External Optical Drive Protection

[traveler]

I'm hot on the trail of a messenger bag. I'm liking the size and such of the ID. But here's my question: Which messenger bag would you get that could hold a size 5 Brain Cell, a few books, a sweater, a small power brick, an iPod, a small digital camera, and an external optical drive. The drive's dimensions are: depth: 5.7"; height: .8"; width: 5.7". Also I'm concerned about the safety of the optical drive. The thing costs $250 and doesn't have a nice rubbery skin like the iPod. Is there a messenger bag with like a sturdy slot for such an item? If not, does anyone know if there's like little protective cases out there for external optical drives? What do you all do for your external drives' safety? I won't be going dirt biking with the bag, but I will be in taxis, planes and trains and bags do get bumped and squished frequently. Thanks everyone!

[jehingr]

For the external drives that I carry in my EBs - I use the Domke wraps recommended to me by Ken on this very forum. Check them out here

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=NavBar&A=search&Q=&ci=4385

Basically, they are lightly padded wraps that have velcro on the corners. You can wrap up just about anything in them and keep it relatively well protected in your bag.

[timarelay]

My hard drive enclosure came with a leather case. It seems that if a external drive doesn't come with a case, it'll be hard to find one that's made for hard drives in particular. The wraps jehingr mentionned are the best solutions I've seen.

It'd be cool if the organizer pouches offered already came in lightly padded versions. I keep my gameboy or my pda in a small one and my psp in a medium(it's just a little too long for a small, unfortunately).

[moriond]

. . .an external optical drive. The drive's dimensions are: depth: 5.7"; height: .8"; width: 5.7". Also I'm concerned about the safety of the optical drive. The thing costs $250 and doesn't have a nice rubbery skin like the iPod. Is there a messenger bag with like a sturdy slot for such an item? If not, does anyone know if there's like little protective cases out there for external optical drives?!

As an alternative to the Domke wraps, you might consider the accessory pouches that IBM makes for their ultrabay devices (disks, optical drives, etc.). External size for the ultraslimbay pouches is about 6"x6"x1", but you can check this; the hard part is knowing the part numbers: 05K4562 for the ultraslimbay pouches and 05K4843 for the thicker ultrabay pouches. Searching on ebay or google with the part number should let you find these options -- at anywhere from about $1 to $15 per pouch, typically a few dollars.

It'd be cool if the organizer pouches offered already came in lightly padded versions.

These are separate pouches that are lightly padded with a Velcro sealed flap. (Though I think Impact Computers [more expensive] offers a variant that zips around 3 sides of the case -- see google search). You might want to send a query to the Thinkpads forum at http://forum.thinkpads.com/ for information on exact dimensions, good sources to purchase from (e.g., some forum members may offer this), or alternative products that work for this. It used to be that there were some variations in overall quality depending on where the cases were manufactured, so you may also get some advice on this. Also, PORT made some other accessory pouch options for disks, but these were really heavy because they added a metal plate. Again, you may be able to find out more by sending a query to the Thinkpad forums.