Ask Slashdot: Clever Cable Management? 374
sooth... writes "What clever ways have network administrators found to cleanly sort varying length patch cables within IDFs, BDFs, and MDFs or simply wiring closets? Pictures or examples are welcome."
Since not everyone is a network administrator, let's expand this to include efficient or clever management of other cables. How do you route your computer cables (internal or external), your entertainment center cables, or any other corded setup?
Pastels! We need pastels! (Score:2, Informative)
Well, the obvious choice are different cable colors. This is easy to get with Ethernet cables. Another trick I did is buy a label writer and label both ends of a cable (by wrapping the label around the wire so it is a little "banner"). I do this for my power supplies, so I see which plug belongs in which device on top of the table, and which power supply I have to unplug (particularly useful if you have several hard disks from the same manufacturer, or ones where the power supply comes from a completely different company).
Also, I have a roll of velcro that I use to group together cables.
Re:Cheap cable ties (Score:5, Informative)
"In more permanent setups, plastic non-reusable cable ties are an even cheaper alternative"
There has to be a law somewhere in the lines of "the more permanent you think it's going to be your setup, the more times you'll need to reorder it".
In other words, there's no such a thing as a "permanent setup". Unless you are a sociopath don't make the one that follows to hate you and use velcro.
There's also something I'm surprised no one mentioned yet: self signaling cables. They can be color coded and their core glass fiber (well, plastic) makes a breeze to find end points:
http://www.patchsee.com/ [patchsee.com]
toilet paper rolls (Score:4, Informative)
Re:Pastels! We need pastels! (Score:4, Informative)
Google the make/model of your hard drive and "TVS diode".
In most cases you can remove the hard drive from the external case, find that diode on the drive itself (near the connector), clip it off with flush cutters, and you're good to go for drive recovery.
Just make absolutely sure you use the right power supply after removing the TVS.