> It you rarely put in servers, there's little chance someone will buy a lift.
No excuse I'm afraid. The basic lifts are not that expensive. And you can always rent one, most of the manufacturer resellers have a rental service too.
Its all fun and games thinking you can get away with it because you "rarely do it" ... until you or your colleague are off work with a bad back, or you find you've just thrown $10k worth of server on to the floor.
We might be in agreement that a 1U server is feasible without a lift, as long as it is below head height. Although frankly I still prefer using a lift with 1U servers because even if the weight is not a problem, the rails are so much easier to do when you have a lift supporting the server - especially if you are using the moving target that is telescoping rails !
But once you go above 1U or above head height, you're just asking for trouble.
Is there an official name for this device other than "lift"? I'm looking around for prices but I can't seem to find anything here in Europe on eBay, geizhals.eu, or anywhere else for that matter.
Fair enough. And also it sounds like you have plenty more experience with rack installation than most people. I never had an issue mounting though, but maybe my height helps ! 6'6
