Floppy drive vs faceplate: suggestions?

June 17, 2004 4:31 PM

I'm in need of putting a somewhat nonstandard 3.5" floppy drive -- this one, a combo floppy plus flash memory reader -- into a Dell Dimension 4600 case. The problem is that there are only two options for faceplates for the 3.5" bay in the Dimension 4600, one that's solid and one that is solid save for the slim slot for the floppy drive (meaning that it will cover up the flash slots, and probably won't line up with the floppy slot at that). (You can see this here.)

Anyone have any ideas? I've already called Dell, and they don't offer any other solutions.
posted by delfuego to computers & internet (9 comments total)

X-acto knife.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 4:43 PM on June 17, 2004

I had the same kind of problem and ended up putting a slim usb floppy inside the machine (because the slim floppy could line up with the frame's hole). Luckily their motherboard had usb plugs on the inside, with extensions, so there were no external wires.

An external usb floppy would probably be easiest though.
posted by holloway at 4:49 PM on June 17, 2004

You could get a 5 1/4" adaptor and put it in the free CD-ROM bay. It'll be kind a ugly, but it should work fine.
posted by boaz at 5:09 PM on June 17, 2004

It seems like you could just forgo the faceplate entirely, but I'm guessing the floppy drive sticks out so it can meet the curved faceplate. Still, it should work even if it looks funky.

The only other option is slicing/dremeling a solid faceplate like mr_crash_davis said.
posted by O9scar at 5:20 PM on June 17, 2004

I have a dremel tool. Mark out what you want cut & send it to me...
posted by five fresh fish at 5:28 PM on June 17, 2004

i bought it a few weeks ago, so i'm looking for useful things to do with it...!
posted by five fresh fish at 5:28 PM on June 17, 2004

Interesting idea about dremelling it; the problem may be that the drive sits quite a bit behind the floppy faceplace, and the faceplate's cutout for the floppy slot serves as sort of a tunnel back to the slot in the drive. So if you cut out the full rectangle for the combo drive, there'll just be a hole in the faceplace, and then an inch or two back will be the actual drive, with nothing but air in between.

I wonder if I could get the drive to sit more forward than it is otherwise supposed to?

I also wonder if this case is an OEM made by someone else, with another, Dell-logoed front cover on it; if so, then that other person probably has alternate faceplates that might have the option for what I need! Hmmmm.....
posted by delfuego at 5:59 PM on June 17, 2004

I also have lots of epoxy, JB Weld, sculpey, whatever. I could rig it up so that it has a real aluminum sleeve all the way back!

Gahd. How pathetic. I need to go buy a block of wood and just go nuts sculpting it.
posted by five fresh fish at 9:47 PM on June 17, 2004

They made IDE to USB adaptors like this little guy here. They also make these in a case that you can just put on top of your minitower.
posted by skallas at 10:46 PM on June 17, 2004