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Key for me is to "group" cables. For example, I have a bag of USB-C cables, a bag of USB-A cables, etc. Grouping them is key to deduplicating. It's easy to lo
by booty 6d ago
Key for me is to "group" cables. For example, I have a bag of USB-C cables, a bag of USB-A cables, etc.
Grouping them is key to deduplicating.
It's easy to look at a single legacy USB A-to-B "printer" cable in isolation and think "I might need this someday!" Because you really might need it someday. However, if you group them you might see that you have ten of them. And then you can get rid of... maybe 8 of them.
I also (mostly) put individual cables into baggies. You can get clear 2mil generic ziploc style baggies for super cheap on Amazon or elsewhere. $15 for 200 or something. Prvents tangles and way less effort than wrapping or tying them.
- bityard 6d agoYeah, this is pretty much what I was going to write. I group my cables into boxes for USB, power, network, audio/video, and power supplies. The boxes are a finite size, and when no more cables will fit into the box, I go through and do some deduplication.
- joshstrange 6d agoThis bags or bins or whatever your preferred organization method is. Don't just have "cables" group them. This is how I discovered "yeah, I don't need all these DVI/VGA cables and I can do with only 10 extra HDMI cables". I'll second "grouping" with "capability sorting". Get a cable tester and sort your cables by Charge/USB speeds. Even with my default "grouping" of things like "USB-C -> C", "USB-A -> C", etc I still was buying new cables for projects/uses since I wanted to make sure I got exactly the speed/power requirements right. Now all my cables are sorted by capability and that led to more purging and less purchasing since I can go to my cable bins and grab exactly what I need.
- booty 6d agoGod, yeah. I try to label the USB-C cables directly by capability with my label maker, if they are more than basic charging cables.
- theturtle 6d agoI use a white paint pen. DATA and NO DATA.
- SAI_Peregrinus 5d agoI use wire cutters. Non-compliant cables get cut & discarded. I've got a dedicated USB condom with USB-PD support for cases where I want to block data, since those are always charging and I want the negotiation to work for fast charging.
- dataflow 6d agoWhat marker do you use to mark them? Is the ink durable and easy to read?
- aaronax 6d agoA label maker, as they said they use, prints durable and easy to read labels.
- dataflow 6d agoWhoops, thank, I can't read - I misread label maker as label marker!
- mceachen 6d agoI bought a cheap pack of 5 colors of 3m electrical tape. Each cable gets one or two pieces of tape: Data: White if usb2 Blue if it supports USB 3 data (because 5Gbps USB 3 ports are mostly blue) Green if TB/USB4/40Gbps Power: None if low/no Power Delivery Yellow for 45W PD Red for 65W+ PD
- dataflow 6d agoLove this, that sounds awesome. Thanks for sharing!
- 6d ago
- DragonStrength 5d agoThe HDMI cables are a lie anyway with how many versions I've owned. I'm sick of squinting at the writing on the wires. Just buy new ones.
- ButlerianJihad 6d ago> clear 2mil generic ziploc style baggies > transparent plastic box > Banker's Boxes Do not do this. All plastic baggies, storage tubs, and grocery bags, are going to build up with static electricity. While it may seem totally fine to drop inert cables into a plastic bag, eventually you'll come up against a USB stick, or an SSD or SDRAM, or something, and that ESD damage will not be a pleasant customer experience. Go here: https://silicagelpackets.com/aluminized-and-clear-moisture-barrier-bags-and-heat-sealers https://silicagelpackets.com/aluminized-and-clear-moisture-b... I picked up some resealable, aluminized bags and they've lasted for years. I also purchased fistfuls of silica gel packets, and I toss one into each bag when I seal it up. I'm not sure if organizing "by cable type" would make sense to me, when there are adapters and dongles involved. Some of these baggies have been labeled by the central device, e.g. "All ThinkPad accessories are in here". Also, for cable organizing, I've ordered rolls of plain Velcro strips: https://www.amazon.com/VELCRO-Brand-VEL-30765-AMS-Self-Gripping-Management/dp/B09QH2NVM1/ref=sr_1_13?crid=W79S109DAOPJ&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.ZJSMpMIsqGSurz5Bf6Dp7lCpa2d7hoSAD4SzskaflR2egdHNeWx3ErXwTk9WHH4zjIhCGqQlcHrXgkJ8lAgENQs_oXxZKSuumoT8NfKdRdFa2iBrkr-VDBYue6cH1K-s5kC9JMR9iWnjl6b93iUxb1sFY2cb_VUK2s0zJhPHxgtW3_QoUwv6FyOvkZQgl4zS9Jz-FyFDB0WpjWFKC52Ya2dxxot_HcL7kuc1Y6X7LXo.4L-7IDfqe-JH5uC6Pgo6IoL7LBasR9LIq9ENXDSipwg&dib_tag=se&keywords=velcro%2Broll&qid=1789058018&sprefix=velcro%2Brol%2Caps%2C253&sr=8-13&th=1 https://www.amazon.com/VELCRO-Brand-VEL-30765-AMS-Self-Gripp... You can just cut these to the desired length and wrap them around your cables, for routing or bundling. They are, of course, reusable. I cut little notches in them so that they stay locked to each cable. You could get them in rainbow colors, but I like the white rolls so that I can write on them with a Sharpie.
- booty 6d agoHmm, interesting. I've never had a static charge issue, but then again, maybe I will someday. I'll definitely look into that next time I mess around with my storage. Thank you.
- joquarky 6d ago> I also purchased fistfuls of silica gel packets, and I toss one into each bag when I seal it up. Keep in mind that not everything stores optimally at very low humidity. I was surprised to learn (from a recent thread here) that books will degrade more quickly if they are kept completely dry.
- miguel-muniz 6d agoYes grouping is the important part. The next important part is labeling. For example, I have a variety of USB C to USB C cables but they each have their own capabilities. Some support high transfer speeds, so I keep them around for connecting SSDs, while others are just USB 2 speeds so they are strictly for charging. Another case is I have a very specific USB C to USB C cable that looks incredibly generic, but it is for connecting a screen tablet to a laptop because the manufacturer decided to make the port recessed, so only their cable fits. If this cable wasn't labeled as for a specific device, I would have donated it years ago. It is some effort, for those who don't like to tinker with tech I can understand why they just shove them all into a box in the back of their closet. But I find that culling my cables at least makes me aware of what I have and don't have. One other suggestion I have is just buying a longer cable than you think you need because eventually you'll have the need for it anyway. I have so many 3.5mm aux cables because I kept changing my desk set up and needing to buy longer and longer cables. If I had just bought the longest cable I could have at the time I would have saved myself some headache. Another tip is adapters. Sometimes it's easier to just have cables of one type and a bunch of adapters for when you need them rather than having a ton of different cables for each possible scenario. I used to have a mix of RCA and 3.5mm cables but never had the right combination of what I needed at the time. Eventually I caved in and just bought a ton of adapters so I could standardize all the cables and use adapters as needed. Same with USB C cables.
- dataflow 6d ago> One other suggestion I have is just buying a longer cable than you think you need because eventually you'll have the need for it anyway. This only works with cables that bend easily. For something stiff/sensitive like high speed USB4 I found it more problematic than helpful.
- asah 6d ago+1000 did _exactly_ this right down to the ziploc. Also a bag for audio, HDMI, old apple cables, and "random" cables. These days, I store the ziplocs in a pelican-type case and that goes in a stack with cases for power cords, camera gear, SBC gear,etc - and the stacks all go on furniture dollies, so I can roll them out.
- criddell 6d agoWhat bag does a cable with HDMI on one end and USB C on the other end go into?
- asdfman123 6d agoThat's still a topic of active debate
- fragmede 6d agoNo, active HDMI cables go in a different bin.
- fuzzfactor 6d agoIt's own bag, it won't feel lonely for long :)
- hamdingers 6d agoIn my system that lands in the "adapters" bin which has has a "display" bag within it.
- moron4hire 6d agoEither create a 2-dimensional categorization system or create a priority hierarchy.
- toyg 6d agoThe most specialized standard wins, so in this case I'd say HDMI.
- fitzroy 6d ago
- jasomill 6d agoI do this. All my FireWire 400-to-800, 400-to-400, 400-to-dinky little Sony 400, etc. cables were all in one box, the FireWire 800-to-Thunderbolt adapter was in the box with my Thunderbolt cables and adapters, and I still didn't find the FireWire 800-to-800 cable I needed to use Target Disk Mode on a friend's Mac a few months ago until a few weeks later when I was cleaning out my storage unit and found an unused FW800 cable in a box I guess I was saving on the off chance that I needed to return a 15-year-old LaCie RAID enclosure that was shucked about a decade ago off for warranty repairs.
- stirfish 6d ago>However, if you group them you might see that you have ten of them. My first thought was "awesome, what project can I start that uses ten of those cables?"
- asdfman123 6d agoI'm going to steal your idea. What ziploc baggie size have you found is best for cables?
- corranh 6d agoQuart ziploc for most. A couple gallon sizes for longer or thicker cables.
- fuzzfactor 6d agoAnd then there's the bags from Bed Bath & Beyond where they were made to hold giant pillows and blankets all together . . .
- jefftk 6d agoI grouped mine a few months ago. Since then, several times, I've been able to find a cable and use it right away. Before that the prospect of digging through the massive tangle often led me to (lazy!) order new cables.
- programmarchy 6d agoWelcome to the OCD lounge. I also put my cables into bags, which helps me sleep better at night.
- sixothree 6d agoStackable bins work too. Need various sizes as backup as you accumulate though.
- VCFundedGenYer 6d agoUSB B cables are also notoriously sensitive and the slightest damage can result in malfunctions. Went through this recently with a PreSonus AudioBox.
- palmotea 6d ago> USB B cables are also notoriously sensitive and the slightest damage can result in malfunctions. Went through this recently with a PreSonus AudioBox. Do you mean micro-USB-B? Full size (and mini) USB-B cables (comparatively) built like tanks. Even though it's annoying, I understand the design tradeoff. You definitely would rather your (replaceable) cable get damaged than the port it's plugged into.
- dofm 6d agoI have this issue with cables between my Pi 4B and my slightly old 3D printer. USB-A to micro-B cables, and the connection is tetchy beyond belief about which ones it will accept and which it won't, either with or without the theoretically-unnecessary-for-this-printer power wire blocker. I can see no rhyme or reason to it but now I have a cable that has a dot painted on it...
- darkwater 6d agoI'll pay the price to sound like your average redditor but... thanks, Internet stranger, for this advice. I will follow it from now on - especially for the "prevent tangles" part.
- jaggederest 6d agoProper flaking: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbxMyytWw60 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbxMyytWw60 Ziptie once coiled, attach label for what format / length. Bag cables with the same connectors. If you have more than fit in a gallon ziploc you should probably reduce them. Bonus if you hang them on a pegboard so you can see them with big clear labels on each bag. Edit: and shrinkwrapped labels on each end (e.g. 12345-USBC-2m) for double bonus points so that you never have to trace a cable to find the other end.
- MisterTea 6d ago> Ziptie once coiled, attach label for what format / length. Please god, no more zip ties. Use double sided Velcro strap. You can buy it in a roll and cut to length. Reuse it all you want. Join multiple shorter lengths to make a longer one. Just please don't make me cut another god damn zip tie off a bundled cord. I deal with enough zip tie bondage fetishists at work.
- aidenn0 6d agodouble-sided velcro holds less well and is more likely to stick to things. Just toss a pair of diags in your box if you are worried about getting the zip ties off.
- MisterTea 4d agoI am talking about frivolous use of zip ties and over-application. Things like zip tying an extension cord for storage. And over application as in every 2-4 inches on cable bundles. Madness.
- jaggederest 6d agoCutting the ziptie is half the fun! Just be glad it's not shrink wrapped or clamshelled ;)
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- dataflow 6d agoThat sounds hard. Is a USB-A-to-C cable in the A group or C group or neither? What about the inverse? What about cables that only do data but can't transmit enough power? What about cables that are slow but high power? What about thick cables like USB4 that barely bend or fit in the bag? What about male-to-female vs. male-to-male? What about brand-specific cables that have their own abilities (say, high-powered but not PD)? The list goes on and on... I think I hardly have any pairs of cables that are similar enough to be interchangeable, and at this point most of them are USB-C, so they'd all mostly end up in the same bag if that's the criterion.
- yerald 6d agoHave an A bin, and a C bin, and stretch the A-to-C cords between them. Simple!
- juliie 6d agoMy solution is a big drawer block with lots of spots for different cables. USB c cables with video go in the video cable drawer, high power goes in the power drawer, etc. Can't mistake USB c with HDMI (and mini HDMI can burn in hell). And only buy USB C cables that state their capabilities on the housing, if they don't I'll permanently attach them to a place where they can be most useful.
- booty 6d agoIt's not for everybody (what ever is, rite?) and since you "hardly have any pairs of cables that are similar enough to be interchangeable" then congrats, you're winning at life and don't need anything like this. The sounds hard Doesn't feel hard to me. I have a bag for USB A, a bag for USB C, and a bag for USB A<->C. My USB-C charging cables are all 3' or longer, so they're visually distinct from the crappy little cables that come for free inside the package for various budget-priced gizmos. My Thunderbolt/USB4 cables are labeled as such, and I am very confused that you are talking about Thunderbolt/USB4 cables so stiff that they cannot bend to fit into a container or bag.... I mean, mine are stiff but not that stiff. Plus these are expensive cables. Not sure I have any spares. Those are bought for purpose.
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- vel0city 6d agoYeah, "grouping" is largely the way to go for the generic parts, and keeping parts together when they really do need to go together is another. I used to just have a generic big tub with all the generic cables and wires. Some were nicely wrapped up, others often got themselves into a giant tangled mess. I could never find anything. I got a bunch of small/medium sized plastic bins with lids for all the generic stuff. An old labeler quickly made them "USB cables", "A/V Cables", "DC Power Adapters", "AC Power Cables", "Coax Cables"...now it takes me two seconds to find any particular random cable.
- OroPla 6d agoRemember CD spindles? Those are were a quarter of my cables live now. They can be stacked! There's also a few boxes and one tech bag. Also, the 15m (50ft) HDMI cable doesn't fit anywhere so it got it's own space.
- JMiao 6d agoThank you for mentioning cd spindles. Good times.
- demritocracy 6d agoA secret I've found is use hair ties instead of rubber bands with cables, they survive long stints in the garage much better
- bsoles 6d agoI routinely steal my wife's hairbands to tie various cables in my cable stash. You can never have enough USB cables of various types. But as Murphy dictates, the USB cable that I need now is one that I don't have in my stash.
- raphar 6d agoyou'll die violently if she find out you are behind the dissapearance of her hairbands. (At least that would happen to me)
- demritocracy 6d agoI started with the wife's stash, then bough a few thousand in bulk so i would never have to worry about it again
- ChoGGi 6d agoGarden stores/sections sell circles of green Velcro you can cut; I figure of it's good enough for UV then it'll work in a box. As a bonus, you don't need to raid her hairbands.
- mcapodici 6d agoUnless you are very short on space, keep all 10. Because 50-100% of them will randomly cease to work.
- PunchyHamster 6d agoI dunno, I get few thematical boxes of them (audio cables, power cables, usb stuff) and it never happened
- maeln 6d agoIt's anecdotical, but in my experience, USB cable break way more than any other cable I have.
- jimniels 6d agoPost author here. I didn’t get into my organizational techniques, but agree with your take! Ziploc bags + a sharpie is exactly how I do it. https://imgur.com/JMUIcDY https://imgur.com/JMUIcDY
- tapland 6d agoYes, and I do the same for all DC adapters. Writing voltage etc so it's easy to find
- Lucasoato 6d agoSame, my categories are power, data, audio, video (for mysterious reasons networking cables are renting a small space into the video’s box).
- anotherevan 6d agoYep, ziploc bags with the type of cable written in permanent marker. Pro-tip, use a hole punch on a corner of the bag. That way, once zipped you can just squeeze it to get the air out.
- kjax 6d agoI did the same thing, albeit with some printed labels in the same corner on each, so that it's easy to flip through them when they're stacked together. Has saved me dozens of minutes over the years!
- cyclopeanutopia 6d agoAnd then, when you really need them, it turns out that out of ten maybe one still works and you couldn't predict which one it will be. :)
- rconti 6d agoYep. I went through my big box of cables, deduped a lot of things, got rid of a bunch of stuff I'd never need, etc. Of course, I DID need one of them just a month or two later! But it was still a good exercise. Now I have a whole drawer in a workbench devoted to cables sorted by type. What's surprising is how I NEVER have spare USB-C cables and ALWAYS have spare lightning cables. I mean, it SHOULDN'T be surprising, since more and more devices I own are now USB-C, but it's interesting that I expect my stock to always provide, and it never does -- for that cable type. The frequency with which I have to buy new USB-C cables of varying lengths really illustrates the migration I've undergone. "Surely I have one I can just snag for the other car..." and I'm always proven wrong.
- fmajid 6d agoAlso, if you have a heat-sealer, individually bagging the cables before grouping them avoids having cables mate and turn into a Gordian knot. A heat-sealer allows you to make bags that are just the right size for your cable, vs. generic ziplocs.
- seany 6d agoThis is rough when you have lots of weird one offs. Strange trrs->rj45 for programming a radio you still use but haven't reprogrammed in 10 years; does that go in "generic serial stuff" or "things you want to keep but haven't used in a long time" (right next to the 13w3 -> 5 wire component cable for the sparc in the other corner)
- tehlike 6d agoI put them into individual bags, usually group of two of the same kind e.g. USB a to c.
- FpUser 6d ago>"Key for me is to "group" cables. For example, I have a bag of USB-C cables, a bag of USB-A cables, etc." Yeah. I do the same
- stronglikedan 6d agoI group my cables too, but it's all one group in a big plastic bin that gets bigger over time.
- ghaff 6d agoYep. It's easy to get into the mode of tossing everything into a big box and then you can't find anything anyway. After a tire, I tossed a lot but I find I still need to organize a lot of things down to a manageable remainder where I can actually find things I'm likely use.
- wildzzz 6d agoI just sorted through like 15 years of accumulated cables. I kept any that I knew I'd need for projects or things I knew I had a use for. Everything else got slimmed down to a maximum of two of each type and general length and only if they were good quality. Type C and Cat6 were the only cables I kept several of. I threw out so many USB micro and Cat5 cables.
- gr4viton2 6d agoI do group them using one "type" per box too (either "audio cables" or "usb not-C", "usb C" etc. However I do not use zip-bags, instead I use core of toilet rolls - suitable to add length labeling too.
- dminuoso 6d agoOn a side note: grouping cables based on the connector form factor is evil when you include USB-C. Which of the cables are for PD? How much power? Can they do USB? If yes, at which of the dozen speeds? Is it a Thunderbolt cable? Which TB version? Is it certifiable or just blatantly unstable when running 40Gbit/s? Or is it some proprietary alt mode cable? And which ones are just spec breaking fire hazards if you tried PD with 240W through them? Do the cables have markings to tell you the capabilities? Are they even correct? Were they put on as a lie to upsell cheap USB 2.1 cables? Bonus points if there are cables with some sort of “adapter” dangling in front (quotes because these are not a thing in USB). Double all your points if there is an USB-C to USB-C extension cord in the box. It is certainly a box of mysteries. I do not mean to invalidate your organizational scheme, but every time I am reminded of USB I have an irrational desire to rant about the flaws of USB-C.
- bambax 6d agoLike everyone, it seems, in this thread, I have not one big box of cables but several. But my classification system is mostly around age: old USB cables (mini, micro) vs recent USB cables (USB C), old screen cables (VGA) vs recent ones (HDMI), etc. This doesn't work for everything: audio cables do not evolve much, nor do remote cables for DSLRs; but in general it's reasonably effective.
- alias_neo 6d agoI don't group exactly, nor do I want to de-duplicate, but I've organised my boxes on the shelf and sorted and labelled them recently, in what seems the most logical way at the time; I have "networking", "USB", "power", "A/V", "PC" and some as of yet unlabelled ones with random stuff I can't place in the others. There is some unfortunate crossover regarding where things belong because some USB are for power, some are for A/V etc, others or data... What I realised, when going through these boxes was two things; it would cost a fortune to replace all of the cables in them, I wouldn't be surprised if replacement cost ran into the low thousands of £££ (should they be on my home insurance?!) and secondly; I'm no longer indecisive about what to do with a frayed or otherwise non-ideal cable, it goes straight in the bin; I used to retain the "nicer" ones and solder new connectors if the microUSB had worn out, or the cable was damaged near the end, that got much harder with USB-C unless I'm going for a simple +/-/D+/D-, so I just don't bother. As for how often they're used; the USB box comes out almost daily, sometimes several times a day, if I'm charging things in my home office, or connecting something that isn't permanently plugged at my desk, I put the cables back away when I'm done. Power comes out every few weeks, and "networking" only when I need to reorganise things in the network cabinet/server rack. For USB, the "final form" would be to create a labelling system so I can tell at a glance what each one supports, because as it stands I have to pull out my little LED cable tester thing and see how many light up to know if it'll do DP or high power charging etc.
- notpushkin 6d ago> because as it stands I have to pull out my little LED cable tester thing You can keep it in the same box!
- alias_neo 6d agoI thought about that as I was writing, I think I might do just that!
- Melatonic 6d agoDon't forget a baggy labeled "console cables" that's always empty because it's perpetually borrowed by someone and never where you need it !
- andix 5d agoTransparent ziplock bags changed my cable organization significantly. I also put a lot of accessories into them. Preferably together with a small note about what it is for, or with the manual of the device it belongs to. Storing stuff in individual boxes takes up too much space. The transparent bags can just go into a box and it's easy to just browse through. Nothing gets entangled.
- cma 5d agoThey make giant ones too for bigger stuff. I think Adam Savage has a video about them for grouping unfinished project parts together.
- andix 5d agoI usually just get them from IKEA. They have different sizes from 0.4l to 6l. I try not to overfill them if possible, much easier to see what's inside.
- booty 5d agoI didn't see his video, but after many years I finally figured that out independently and felt like a fool for it taking so long to realize. That's a real game changer.
- 7402 5d ago..., a bag of thick SCSI cables, a bag of Firewire 400 cables, a bag of AppleTalk cables, a bag of PS 2 cables, a bag of RS232 cables, a bag of Firewire 800 cables, a bag of ADB cables, ... (Unfortunately, not kidding.)
- roncesvalles 5d ago>And then you can get rid of... maybe 8 of them. Negative. I might need them all some day.
- 0x457 5d agoI 3D printed bunch of "tubes" where cables are stored, caps indicate what is stored inside. As a result, threw away a lot of A->C cables, preserved cursed cables like USB-C to 12V barrel jack.
- elheffe80 5d agoI have to admit I am getting closer to being half a century old and this is probably the single best idea I have heard in a very long time. Baggies are cheap af from the 'dollar store' so this is brilliant.
- master_crab 5d agoDO NOT DO THIS. It is 2026, just buy a 6 or 7 A/micro/mini adapters and just keep a handful of usb-c cables. It takes up less space and is easier to organize. And your cables are now mostly up-to-date and useful PD carriers.