Part Recommendations

[BigAl01]

I have lots of 5.25" bay devices that are either left over from past builds, or are still new in their plastic sleeves.  I'm talking about things like optical drives (I used to install two in each computer so I could make backup copies of my music CDs), fan controllers and maybe memory card readers.  Present day it is most difficult to find a case that supports bay devices.  I do have a few older cases that I've modified in some way (My Lian-Li-X3D has a modded 120mm fan taking up 3 bay drive slots), but even things like fans are being controlled by smart devices that also run the RGB effects of your fans and they mount to the back of your motherboard.  Cooler Master used to make sound meters / HDD activity / and other devices for the old 5.25" bay.  I have a few of those too.  

So, what should I do with these?  I can't just toss them.  I can continue to store them for a while I suppose.  But that's not an optimal solution.  Do you have one?

This 2013 build (LAN Box) has an AMD 6-core Phenom II CPU and two bay devices - A Cooler Master fan controller and an optical drive.

[ajlueke]

They still see regular use.  I back up all my Blu-ray and 4K discs on my system, because I enjoy watching with KODI as opposed to swapping the discs out all the time.

[BigAl01]

Do you have any bay devices just sitting in your stock of parts?

[ajlueke]

I do.  There are still a few floppy drives in there that I used to use for BIOS updates.

[Vynski]

YES!  Just added 4 more today.

[jaandoh]

I have an old DAT drive somewhere, I'm not sure if 5.25 or 3.5 size, I kept it for using as a backup medium. But my last case the Noctis 450 didn't have any external facing slot for it. 

So it's going obsolete (if not already) in a box somewhere lol

[BigAl01]

I still have two or three of the Zip drives - where the cartridge held 100 MB I believe.  That was a big step up from the floppy drives (even the double-sided / double-density ones).  

Maybe someone should build a retro computer, one with the bay device slots filled up useless things, but internally it would run a modern CPU / GPU / RAM / storage.  A sort of sleeper machine.

[Ashellus9]

I take them to a local repair shop that recycles, sells used systems/parts, and uses them for repairs. Sometimes the county I'm in will have drop-off sites for old PC stuff too, but it's rare now.

[cpurpe91]

I have a DVD drive that I may include in the build I want to do for my mother, so she can watch whatever she wants, DVD or streaming. It might be a Bluray drive too. I will have to find it. That would be nice.

[BigAl01]

I have one external Blue-Ray player that I keep on the desk with my current 'main system'.  It's usually turned off though.  I could be playing music CD's like I used to, but instead I just stream Pandora.

[ajlueke]

Even if you don't do streaming music (like me), music CDs are pretty much a thing of the past.  You can get CD quality or higher digital versions of albums in .wav or .flac format from sites like Qobuz.  Zero reason to have the discs around these days.

[Axxemann]

Oddly enough, my car still has a CD player in it. 😛

[BigAl01]

Well, I do have a 4+1 speaker system in the garage with an old Technics receiver and a CD player.  I've been listening to CD's while raking the leaves these past few weeks.  When I wash & wax our cars (and my son's new 2023 Ford Bronco Sport Heritage), which takes a good 4-5 hours, I listen to music CDs.  We have several hundred of them and the same for albums - maybe 300 of them.   And yes, I do have a turntable.  It's one of the USB ones so I can record albums into iTunes.

[Axxemann]

Another fun fact: I have my Opa's Reel-To-reel tape player. No idea how to make it work, but it was the centrepiece of his home stereo system back in the 60s and 70s.

[BigAl01]

His tapes are likely brittle now and of poor quality.  I wonder if you can still buy a reel of blank recording tape?

[Axxemann]

My last optical drive went into the recycle pile when it stopped opening. I haven't had a 5.25 drive of any flavor in YEARS. I still like having lots of 3.5" bays in a case for all my deep file storage.

[Vynski]

I just collect dust with mine.😂

I see that @BigAl01 has a HAFF case.  I've been looking for a new case for my wife's machine for about 6 months now and almost purchased one of the HAFF boxes, but it was just too big for where it needed to fit.  For some time now I had noticed that she has been turning up her volume and I was concerned about her hearing since she is always on to me about mine being a little loud.  While she not at home a few days ago I went in to do some maintenance on her machine.  When pushed the power button I couldn't believe how loud that thing was, and I'm over 50% deaf and rarely wear my hearing aids.  If it was that loud to me, I new it was deafening to her.  Know wonder she was turning up the volume.

Well to shorten the story her new case arrived, a new NZXT with a 5.25 OSD.  That is the major requirement of her case since she has a ton of embroidery designs digitized on CD's / DVD's.  So today was the day she got the upgrade and she was very happy with how quiet it is.  Night and Day difference.

[mengelag]

What's a drive bay Al? lol

[Axxemann]

Come on, @mengelag you're not THAT young!

[mengelag]

I just liquidated cases before I went overseas. I have an open test bench I can fit some drives underneath, but all I have for cases now is the test bench with the 7800X3D/ 4090, a Fractal Torrent with a 12600K/ 6700XT, an empty Hyte Y60 and an ITX NR200p with a Ryzen 1700X/ 6500xt that still needs a CPU cooler... Tons of extra parts, but no old cases with drive bays lol