Hey you geeky type people
I'm replacing the hard drives in my computer with bigger ones which means I'll have 2 spare 500Gb drives that I want to put in caddies and use to watch films through my TV.

Can anyone recommend a good quality Hard Disk Caddy that won't make a ridiculously loud noise?

Thanks in advance
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:08, 7 replies, latest was 13 years ago)

The HDDs themselves will make the noise not the caddys.

(PsychoChomp, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:09, Reply)

Also do you have a media player attached to the TV already or will the "caddy" have to have that built in.

(PsychoChomp, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:11, Reply)

No, Im' just going to attach it with a USB cord, I don't need a media player.

(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:12, Reply)

What media player do you use and how is it connected to your network if at all

(PsychoChomp, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:14, Reply)

I don't use a media player
my TV can read .avi and .mkv and .mp4 files off a memory stick or external hard drive when connected via a USB cable.

So I'm gonna back up all my films onto a hard drive, connect it to the telly, and voila, watching films.

But I need to put the hard drive in a caddy to power it and give it USB connectivity.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:18, Reply)

Oh right. these are pretty cool
www.ebuyer.com/319953-startech-hard-drive-docking-station-satdock2u3gb
(PsychoChomp, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:22, Reply)

Hmmm, actually that is pretty cool
The only problem is that on the occasions I want to add things to one of the hard drives I'd have to move the whole thing over to my computer.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:24, Reply)

You'll have to do that anyway unless you get a NAS with a media player attachment.
Does your TV only accept USB or does it have an ethernet port?
(PsychoChomp, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:26, Reply)

It does have ethernet, but as I was saying to GOnz I'm not gonna be running cables from my router to anything on the other side of the fireplace.

(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:31, Reply)

If you can't run a cable, then you'll have to move the caddy to copy stuff.
Or get a caddy with wireless built in but they're shit on the whole.
(PsychoChomp, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:33, Reply)

What Gonz suggested is probably the best option for me at this stage.
But I'll think about getting a NAS or something if we ever move and get somewhere with carpets where I can hide cables.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:34, Reply)

True, that's the simplist solution so far.

(PsychoChomp, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:38, Reply)

Especially since a 500GB drive will happily contain pretty much everything I've ever downloaded.
And I'm gonna have 2.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:40, Reply)

If you want to lend me one, I can completely fill it up with movies/telly.
I got shitloads of stuff, just drop it off with me for a week and I'll leave it copy'n'pasting on my media pc. Just give me a ballpark of what kind of thing you like.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 17:06, Reply)

Trouble with that one is (a) it'll look ugly for a livingroom, and (b) the telly itself might not be able to see both hard drives like a normal computer.

( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:31, Reply)

Two of these and doing the hot-swap thing I said down there would be a good sollution... its not like you'd ever use more than one HD at a time anyway.
www.ebuyer.com/149272-extra-value-hard-drive-enclosure-black-sub3zw
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:32, Reply)

Sweet, your plan sounds ideal to me.
Thanks Gonz.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:33, Reply)

My pleasure =)
Just to make sure first though, they are desktop hard drives ain't they?
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:42, Reply)

yes, 3.5 inch SATA drives

(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:50, Reply)

Sweet, two of those puppies should do you good.
The light can be annoyingly bright if you've turned the lights off, so a bit of tape to diffuse the light would do the trick.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:59, Reply)

I think it'll look cool.

(PsychoChomp, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:32, Reply)

here you go
( Windy Pig I'm naturally quite suspicious about the moon., Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:09, Reply)

I believe Bill Murray has some in his shed

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:10, Reply)

wanker

(quintsy, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:10, Reply)

Read the post properly
now you look stupid
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:12, Reply)

No youn R

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:25, Reply)

What?

(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:34, Reply)

Bill Murray

(quintsy, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:10, Reply)

Wtn

( Naked Ape call me Caitlyn, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:11, Reply)

nooooooooooooooooooooooo...........!

(quintsy, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:12, Reply)

Fanny Sunnesson

(localboy purveyor of pisspoor puns, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:14, Reply)

Faldololz

( JeffTheDogFucker Can you dig it?, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:19, Reply)

The sound would be of the disks spinning up, not from the caddy/power itself. So you should be alright with any of them.
If you want some extra 'wow' factor, but would spend few quid more, then go for a "NAS" type, it'll plug into your rooter and everything can access it. Or you can get caddies with HDMI ports that essenchally do the job for you.

How are you plugging it into the telly?
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:16, Reply)

I don't want anyting like that as I'll have to run cables around my fireplace and it's a non starter
I just want to put my hard disk in a caddy and then plug the caddy into the telly via USB.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:18, Reply)

Cool, ok, this is how I'd do it.
I'd get one USB cable, run it behind the telly and let it loose into where you're planning to keep the media equipment. I'd then get two identical caddies (if they're laptop you can skip this bit) so the power sockets are the same, and run the power cable too behind it. Now you can hot-swap one disk for another when you want it. You might want to put some masking tape over the light too.

With the other caddie's powercable and USB cable, you can keep that attached to where-ever your computer is, so you can hot-swap on that end for loading content.

Forget all the extras like RAID, NAS and Media, go for cheap and one that looks right for your setup. Cheaper ones don't have coolants.
( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:28, Reply)

Also, I thought some caddies had fans that could be noisy?

(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:19, Reply)

A lot do have fans, some are open without.
But the HDDs will be noisier than both.
( Kroney, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:21, Reply)

Noted.
So which one should I get?
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:23, Reply)

The one Chompy linked to would be fine
but you're fundamentally just buying a SATA to USB adaptor, so you can't go too far wrong whatever you buy. I wouldn't spend more than fifty quid on one for this reason.
( Kroney, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:26, Reply)

I saw some on Amazon for about 15 20 quid, is that ludicrously cheap or perfectly reasonable?

(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:31, Reply)

I guess the expensive ones might, but I've never bought one with, and pretty much every hard drive I've ever had is in a caddy somewhere.

( G/PP 💩💩💩💩💩&#128, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:24, Reply)

I'm glad you are getting your problems solved here, Al.
I really am, but you've made this thread really dull.
( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:23, Reply)

I'd like to help you here tangles, I really would, you're a nice guy
but it's just that you're so shit it makes me want to stab myself in the ears with a pencil.
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:25, Reply)

Mum? Is that you?

( tangledupinblue hairy badge with moving eyes, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:26, Reply)

She can't talk right now
I'm keeping her mouth busy
(Bazongaloid, Wed 24 Oct 2012, 16:32, Reply)