Once upon a time in WGS land I wrote an article about the repurposing of Disney-style VHS tape cases as bare hard drive storage cases. I followed that article up with a second article a few months later.
The gist of these articles can be deduced from the beginning paragraph of my first article:
Does your WHS have hot-swap bays? And, do you have any HDs that you use for backups that you then remove for storage elsewhere? How do you store those bare drives once you remove them? Or perhaps, I should ask, how ghetto is your storage method?
The whole idea behind those articles was finding a good way to store bare hard drives that you might have laying around. Whether that be for backup purposes, OS swaps, or for other reasons.
It was quite interesting in that some time afterI published that first article, I swapped some emails with a reader who was interested in developing this idea into a business venture. I do not believe that idea ever became reality, however, if an idea hangs around long enough, someone will see a potential buck or two.
Enter Hudzee, who about a year after my first article introduced the Hudzee “Anti-static cases to store your internal hard drives”.
They look a bit like the later/cheaper non-Disney/non-anti-static cases that VHS tapes came in during the waning days of VHS tape usage. Looks can be deceiving, however. And one of those cases has a little surprise for the buyer…
The Product
The Hudzee Internal Hard Drive Cases come in 5 colors, which I think is nice for visual categorizing of drives.
The sleeved Hudzee logo is actually a label on the opposite side to allow you to document the contents inside a particular case.
If you look real close on the red case, you can see the little foam strips/disk that cushion the drive and provide that anti-static feature. You might also notice that the casing is much thicker than those old cheap plastic VHS cases of yesteryear.
These cases are designed such that a hard drive is held snuggly inside the case, as can be seen below. You might also notice the little surprise that the white case has, which is designed to hold 2-1/2” drives.
Once you have your documentation printed on the label; inserted into the sleeve; your HDD placed in the case; and finally snap-shut closed for storage on-site or off-site; you have one slick storage solution for those extra drives sitting around.
If you need to redo a label, Hudzee even has a nice template that you can print out to replace the original label.
As a matter of perspective, the following two pictures give you an idea of how the size of Hudzee case compares to a Disney-style VHS case.
This is an extremely elegant solution for those drives that you have laying around, and I like the attention to detail and quality that have gone into these cases. If there is a downside (and there always is), it is cost.
You can purchase these cases direct from Hudzee for $65 for a box of 10 cases. You can also purchase individual cases from Tekserve @ $10/case (US only) or from ThinkGeek @ $9.99/case or $24.99/3pk.
Those prices may seem a bit high for what they do, but just remember what they are designed to do: protect your precious data. Combine that with the exacting design and quality of construction, I could very easily be persuaded to part with a few of my hard-earned dollars.
I have only one problem. I need more (extra) drives so that I have a real need for these cases! Actually, I am at the point where I really do need an off-site storage solution for some of my precious data. I am sure that the convenience of the “cloud” is the future (not currently my future), but only because companies see the recurring revenue value of the cloud. But that is a whole other story…
In the mean time, I like the look; I like the feel; I like what these cases can do for my off-site storage dilemma.
More Info: Hudzee
