Very happy with my drive thank you - it does just what I want, not a lot more to say. I’m delighted that WD labs are making products specially to help the Pi community.
The enclosures. I am looking for self-contained, enclosed, good-looking rather than an embarrassment to hide away. I guess some “techy” pi users want to see the innards, but to me it’s not cool. No way would Apple do it for example. Plus I think it’s going to let dust in.
I didn’t buy “black enclosure” because (as far as I can see from the video) it seems to be open on top.
I avoided “4 inch square” - the video generously says “rugged” and again lots of gaps. Also rather expensive.
The standalone “Enclosure kit” looks fine, but I’d rather everything in one box without external cables. Plus I imagine that the stacking effect doesn’t work so well if you bought a different box for your pi.
I ordered 6 inch square which looked more promising. It is quite attractive on the whole, with nice curves and a pleasing surface coating. However it doesn’t seem especially well-thought out.
Half of the screws use a special star-shaped screw. It seems to require a lot of force to tighten, and I am going to be cursing you guys in 6 months time when I want to unscrew it and can’t find the special screw driver.
The PI power cable that you don’t want to access stick out the side and doubles back in. Not cool.
On the other hand, the cables you do want to access such as USB and Ethernet are hidden away inside and you have to take the lid off to get to them.
I found that the main power cable can’t be plugged in with the lid on - you press the cable in and the socket part simply slides further into the case.
Many of the cables have very tight bending radius that seem likely outside of spec and causing damage.
It’s awkward to fit the lid because you have to hold the PI power cable in exactly the right place. Unfortunately as noted above, this is a problem any time you want to access cables.
There are still quite a lot of holes in the bottom. Are they required for ventilation? Will the unit overheat if lying flat?
Are you interested in ideas for an alternative design??
First, I’m really glad that you’re happy with your drive and that you appreciate what we’re doing. Thank you!
The feedback is welcomed, regardless if it is positive or negative, as it helps build up on what we already have. Having this in mind, we’re all years when it comes to new ideas, so let us know what you have in mind.
All notes about the 6"x6" enclosure will be reviewed. As for your question about the openings in the bottom, it’s good to have them for ventilation as you have two units in there emitting heat while in use.
The format with pi on top of disk makes a lot of sense as it is most compact.
The sides of the pi with connectors (USB/HDMI) need to be adjacent to external walls to allow the connectors to be used.
The enclosure should have a recess so that the connector sockets are in a little well approx 10mm deep. The well/recess does not include the two connectors used internally (micro-USB power and one full USB). Hence the low-profile right-angle cable can join to these connectors and immediately turn staying inside the enclosure.
There should be at least one enclosure in the range designed to look good to a non-techy. This enclosure should be fully enclosed just like the official pi case.
I have a question on the 6 x 6 enclosure… How the heck are the magnets supposed to work??? I get 3 magnets and 6 washers and the spots that look like they are supposed to hold either are way larger and the magnets and/or washers causing them to just fall out…
(this response is also posted in the reply to the separate post of the question above)
Hi, sorry about the inadequate presentation of the optional magnetic cover latch. For desktop (horizontal) use, the enclosure cover sits on the base without need for magnets, but for wall-mounted applications, we wanted to provide a way for the cover to stay on. We included the magnets and washers (which act as magnet pole pieces) so customers could have a solution for wall mount, but didn’t want to pre-bond all product regardless because it would introduce exposure to quality control issues.
One washer and one magnet are bonded to the plastic base in each of the three round pockets (washer to base first, then magnet on top of washer) and the remaining three washers are bonded to the inside of the cover in the three round pockets. We recommend a gel form of super-glue (cyanoacrylate), although various epoxies will also work.
Below is a link to videos I made showing the three bonding steps.
If you’re not mounting it on the wall, you can leave the magnets and washers off and use them for something else. We’re in the process of getting this info attached to the product webpage- we’re just running a little behind. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Thanks.
Link to bonding videos (process just as described above):
Actually I really like this 6-inch case as it is. I am using it (without the hard drive) as a media center case. I like it because
It has a nice appearance
All the cables come out the back
The lid can be removed easily because it has no screws
There is room for a short USB flash drive (which you could boot or multi-boot from if you like, or just use for local storage).
There is plenty of room inside for additional circuitry (such as IR receiver/transmitter).
If you take the lid off it is easy to remove the SD card
I agree about the screws, and I think the washers should come glued to the case, so you just have to insert the magnets if desired.
Yes, you have to take the lid off to access the USB and ethernet ports, but it is no big deal (note that there is a useful hole in the bottom that allows you to release the ethernet cable if you want to remove it).
