No thanks, my desk works just fine for holding my external drive.
 
Looks TOTALLY practical, I love it!

It can be made to hang very gently on the back of the screen with foam or rubber contact points. You shouldn't HAVE to use it, but if you are like me, and usually just leave your laptop on your desk as a desktop replacement, this shouldn't cause any undue stress on the screen. Just remove it if you are going to be walking around or using your laptop on your bed while the kids run around...
 
Stoly said:
There's a difference between concept and reality. Concept looks great and functional, but in reality most laptop screens are not at 90º so the HD weight would pull up the screen.
Click to expand...

This was the first thing that popped into my head. If the screen is just at a small angle wouldnt the hard drive sloooowly keep pulling it down and you would have to keep readjusting it? Also, agreed with the other poster about the flashing LED's; that would be incredibly distracting and annoying.
 
perhaps if it latched all sides of the screen somehow? this setup is just too flimsy
 
Here's an idea... saw someone else do this with their Asus G1

Put some velcro on your laptop lid, down lower closer to the hinges, and some on a hard drive. Now your hard drive sticks to your laptop. Probably stays there all the time. Weight is not a problem anymore, and you only spend a couple dollars.

Of course you end up with some sticky stuff on your electronics, but it's not like it's going to wear them out faster or anything. Just a matter of looks at that point.
 
I did something similar to this w/ a 4-way USB hub. I used the 3M dual lock type strips that just kind of push together (unlike velcro's hooking system). It worked great as I could pull the lid towards me to plug stuff in and never worried about it hanging out the back. When I ditched the laptop, the stuff removed w/o any sticky mess (not quite sure how 3M does it).

I imagine if you could figure out the best spot for the hard drive, it could stay on the lid w/o too much wear and tear w/o pulling on the hinges. Just hope the velcro holds and you don't drop your precious hard drive on the ground. Can't wait till huge SSD drives are cheap enough for this use. :)
 
1. What happens when the hinge, which isn't designed for this starts to weaken?
2. I can think of so many accidents that would fling my HD and possibly the laptop tethered to it.
 
i dunno it seems like more work to me... instead of plugging it in and sitting it behind the laptop... you have to go through the effort of clipping it onto your laptop every time... if i bought one.. i can after a short while i'd end up sitting on the desk anyways... nice idea.. but i don't think id actually use it..
 
i can imagine after a short while i'd end up sitting it on the desk anyways

erg that sentence was all wrong before ;)

and would the weight affect the hinges??
 
Stoly said:
There's a difference between concept and reality. Concept looks great and functional, but in reality most laptop screens are not at 90º so the HD weight would pull up the screen.
Click to expand...

I'm thinking that too. My laptop screen is inclined about, oh, maybe 130-135 degrees (assuming closed is 0 degrees). If the drive's heavy, it'll try and pull my laptop open 180 degrees.
 
I was weee close to puting velcro on the bottom of my EEE screen (near the hinges) and on my exHD. 2.5 are so light and that low on the screen they dont affect anything. I taped it there one day to see if it would hold, but Im kinda not wanting velcro on my EEE.... If it could atach at the bottom just above the hinges centered in the middle it would be great! And you cant just leave it on the table becuase sometimes you have to go mobile. EEEs with a handband are great for going and doing inventory. Just walk around and plug away. Cheaper than some options and all you do is put in a USB stick or transfer over WiFi. No syncing PDAs to deal with. I bought mine because Im in the Army and it fits in my cargo pocket (great for health and wellness checks lol). I use it athome as a mobile base station. Usually the EEE is enough when I go out to fix a compy but I like to take my external HDD if I need to back up their computer than scan it with mine while I fix theirs.
 
Monkey God said:
looks like a broken harddrive waiting to happen
Click to expand...

Yeah. I won't even use those standing external drives (I've already seen a few broken ones owned by other people). If a HDD is not laying flat on the desk, it is a dead HDD waiting to happen.
 
Yeah, I don't want a weight hanging off the top of my laptop's screen. I will continue to put my external drives on the desk.
 
At my desk I have a docking station connected to a 22" widescreen monitor, keyboard and a 500gb WD MyBook, along with network cables and my toy USB rocket launcher. When I get to my desk, I just dock the lappy and fire up the docking station and be on my merry way.

This hanging drive would actually get in the way more than not.
 
Personally I think the HD would be more pratically placed INSIDE the notebook. Thats where mines kept.
 
Good God, you're not hanging a brick from your screen! How much can a 2.5" HDD weigh? If your screen can't handle the little weight of a notebook HDD then you need a new laptop. I would agree with the screen angle thing though. Rarely does anyone have their screen at 90 degrees.
 
I'm sold. I buy quality laptops at work, and this would compliment them well. Props for the short USB cable too, I don't like clutter.
 
Though I like the idea and the renders make it look all the more enticing, my laptop experiences have the screen at angles greater than 90 degrees. The weight of such a thing I fear would make the hinges wear out more than normal use.

But from the renderings where you rotate the hooks, how about making the hooks rotate in different directions so one hook is in the front and one hook is at the back, then instead of hanging it on your laptop screen, it turns into a stand. A vertical standing external drive has a smaller footprint than a flatly lying external.

Though I guess it defeats the purpose of having an external while having your laptop on your lap.

Other than that, I dig the velcro idea.
 
I dunno about putting it on my laptop, but I could definitely see using it on a LCD screen that's part of a docking station setup.

My friend has a docking station for his Lenovo. I'm going to see what he thinks of it.
 
kuyaglen said:
The weight of such a thing I fear would make the hinges wear out more than normal use.
Click to expand...

THIS. When I said break, I didn't mean like it would crack the darn screen or something... It's just putting way too much wear and tear on the hinges.
 
personally, i would advise against this. ive delt with many weak-hinged laptops (especially gateways) and this seems like another way to weight it down. I do see a benefit, though, for some laptops with good hinges, like the macbook pro or any lenovo, and this would be great for flights and such. but for the average user, this could definitely damage their hinges. also, be wary of the clumsy of us who who close our lid and swing our laptops into our cases, only to feel your heart drop as you hear your hdd crashing across the room...
 
Nah, I don't really see myself ever needing one of those. I suppose the concept is cool and might be useful for people who actually use their laptop on their - lap - but still, even so, it seems like more trouble than it's worth. I'd fear it falling off of the hanging piece or something.
 
elektronisch said:
Because in some situations your lap is your "table".. like on the train/plane/car/etc.

:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

I'm not too sure about that. It's one thing we're complaining about weight when it's on your desk, but when it's on your lap jostling about, you would constantly have to pull your screen back up again.

I don't think this hanging drive would be ideal when using laptops on moving surfaces. Thumb drives are best for that.
 
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