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If there are pins on the mother board to support USB connections, you usually get a cable (or similar) to bring those ports out the front or the back of the case.
BUT what are you supposed to do with Port 5 on a USB card? There is no USB 'A' Male to back-plate converter and the effort to wire something up for yourself is time better spent griping about the problem.
This is a higher level of ingenuity than How to Use a Phantom USB Port #1 (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Use-a-Phantom-USB-Port-1/ ) because we are going to use that extra port to set up a pair of hot-swapable hard drives.
BUT what are you supposed to do with Port 5 on a USB card? There is no USB 'A' Male to back-plate converter and the effort to wire something up for yourself is time better spent griping about the problem.
This is a higher level of ingenuity than How to Use a Phantom USB Port #1 (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-Use-a-Phantom-USB-Port-1/ ) because we are going to use that extra port to set up a pair of hot-swapable hard drives.
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Signing UpStep 1What You Need:
$03.25 - 1 IDE/SATA/Mini IDE to USB adaptor*
$10.68 - 1 SATA HDD Mounting Rack
$00.00 - 1 IDE Rack with Cartridge. I priced this as $0.00 because I have them all over the place.
*Because of the fixed wiring on the SATA Rack, the extra cables here will not be needed. When searching for these adaptors (eBay is sometimes your friend), you may find some that include power supplies with Molex style power output. Don't touch them! . When I started out using these adaptors I bought three power supplies to suit. All three supplies were dodgy and one of them destroyed my "Terabyte" drive. If you decide you like these adaptors and want to use them for connecting external items, dig out an old AT supply to power up your drives.
$10.68 - 1 SATA HDD Mounting Rack
$00.00 - 1 IDE Rack with Cartridge. I priced this as $0.00 because I have them all over the place.
*Because of the fixed wiring on the SATA Rack, the extra cables here will not be needed. When searching for these adaptors (eBay is sometimes your friend), you may find some that include power supplies with Molex style power output. Don't touch them! . When I started out using these adaptors I bought three power supplies to suit. All three supplies were dodgy and one of them destroyed my "Terabyte" drive. If you decide you like these adaptors and want to use them for connecting external items, dig out an old AT supply to power up your drives.
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As the case has nine drive bays, I have plenty of room to implement two SATA/IDE combinations and one space left over for either a floppy drive or a floppy-drive-sized card reader (without any drivers, of course).
The other advantage of using the USB is the ability to connect drives that are larger than the BIOS can handle.
Mic
Format, and install a "backup OS".
If your primary ever dies, switch the bios to "boot from usb" and off you go!
If you're desperate, you could use a FAST usb drive, and just call it an internal ReadyBoost upgrade. No more trying to figure out which of your thumbdrives contains the documents for work, and which makes your windows go faster.
I read it now. sorry, I use "www.instructables.com/tag/type-id/?sort=RECENT" for instructables, so #1 came AFTER #2.
I'd like to put forward a NEW use for that port then.
Nothing says "I love my Computer" like wootlights spinning away inside the case. 25 points to the first team that makes the wootlights turn on and off with the arrival and termination of a woot-off.
And for those select brave few, I give you HIGH VOLTAGE INSIDE THE CASE.
Finally, If you want a case mod, but want it useful, why not add a whole nother screen!
Who needs a silly android tablet or iPad? now you can bring 7 inches of touch screen joy to your desktop case!