What does everyone do with all their unused cables that you collect as you buy stuff? I have a whole box full of random cables and walwarts. I just spent the last half hour untangling them and putting them in ziplock bags. I tried wire ties and gaff tape but neither were easy to get apart and put back.

I put them into a large box. When I need a cable I put on a body suit and dig into the pile. ;)

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All I ever really needed to know, I learned from watching Star Trek.

I picked up two plastic rolling cabinets from Staples, tied the cables using cable ties for big cables and twist ties for little ones, sorted them into categories, labeled the drawers and dropped the cables in.

The cabinets reside in a small closet. On top of the cabinets are some prefab wooden shoe-shelves that I use to organize other stuff like drive cases, keyboards, etc.

I'm like wowzer, but it's in boxes. There are several just full of mac and pc stuff-cables, drives, keyboards...

That's the same reason I have 3 hammers--I can't find what I know I have so I buy new (again and again).



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2006 10:54PM by Michael.

I tend to keep it all wrapped up in my drawer on my printer cart.

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Security is just a word. The act of being secure is entirely different.
"...but I think that to make your dream a reality, having a dream itself is a mandatory prerequisite"
From A Book: Walking Through The Impossible

Just because it has two clutches, shifts faster, uses a torque converter or has near-infinite gear ratios, requires less driver intervention and is more efficient doesn't make it better in my opinion.
Save The Manual Transmission

Same. Zip-Locks.
Bread /garbage sack ties, too.


I even use a zip-lock going through the airport terminal security.
One bag for pocket contents, one for my tickets/itinerary. Speeds things up a little.
There are even Faraday cage zip-locks one could use for the dangly bits if one were really paranoid about their nads and scanners.

I hang them on hooks - not so hard to untangle and you can see what's there...

I fold them up and use twist ties to keep them flat, just like they come in the box as new.
These all go in a box, I have an "A/V" box for audio and video cables, then another "Comp" box for computer cables. The Comp box grew quite large during the transition from SCSI to firewire/USB, so there is now a new smaller box and the old box is probably going to the dump soon.

I used to have a box of just ethernet cables, but they are all in use right now, so scratch that.

I buy Ziplock baggies at Costco in various sizes, and toss the extra cables in the baggies, and label them, then the baggies go - in sorta order - in translucent boxes. Then every few years I throw out the obsolete ones, the previous generation technology.

The hardest part is crawling underneath the desk to organize the cables. With just three Macs and three printers, the cable mess is mind-boggling.

Ziplocks as well. Tried everything else and finally waited for a good sale of cheap ziplocks.

And permanent markers to label the bags.

If I get into one of my anal moods, I'll catalog them some day and stick a list on the wall