A little while ago there was a burst of activity concerning HDD ribbon cables and their flatness. They looked messy and did their best to block up much sought after space. A few adventurous people got their pen-knives out and sliced them to bunch them up to reduce their surface area like this. This worked great for regular 40 wire cables and improved space and kind of looked cool. Then there was the new ATA66/100 80 wire cables where the wires are much thinner and easier to damage.