Don't Mount Computer Hardware Under the Desk.

About 12 months ago I was interested by a blog post on Lifehacker entitled DIY under-desk gadget mount. This pointed to a how-to suggesting decluttering your desk by mounting all that messy computer hardware under the desk.

I liked the idea, and implemented a variation to mount an ADSL modem, D-Link DI-624S Wireless storage router and a 200Gb network drive under my desk.


My advice, based on experience is... DON'T, Heat Kills...

I wrote a review on the DI-624S storage router back in July 2007 and was very happy with it. Since then the storage capability has become patchy, reliability has gone to out the window, and I was on the brink or replacing it. I have modified that original review with a warning. I am about to write an apology as a follow up.

I live in Tasmania and only have a problem with heat in my (small) home office in the middle of summer. However as a preliminary to replacing the router, I removed it from the under-desk storage area and hung it below the desk. The broadband dropouts and network failures ceased. I have waited a week, and decided to re-try the USB storage device. I was able to connect and share the device, something that has been unreliable for months. The 200Gb drive is working fine after five days. I have pushed it, copying hundreds of Gigs of files in and out. Yesterday I streamed 3 movies to 3 computers on the network at 768Kbps while the router continued its duties with no problems for almost an hour.

I have now removed all devices from under my desk and fitted them to a vertical board on the back of the desk. Interestingly Lifehacker have also displayed a follow up entitled Under desk pegboard gadget mount redux similar to what I have now done.

Mine is not that pretty, but it works, and to date I have had 100% reliability with the cooler layout. I have placed the power supply components to the top of each device to aid in cooling.

More later.

Regards, Phil Stephens