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Hiding an external drive on an iMac

carbontune

carbontune

macrumors member
Original poster
Sep 11, 2018
89
17
United Kingdom
For those who have external drives connected to their iMacs, how are you (if at all) hiding those drives? I've seen one suggestion on the Internet whereby some hook and loop tape is used to stick the drive onto the back of the display stand of the iMac.

Is this the best way or are there better ways to hide the external drive?
 
It is not exactly "hidden", but elegantly placed along the stand.
https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/backpack-for-imac

This would actually raise the iMac and hide the external drive.
https://www.twelvesouth.com/product/hirise-pro-for-imac

Again, a stand and the external drive can fit under it:
https://grovemade.com/product/walnut-monitor-stand/?initial=64

I have no affiliation with either of these companies, but these are some products I have looked at and will look into purchasing when I get an iMac.

At first, I thought you were referring to the icon on the desktop.
 
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Mine is still hangin' in there ...

iMac with attached disk drive.jpg

... no problems at all (velcro attached).
 
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carbontune said:
This is what I initially thought of doing. I presume the Velcro can be removed without leaving a mark on the stand or SSD if required - it's something I need to check with the Velcro strips that I have at home.
Click to expand...
I use velcro "dots", about 1/2" diameter and they do cleanly peel off of the stand and disk drive.
 
If the external drive is solid state (SSD) these are very, very resistant to shock and vibration. You can use anything from duct tape to velcro to zip ties, let it flop around on the stand, or some of the elegantly designed accessories mentioned above.
 
"For those who have external drives connected to their iMacs, how are you (if at all) hiding those drives?"

Why would I want to "hide" my external drives?

If I don't see them, I might forget that they're there!
 
This would be a 'permanent' external drive containing apps and data (libraries). I just want to hide it for aesthetic reasons.
 
carbontune wrote:
"This would be a 'permanent' external drive containing apps and data (libraries). I just want to hide it for aesthetic reasons."

You could velcro it to the back of the iMac stand.

One other thing:
If you're keeping important data on an external drive, you need to back it up the same way you'd back up the internal drive.

I highly HIGHLY recommend that you use either CarbonCopyCloner or SuperDuper to clone a copy of the external drive to another drive at regular intervals (even once or twice a week should do).

Better yet, make TWO copies and keep one at a location other than where the computer is ("off-site" backup).

Doing this could save you from A LOT of grief someday!
 
I've ordered some of those Velcro 'dots' or 'coins' as they're known. They were at a very cost-effective price on eBay UK. I'm sure they'll keep things very neat and tidy, which is something very important to me. That twelvesouth Backpack for iMac platform linked to by cwanja in post #2 is beautiful but quite pricey. I may invest in that later in the year.

In terms of backups, I'll be continuing with my Time Machine backup schedule and I have an external USB 3.0 HDD for that. A Time Machine backup helped me out last year when an internal SSD failed, so I understand the importance of backups!
 
carbontune said:
This would be a 'permanent' external drive containing apps and data (libraries). I just want to hide it for aesthetic reasons.
Click to expand...
The Seagate drive I pictured above on the back of my iMac stand is a 4TB RAID-0 USB-3.0 unit. I have it partitioned as a 2TB CCC clone of my internal 2TB SSD, and 2TB of "archive" type storage that doesn't need to be on a fast SSD. Everything is encrypted.

I then have TimeMachine do the hourly incremental encrypted backups of both the SSD and "archive" over my network, alternating between a MacMini server and a NAS unit in the basement.

I like that if needed, I can simply unplug and move the iMac to another location and all the data goes with it.
 
OP wrote:
"In terms of backups, I'll be continuing with my Time Machine backup schedule and I have an external USB 3.0 HDD for that."

Just to clarify, do you have TM set up to back up the INTERNAL drive?

I could be wrong, but if it's set up that way, does it manage the external drive as well (to a backup drive for that purpose, as distinguished from the drive being used to backup the internal?)?

Not a TM user here, so I'm not familiar if TM can simultaneously backup TWO drives (internal -and- external) at once.

I'm under the impression that if you have TM set to backup your internal drive, your external drive -is not- being backed up, too.
Again, I could be wrong.
 
Currently in my Mac mini I have two internal drives so I think that both are being backed up. When I transition over to the iMac then I’ll have one internal and one external drive. I’m going to have to see how I get Time Machine to back both drives up.
 
carbontune said:
For those who have external drives connected to their iMacs, how are you (if at all) hiding those drives? I've seen one suggestion on the Internet whereby some hook and loop tape is used to stick the drive onto the back of the display stand of the iMac.

Is this the best way or are there better ways to hide the external drive?
Click to expand...
I'm not hiding it.

I put front(above stand) and below it got usb fan. If you're in cold country maybe okay you put at the back attach..
 
Aesthetics are fine, but I don't want to have to crane my neck around a 27" screen to see the LED on my external disk behind it in order to ascertain whether the disk is active.
Upfront and in view suits me.
 
GrampaJiiji said:
Aesthetics are fine, but I don't want to have to crane my neck around a 27" screen to see the LED on my external disk behind it in order to ascertain whether the disk is active.
Upfront and in view suits me.
Click to expand...
apple become useless "user experience" because of "Aesthetics"
 
The Velcro coins arrived today. I got the 22mm ones (just under an inch in diameter). I stuck two Velcro coin hooks onto the drive, and then fixed two Velcro loops onto the hooks and then carefully placed the drive onto the back of the iMac's stand with the cable pointing upwards so I could route it down to the TB3 port. This ensured no part of the cable would be visible from the front of the iMac.

Here's how it looks mounted on the stand.

qmd0rvj.jpg
 
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Looks good and looks like it backs up to a wall, so you will never see it. I get your desire now, but can I point out that there is a ton of cables below the chin of the iMac already - so what was another one? I get your desire to hide it for aesthetics, just pointing out something I saw in your photo.
 
cwanja said:
Looks good and looks like it backs up to a wall, so you will never see it. I get your desire now, but can I point out that there is a ton of cables below the chin of the iMac already - so what was another one? I get your desire to hide it for aesthetics, just pointing out something I saw in your photo.
Click to expand...

Hi cwanja, I was in the middle of setting up an external DAC and speakers so had a bit of a frantic evening wiring and testing everything. I'll take photos of the entire setup after I get some sleep - not a single cable in sight now.
 
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My external SSD came with a very short cable so need similar mounting to avoid strain on the connections. I’m going to make a support frame from a wire coat hanger that is mounted on the hole in the stand that the power cable goes through. It won’t be pretty, but it will be hidden. The advantage is no sticky residue after removing velcro. It might even double up to route some of the USB cables down the back of the stand, for a tidier front view.
 
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