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When I built my PC, I put a multi-format flash card reader in the external 3.5" bay.

However, I recently upgraded my monitor, and my new monitor has a card reader built in as well.

I'm tired of having 8 "removable disks" on my machine when I really only ever use one, so I'm planning to ditch the card reader I have in my tower.

However, I don't have the original cover for the bay, and I'd like to fill the hole with something useful or cool. I considered using an old floppy drive, but I know I won't ever use it, plus I don't want to clutter up my case with another big ribbon cable.

What are some things I could buy to use up that slot?

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Sounds like it would be pretty subjective – random♦ Aug 9 '09 at 5:41
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Added the subjective tag, but I think it's a valid question, I'm looking for ideas more than "which is the BEST product/brand" – TM. Aug 9 '09 at 5:44
Should be Community Wiki. – MiffTheFox Aug 9 '09 at 5:55
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@MiffTheFox: Why? – musicfreak Aug 9 '09 at 6:48
No, it isn't about the best in breed. In that case, consider using the slot for hard candy. – random♦ Aug 9 '09 at 8:49
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8 Answers

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I have a DataPort 25 in my 3.5" bay. It holds 2 laptop sized hard drives nicely. Your motherboard can RAID them if it supports it. Perhaps mirroring SSD drives and using that as your OS root would be a good use for it.

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up vote 7 down vote

Cassette deck (http://plusdeck.co.kr/eng/2c.html), or the EZ-Bake oven (http://www.thinkgeek.com/stuff/41/ezbake.shtml). Although I think they may both be for 5.25" drives.

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+1 Useless, but made me laugh :-) – ldigas Aug 13 '09 at 17:05
I like the "Business Hour" with an email address on the cassette tape site. Does he only accept email during business hours? Business Hour 10:00 ~ 17:00 (Monday to Friday, Korean Local Time, GMT+09:00, Seoul) (Lunch Break: 12:00~13:30) – Larry Aug 29 '09 at 2:18
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up vote 6 down vote

USB hub.

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up vote 1 down vote

Depending ont he location of the slot, I like to have open slots above and/or below my DVD burner because I've had it get so hot on consecutive burns that I'd get servo failure errors. I tape a piece of frabric over the open slot to keep bugs and dust from getting in.

You can get fan controllers for a slot like this that allow you to monitor CPU/component tempuratures on an LCD read out and adjust fan speeds with knobs.

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up vote 1 down vote

Think about putting in a fan control unit like this one. Those are made for 3.5" slots.

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up vote 1 down vote

No real SuperUser would be without:

http://www.crazypc.com/products/8177.html

The always popular Cigarette Lighter mod!

Oh wait. You said 3.5 bay. This only comes in 5.25.

I am sure you can mod it to fit. Give you a place to plug in your iPod charger.

Can't find it right off hand but someone makes a small spring loaded drawer that fits into a 3.5 bay. It is handy for keeping keys for desk drawers or drive cabinets.

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up vote 0 down vote

My computer at work only has 2 bays for hard drives, but I recently received a 3rd. So I pulled out the floppy drive and the hard drive stick out so I couldn't put the cover back on either)It looks... unique... having a hard drive poking out the front of the case.

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up vote 0 down vote

USB / Firewire ports. You can never have too many, especially on the front.

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