6. PROPUESTA DE COLABORACIÓN INTERINSTITUCIONAL
6.5 Requisitos para una colaboración exitosa
When most people think of “hardware hacking,” case mods come to mind. Fans of custom computer case modifications have become a huge community in the past few years. In fact, the community, once a small underground group of artistically inclined hackers, has become so large that there are numerous mail-order outlets in which to buy case mod supplies! This chapter is one of two (see Chapter 5, Macintosh, for the other) in this book that focuses on case mods.
Case modding is the ultimate in personalization and expression. Just as many people consider tat- toos or piercing to be “body art”, case mods can most definitely be considered “computer art.”There are different categories of mods you can do. We list the more common ones here:
■ Painting Adding a custom paint job to your creation
■ Case Windows Creating “windows” in the case using Plexiglas and edge molding.
■ Case and Drive Lighting Custom light creations using LEDs and cold cathode lights.
■ Power Supply Modifications of the power supply unit to add a shutdown timer, change
fans, or add some artistic features.
■ Cable Management Adding decorative braided sleeves or rerouting cables in some custom
or unique fashion.
■ Airflow Management Modifying the case and internal components to allow for increased
(or decreased) airflow through the system by using various sized fans, fan grills, and fan fil- ters.
■ Case Silencing Reducing noise of the system by using noise reduction padding or fan
speed controllers
There are hundreds, if not thousands, of Web sites dedicated to case modifications and which serve as showcases and galleries for hardware hackers to show off their latest creations. Some Web resources are listed here:
■ Mini-motherboards mini-itx.com, www.mini-itx.com
■ The Ultimate Computer Case Mod Web site www.thebestcasescenario.com
■ PimpRig: Smack Ya Rig Up! www.pimprig.com
■ Lucent Rigs www.lucentrigs.com
www.syngress.com
84 Chapter 4 • Terabyte FireWire Hard Drive
Terabyte FireWire Hard Drive • Chapter 4 85
Creating a 1.2TB FireWire RAID
The concept for this project started out with me wondering how much hard drive space I would need to hold all my music and video files. Because I could not anticipate my future needs, it became a contest of how much storage I could stuff into one box. With 200GB drives being the largest I could afford, and with the case that I planned to use holding only four drives, this put my drive at 800GB. Although this amount of storage is vast and impressive, it was dangerously close to the coveted 1 ter- abyte barrier—the Holy Grail of computer nerds. I wasn’t the first to create such a large array, but I was possibly the first home user to do so. One TB is considered a major milestone for computer owners, just as the sound barrier was for aviators before Chuck Yeager exceeded it.
The answer to my dilemma came in the form of backplanes that held three 3.5-inch drives in the space of two 5.25-inch drive bays. With six drives, the total capacity was catapulted to 1.2 TB.The subsequent Slashdotting on September 24, 2003 (http://slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=03/09/24/ 1755201&mode=thread&tid=137&tid=198) and the 3.5 million hits on my Web page that followed it carved my name into the online hall of Übernerds.
Preparing for the Hack
This hack requires a substantial commitment of funding. High-capacity hard drives are currently pretty expensive, but even without the drives, the case and remaining electronics for the hack in this chapter run over $600. Also, prepare to spend a significant amount of time fabricating and hacking components to get them to fit in the case. Soldering skills are optional, and lack of fear is a must. Table 4.1 shows the components required for the project.The necessary tools are listed in Table 4.2.
Even though these lists of parts and tools seem rather specific, all are quite common and generic in nature and can be easily found online.The industrial parts and tools are also commonly found at any hardware store.
Table 4.1
Required Components for the Custom Terabyte HackComponent Notes
Generic four-bay SCSI case with power supply Available at many computer stores Six identical IDE hard drives As large capacity as you can afford Three dual-drive FireWire-to-IDE bridges
Two three-bay IDE backplanes
FireWire hub To fit in the SCSI-1 mount on the case
www.syngress.com
Table 4.1
Required Components for the Custom Terabyte HackComponent Notes
Three FireWire cables, six-pin 6-inch length Two fans, 80 x 80 x 15mm PanaFlow FBA08T12L Two fans, 80 x 80 x 25.5mm PanaFlow FBA08A12L1A Four 80mm wire fan grilles
Three Molex Y power adapters
Three 12-inch round IDE cables Master and slave 12 3/4-inch standoffs Plastic or metal
12 1-inch screws #4/40
E6000 industrial glue Available at TAP Plastics, www.tapplastics.com
Heat-shrink tubing 3/32 inch
Table 4.2
Required Tools for the Custom Terabyte HackTool Notes
Phillips head screwdriver Wire cutters
Sheet-metal shears
Half round bastard file Coarse file for metal Soldering iron and solder
Tap and drill set #4/40
Drill press Heat gun