[need help] Ideas of 3.5" HD (Case modification, second 12v transformer)

[shefben]

I Made a IDE modded dreamcast and only have use of a 3.5" 500gb ide hard-drive (I could not get ANY sata<->ide adapters to work, not even starlink adapters)

I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on how to modify the case to make it fit.

I also added the sdcard pcb from dragoncity, with the intention that any videos or games or anything that someone wants to add can be added to the sd card.

(I made this unit on behalf of a game store near me)

I really dont want to remove the flip top mechanism, but it looks like there may be no other way of fitting this hard drive in the dreamcast..

Basically I removed the outer metal case that surrounds the gdrom pcb as to give me a little more room.

My second problem is that the 3.5" hd takes about 5 seconds to spin-up if i use the 12v from the power supply inside the dreamcast.

I Had the idea of adding a 555 timer to delay powering the 3v and 12v to the dreamcast for 5 seconds while allowing the hd to spin-up using the 12v right away.

my other idea is to use a small 12v transformer that will splice off of the 120v that goes into the system to power the hard drive separately instead of using the 12v rail from the dc power supply, same idea as before im just adding a seperate power module for the hd..