Ableton Forum

Hi guys,

nothing that special, but i thought i share a solution for dragging around an external 2.5" HD with your laptop.
i use an external 2.5" HD permanently for storing audio files, etc. and got tired that it always flew around or if i moved the laptop i needed another hand to move the drive with it and a little extra space to place it next to the laptop, and because i use my computer a hell lot on the road for work i pretty much always had this problem, which annoyed me a lot, until i had this idea:

i went to an ordinary DIY store and bought large self adhesive strong velcro strap, that costs me 3 euro.

sticked one side onto my MBP front and the other to the back of the external 2.5" inch HD enclosure. now i can attache the HD to my computer and it "creates" one solid unit, now i only need one hand and can move and place the laptop quickly wherever i want and only need the 'standard' space the computer itself requires... plus i don't get tangled up somewhere with the USB cable either... my external HD is always with me. it's fantastic, easy and simple yet so useful!

here are some pics, feel free to adapt if you think you can make as much use and joy out of it as i do.

tip of the day bump.

that's a great idea functionally... but i don't know if i could bring myself to put velcro on the back of a macbook pro.

^^^ he? a fucking computer is just a tool to work with, just like a hammer to put a nail into a wall, at least for me.

and no i am not rich and a MBP costs a hell lot of money, but still it's just a tool to get work done. nothing else.

SubFunk wrote:^^^ he? a fucking computer is just a tool to work with, just like a hammer to put a nail into a wall, at least for me.

and no i am not rich and a MBP costs a hell lot of money, but still it's just a tool to get work done. nothing else.

God damn truth!

It's all hammers and tool until you try and resell it and the black sweater wearing guy won't pay a decent price for it because of a giant discolored square on the back

timothyallan wrote:It's all hammers and tool until you try and resell it and the black sweater wearing guy won't pay a decent price for it because of a giant discolored square on the back

jeez you are a bad sells man. i take 200 euros more for the exclusive black square, which makes your tracks produced in ableton with THAT MBP sound way better.

that is so cool, I will do that as well! thanks for sharing!

In america we have this stuff called "goo be gone" best stuff ever for removing sticky stuff without messing up painted surfaces.

BAD IDEA.

you dont want any unnecessary weight on a laptop bezel. If your velcro gets a bit stickier than usual and you have to add a little extra force to pull it off, you can flex the screen damaging the lcd, the hinges (the weak spot on most laptops) and the ribbon cables.

This is from someone who deals with a lot of damaged laptops.

adventurepants_ wrote:BAD IDEA.

you dont want any unnecessary weight on a laptop bezel. If your velcro gets a bit stickier than usual and you have to add a little extra force to pull it off, you can flex the screen damaging the lcd, the hinges (the weak spot on most laptops) and the ribbon cables.

This is from someone who deals with a lot of damaged laptops.

then just don't do it

and to the other poster, stuff like that is OK, here in europe the best we have is called Tacosil, removes ANYthing without a damage, except from plastic screens, there you need to be carefull.

but i want remove it anyway, it would lower the value.

SubFunk wrote:

adventurepants_ wrote:BAD IDEA.

you dont want any unnecessary weight on a laptop bezel. If your velcro gets a bit stickier than usual and you have to add a little extra force to pull it off, you can flex the screen damaging the lcd, the hinges (the weak spot on most laptops) and the ribbon cables.

This is from someone who deals with a lot of damaged laptops.

then just don't do it

i wouldnt. just adding a different voice that owners of expensive laptops might want to consider.

adventurepants_ wrote:

SubFunk wrote:

adventurepants_ wrote:BAD IDEA.

you dont want any unnecessary weight on a laptop bezel. If your velcro gets a bit stickier than usual and you have to add a little extra force to pull it off, you can flex the screen damaging the lcd, the hinges (the weak spot on most laptops) and the ribbon cables.

This is from someone who deals with a lot of damaged laptops.

then just don't do it

i wouldnt. just adding a different voice that owners of expensive laptops might want to consider.

expensive or not, it's a damn tool, not my baby or girlfriend, and if the hinge can't deal with 200gr. of weight, then it's an utter peace of crap, which i don't believe, knowing what this bugger already went through in terms of physical strain... it's a working horse and i treat it like that.

P.S. i would not do that with our Dell laptops we have at work, which feel like wonky shit. those hinges can't barely hold themselfs, i agree.
but i would do it with a lenovo or ibm... or something else that feels solid.

SubFunk wrote:
expensive or not, it's a damn tool, not my baby or girlfriend, and if the hinge can't deal with 200gr. of weight, then it's an utter peace of crap, which i don't believe, knowing what this bugger already went through in terms of physical strain... it's a working horse and i treat it like that.

P.S. i would not do that with our Dell laptops we have at work, which feel like wonky shit. those hinges can't barely hold themselfs, i agree.

were you bitten by a Dell as a child?

the problem isnt the weight, its the flex stress put on the panel if it gets sticky, and extra twisting force is used to pull it off. Ive seen the results.

^^^ no, i am bitten by windows everyday at work and therefor being the biggest windows hater you ever can imagine, could shoot people on the street carrying a PC, no joke. (yeah i know i am an agressive MF )

any PC i had in my hand sucked.

it's just we have dells at work, 7 laptops, 7 desktops and one HP and they are all crap.

10 of those maschines are audio / work only, the rest are office use. and we have daily headaches with them, but my boss is stupid.
i have to admit, though... that our problem is that still loads of companies only support windows, like motorola, sennheiser, BSS, digico... yamaha, if you need the PM1D editor (the rest those fuckers supply in OSX, Grrrr...)

you could use bootcamp, hey... only if those bastards would not still use dinosaur RS232 ports for some of there shit.

i am in contact with most of them, giving them all the time shit to supply us with OSX versions, (our comapny has a certain power / reputation, so people do listen) but i could so far only seriously convince DB, a german high class PA system, the new distro, system they bring (dveloped with RME!) out will be OSX. hey they need to meyers galilleo is OSX, and that is the one to beat, not rubbish soundweb, which still requires a RS232 port Midas new digi consoles for example are based on OSX and yes they are the best, not just because it's midas (preamps!!!) but because of being based on OSX and because they developed there own AES50 (AC/DC Worldtour anyone?), the digico is based on windows and the SD7 is a pile of shite, great console, if not the standard windows error messages would come through the system every now and then... WTF? another reason i am a windows hater. those consoles are in the 80.000 to 180.000 euro range depending on specs. and there failure is based on windows!

sorry to go so far... but i do have my reasons, same with the HD mounted on my lappy back, it's work, whatever works to make my life easy and get the job done and SAVE time and headaches is welcome...