dvd drive hidden storage

i turned an old computer dvd drive into storage. its a good use of an old drive, and it's a great hiding spot.

Step 1 Open. cut.

take apart the entire drive. you'll only need the outer metal case, the cd tray, the thing the tray slides in, and the faceplate. dremel off the front of the piece the tray slides in, and cut a big rectangle into the cd tray.

Comments

[TragicSnowfall]

I wouldn't plug in the IDE or SATA cable. All you need is the power.

[srhadaham]

i havnt seen a sound card like that in forever i could really put that to good use : )

[shmuki]

hehehe i have one of those =]

[gernig]

 I like all the ideas of this and its a great place for flashdrives. I saw this and right away made one in lil under an hour. Mine has a sandwich bag holding, not as good as your tin holder but it was all i had at 4 in the morning.

[shmuki]

its a good idea, but if someone breaks in theyll take your computer anyway

[becktaro]

I'm thinking that this was meant as more of a hiding place for "secret stuff" instead of valuable stuff... if you know what i mean...

[godfreyandthandi]

hehe pron...

[gernig]

hehe comp viruses

[zachninme]

Nice! As for hiding valubles inside, why not plug this in to a old broken computer and rip it apart. Leave the case open, take out half the components, but leave the power supply. No thief would think of stealing it. As long as the drive has power, you should be able to open it... Or, I guess, you could just insert a pin in that tiny hole ;\...

[santy22]

you mean like takig a mid tower, filling its bays with CD drives, then power it with no motherboar or anything else? SWEET

[PyroMonger]

this is a great idea but i would personally want it to be more "007ish" so i would install a mini actuator inside the housing and make it remote controlled. that way i could access items at the touch of a button and there is no risk of accidental opening by nudging the drive because the actuator will hold it shut so not even the paperclip would work.

[zipykido]

Does anybody know how to disable the automatic close on drives? I think you could easily modify this idea into a cupholder.

[nitrox027]

just hold the drive half way open and half way closed till the motor auto shuts off then it is disabled untill u hit the botton

[jongscx]

I think you may be able to do that and still have the drive function as an optical reader... since all you're doing is making the middle hole bigger...

[killerjackalope]

well for that you only need a working drive (working open/close) and a program to control your drive, can't remember what site but pretty sure it's freeware you can get however putting the cup in the tray should be enough to stop it closing...

[berky93]

i think his idea is to not have the drive powered, and you have to pull it open manually with a paperclip.

[Golem]

I like the recycling/reuse of the aluminum tray. You could redirect the heat from the CPU and GPU heat sinks to use it as a warming tray for munchies. Another PC storage place is that useless media bay in HP computers. Put a few shelves in it and a lock on the bay door.

[SHAKIRALOVER]

To improve this you could relocate the PC power switch into here.... and/or add a fingerprint scanner.

[zachninme]

Great idea! I may write an instructable on relocating the power switch somewhere secluded...

[AgentDanny]

here are some.Foot switch.

im sure you could make a much cheaper one though.

[0.775volts]

well, it's still a nice storage space. the metal made me think of it as an ash tray, for which this would also work well.

[robacarp]

be careful....you dont want to smoke out your processor ;-)

[zachninme]

How could smoke damage your processor when it is encased in a heatsink?

[origamimavin]

it actually dosent get hot at all. even when the computer is on all day. i pretty much was making it with the mindset of hiding things from a parent rather than hiding it from a robber ;)

[cemetz]

Now I know where to look when my kids try to hide things from me. Thanks.

[santy22]

oh man, we are bust'd!

[Stormed]

My computer case came with a compartment just that size and looks almost exactly like a design set into the computer so you can hide your own w/e inside. Although with a cd/dvd drive it might be able to double as a CD compartment to store your old cds. I'm not at all worried about any crooks taking my computer though. The things weighs in about 30-40 pounds and to NOT hear the guy with that around is hard.

[Scurl!]

you'd be surprised.

[Stormed]

*cough* I forgot to mention that I also set up a trap system for those touching my computer when I'm away xD(paintball guns and some tinkering ^_). Gives em a nice sting ;p.

[spinach_dip]

neat idea. however, if you are trying to hide something from crooks and LEOs, I'd be willing to bet they might steal/seize the computer too. aside from that, under the right circumstances this could come in real handy

[kickslop]

Indeed. Storing valuables INSIDE something valuable and often stolen... not that great an idea ;) But kudos for doing it and making an instructable!

[Ian01]

Just lock up the computer.

[Apples]

psh, that things a beast. there are much more valuable things that weigh 1/10 as much

[santy22]

Also you can use your old, beige, heavy ugly compuer for that! that would blow my mind off!

[TheCheese9921]

I spent way to much on my drives also I agree with spinach dip a crook would go for a computer over a beat up copy of a crappy book

[austin]

i need both my drive slots for burning and ripping quickly but on an old pc this would be kinda neat, for now im gonna stick with my hollowed out book.

[antirem]

heh, sweet idea

[Ghondi]

Good idea. I'll try this when I build a desktop(have and use a laptop now..), I already have plenty of busted drives..lol. If you wanna make it look as it would go with the computer, use a busted drive the same color, or paint it that color...that would be even better.