Feature or design flaw?

Funtoink63 · July 22, 2017

So I bought this external box for two 3.5in HDD and after opening it to see how the HDDs should be placed in, I see this:

They put a wide cable in front of a fan. It is connecting the board you see with front panel. It is routed through channel above the drive cage. I thought that maybe I could move it to side and glue it with double side tape or something and then when I take out the fan:

It is connected at the very top of pcb, so no moving around.

Also, the fan is blows air out of the box, not inside which was a surprise to me as I thought it was supposed to blow cold air inside,

What do you guys think, it's a "feature" or a design flaw?

MadModder · July 22, 2017

A bit of both I think. It doesn't look like they left much slack in the cable, but I can't really see the whole thing. I personally would try to move it, but I'm a bit OCD about cables and cooling. Is that for an IDE drive?

Funtoink63 · July 22, 2017

3 minutes ago, MadModder said:

A bit of both I think. It doesn't look like they left much slack in the cable,

I wish they used 2 sets of wires (1. for buttons, 2. for diodes) instead of one wide wire that covers 70% of the fan.

3 minutes ago, MadModder said:

I personally would try to move it,

I can't, It is pretty much the "exact" length that is needed to connect pcb and the front panel. It's like the old 40pin IDE cable.

3 minutes ago, MadModder said:

Is that for an IDE drive?

It is a USB3 box for SATA HDDs.

MadModder · July 22, 2017

Yeah it's odd that they chose to use a ribbon cable. That's why I asked if it was for an IDE drive. You just don't see them much anymore. Probably not a huge factor for cooling, as long as there is "some" air moving through the cage.