Unique harddrive in 2 case question

kick53rv3

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Jul 21, 2010
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18,510
so i have these 2 computers i want to boot up and run at the same time, i have a monitor/keyboard/mouse splitter to use for both computers... and heres the complicated part, one of the computers (an old prebuilt hp pc) can't be taken part while the harddrive slots were ripped out by my dad and threw away, the rest of the parts should still be functional, i was wondering if i have a harddrive mounted in the other pc, can i just stretch a ide and power cable to connect to it? as i assumed the location of the harddrive don't really matter to the pc, is there any other complications i should look into? such as sticking a cable into another case, or is there any way to boot a computer externally with that ide harddrive?
 

striker410

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Umm, I don't see why it would be an issue. However, you'd need a LONG cable to do that. Also you might run into dust issues since the air would be intaking through the open side. Not very healthy, but should work.

And what I would do is just stick the HDD on top of the case. might rattle around a little, but it would work.
If you wanna stick with your original plan, put the HDD in the drive cage of the PC that has it. Use a connector from THAT power supply. That leaves you to only have to deal with the IDE cable.

Best of luck with your unique project!
 

kick53rv3

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Jul 21, 2010
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18,510
thank you for the quick response, i was thinking about leaving it out in the top or maybe on the bottom of the case? still inside the case but on the metal parts on the bottom, how significant would the rattling be in terms of drive life and all that?

i was thinking of putting them in opposide directions so 2 opening sides face each other, I already use open case for both (i have pretty cheap cases that doesn't cool very well so i decided to leave open air flow with case open) so that way the cable length should be less of a problem?
 

striker410

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I don't know, as I can't see your PC's. Position them whichever way is most convenient. Not sure how bad the rattling would be, depends on the drive. You could wrap some rubber bands around the drive (only like 2 thin ones) so that the case contacts the rubber, not the HDD. Just my thoughts.