Next you’ll tell me I’m not gonna need those cables. Or that weirdly shaped block of wood leftover from that door installation.
You know that the second you throw them out and they're gone, you're gonna need those exact things to fix something.
I’d rather have the cluttered cable drawer than something far worse: the feeling of shame at paying money for something I discarded and could have already had for free.
I've had people mock me for my cable pile, then comes the day they need some weird obscure connection that hasn't been on the market for a decade, not so stupid now is it my friend ....
It’s not any worse than paying for car insurance. In fact it’s probably a better investment.
I was enjoying a casual thread until this
I still have a FireWire 400 to DV cable.
I no longer have a DV Camera or a FireWire 400 port, but I’m keeping that damn cable.
I also have one. I imagine it could be rather painful to acquire today.
I've thrown away all but one of each older connector before and just like clockwork, I needed two mini USB later that week. Micro? I was all set. Mini, I thought it was safe now.
Don't let them pressure you! My wife often nags me about my cable drawer, but my tendency to hoard old tech has saved the day more than once.
We once drove halfway across Canada to a wedding, which was at a campground outside of Montreal. As they were setting up for the reception someone in the wedding party asked if I knew where they could get a particular video adapter. I was like, "Oh, I've got one in my bag." I hadn't brought that adapter across two provinces for any real reason, but it sure came in handy.
Another time we were visiting a friend about an hour away. He mentioned needing a power cable for a desktop computer. I was like, "Oh, I've got a whole desktop in the trunk of my car. You want the whole thing or just the power cable?"
Just be careful when storing HDDs in the trunk. Unless your car has some heavenly suspension, chances are, they might turn unusable in a few years.
Good call. For what it's worth, when I store a desktop in my car it's typically because it's old and I haven't gotten around to stripping it for parts or dropping it off at the recycler.
Just yesterday I was actually thinking about cleaning out my desk's junk drawer... I know there's stuff that's been in there for 10 years... I've transitioned most of my devices to USB C. There's a lot of crap I know I don't need and haven't used in years.
Help!
For better or worse the love of my life randomly discard items from these locations.
Get some Velcro cable ties or some twist ties or something.
Then you should bundle up each cable and categorize them.
A/V cables
USB cables
Power cords
Extension cords
Specialized chargers
Power bricks
...and what ever else you might need
Look at your specialized chargers. Do you still own the devices that those use? Discard if no.
Look in each category. If you have a lot of any one cable type, consider paring them down. Get rid of anything damaged. I knew someone that went crazy on Mono price and had hundreds of USB micro cables. They donated all but about 50 and they are still doing ok in that department.
Now for all of your strange cables, it's a judgement call for you if you want to keep these or not. Does the value they give you (the possibility of needing them again and saving yourself the need to procure a new cable) outweigh the cost of keeping it (the space they take up in your living space or storage, plus the need to have to transport them when you move)? The answer to this is different for everyone. If you have a very small living area, the "cost" of keeping those cables is higher than if you have plenty of space. If you don't care about technology, that space could have been taken up by something you do care about.
I know it can be a big undertaking, but you got this!
Nobody gets to tell me I don't still need those 10 Firewire cables I bought 20 years ago!
It's coming back any day now!
Spent too much money on the official ones did you?
No, but if I can't use my ProTools rig on my iMac G3, what's the point of living?
You were using a ProTools rig on a G3 iMac? Really? I’m a bit surprised, considering not only the tiny screens, but how underpowered they were. I would have expected a PowerMac G3 for that sort of work.
Come to think of it, it was a G4 (and then a G5). It was mostly VO work, so it was really all that was necessary at the time. Also, I was using the M Box, which didn't have many inputs and I was usually only recording on one channel anyway.
I know the MBox. And a G4 iMac makes more sense. 👍
It was so long ago now that I had to scroll through Wikipedia's list of Pro Tools hardware until I figured out which one I had. So I'm not surprised I said G3 instead of G4.
I don't believe I ever even had a G3.
Lmao
Been there, replaced all the cables with adapters and 2 or 3 "weird" cables. Needs much less space.
Next you’ll tell me I’m not gonna need those cables. Or that weirdly shaped block of wood leftover from that door installation.
You know that the second you throw them out and they're gone, you're gonna need those exact things to fix something.
I’d rather have the cluttered cable drawer than something far worse: the feeling of shame at paying money for something I discarded and could have already had for free.
I've had people mock me for my cable pile, then comes the day they need some weird obscure connection that hasn't been on the market for a decade, not so stupid now is it my friend ....
It’s not any worse than paying for car insurance. In fact it’s probably a better investment.
I was enjoying a casual thread until this
I still have a FireWire 400 to DV cable.
I no longer have a DV Camera or a FireWire 400 port, but I’m keeping that damn cable.
I also have one. I imagine it could be rather painful to acquire today.
I've thrown away all but one of each older connector before and just like clockwork, I needed two mini USB later that week. Micro? I was all set. Mini, I thought it was safe now.
Don't let them pressure you! My wife often nags me about my cable drawer, but my tendency to hoard old tech has saved the day more than once.
We once drove halfway across Canada to a wedding, which was at a campground outside of Montreal. As they were setting up for the reception someone in the wedding party asked if I knew where they could get a particular video adapter. I was like, "Oh, I've got one in my bag." I hadn't brought that adapter across two provinces for any real reason, but it sure came in handy.
Another time we were visiting a friend about an hour away. He mentioned needing a power cable for a desktop computer. I was like, "Oh, I've got a whole desktop in the trunk of my car. You want the whole thing or just the power cable?"
Just be careful when storing HDDs in the trunk. Unless your car has some heavenly suspension, chances are, they might turn unusable in a few years.
Good call. For what it's worth, when I store a desktop in my car it's typically because it's old and I haven't gotten around to stripping it for parts or dropping it off at the recycler.
Just yesterday I was actually thinking about cleaning out my desk's junk drawer... I know there's stuff that's been in there for 10 years... I've transitioned most of my devices to USB C. There's a lot of crap I know I don't need and haven't used in years.
Help!
For better or worse the love of my life randomly discard items from these locations.
Get some Velcro cable ties or some twist ties or something.
Then you should bundle up each cable and categorize them.
Look at your specialized chargers. Do you still own the devices that those use? Discard if no.
Look in each category. If you have a lot of any one cable type, consider paring them down. Get rid of anything damaged. I knew someone that went crazy on Mono price and had hundreds of USB micro cables. They donated all but about 50 and they are still doing ok in that department.
Now for all of your strange cables, it's a judgement call for you if you want to keep these or not. Does the value they give you (the possibility of needing them again and saving yourself the need to procure a new cable) outweigh the cost of keeping it (the space they take up in your living space or storage, plus the need to have to transport them when you move)? The answer to this is different for everyone. If you have a very small living area, the "cost" of keeping those cables is higher than if you have plenty of space. If you don't care about technology, that space could have been taken up by something you do care about.
I know it can be a big undertaking, but you got this!
Nobody gets to tell me I don't still need those 10 Firewire cables I bought 20 years ago!
It's coming back any day now!
Spent too much money on the official ones did you?
No, but if I can't use my ProTools rig on my iMac G3, what's the point of living?
You were using a ProTools rig on a G3 iMac? Really? I’m a bit surprised, considering not only the tiny screens, but how underpowered they were. I would have expected a PowerMac G3 for that sort of work.
Come to think of it, it was a G4 (and then a G5). It was mostly VO work, so it was really all that was necessary at the time. Also, I was using the M Box, which didn't have many inputs and I was usually only recording on one channel anyway.
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/digidesign-m-box
I know the MBox. And a G4 iMac makes more sense. 👍
It was so long ago now that I had to scroll through Wikipedia's list of Pro Tools hardware until I figured out which one I had. So I'm not surprised I said G3 instead of G4.
I don't believe I ever even had a G3.
Lmao
Been there, replaced all the cables with adapters and 2 or 3 "weird" cables. Needs much less space.