TechnoExpress.Net: Using & Modding Hard Disk Drive Enclosures
Using & Modding Hard Disk Drive Enclosures
Here are links to guides about using and modding external hard disk drive
enclosures.
If you have written a HOWTO yourself (or if you
know of tips and tricks not mentioned here), please
submit a new entry.
Are you tired of pulling out your portable drive and connecting it whenever you need to back something up? Attaching an external HDD to the lid of your laptop isn't the most elegant solution but very convinient.
How to connect two IDE units to a single 3.5" external drive housing and to replace the single and very short IDE cable provided with the enclosure (the one that connects the hard drive to the very controller) with a conventional (long and grey with 3 connectors) Ultra ATA IDE cable ( use a 'Y' Molex extension cable to be able to power the two drive). This mod is really quick, easy and useful to do and ideal for users that travels a lot.
Hot Swappable IDE, how to make your HDD a USB drive. Did you ever add or remove a HDD in your PC? If so, you should know that you need to close your PC before removing or adding anything (otherwise it can broke the hardware). Here is a simple way to do that, with an old usb external CD ROM.
Troubleshooting tips for an external FireWire hard disk drive enclosure (with and internal parallel drive). This HOWTO explains in detail how to free your hard drive from its firewire enclosure and then either swap cases or install your drive into a G4 or G5.
For some reason, devices of this type - i.e. external USB enclosures that come pre-equipped with a drive as opposed to similar enclosures that are sold without one - are not normally intended to be opened or serviced by the end user. Consequently, the user manual does not give any instructions on opening the case, much less replacing the hard disk drive inside it. However, there are a number of good reasons why you might want to do precisely those things: * in order to remove the HDD from the case and install it into an internal drive bay of your PC (this could come handy if you no longer need the portability of an external enclosure and would like to get rid of the unnecessary case, cabling, and a separate wall wart, or if you just want to get the full SATA throughput instead of mere USB 2.0 speeds), * in order to replace a broken HDD with a new one, * in order to recover the data (and the drive) if the USB controller has broke down but the HDD itself is still working, * or in order to upgrade the original HDD with a new one that has a larger capacity.
You open the drive by pushing from the front - you MUST re-assemble it by inserting the front into the back of the case - there are detents which prevent the reverse; also note that the carrier bolts onto the sleeve with four screws inserted from the bottom. Inside the case are the screws to mount the HD and secure the case to the frame and a SATA cable.
Remove two screws from the back and the tray easily slides out. When you open the unit, there may be a dangling wire with a two pin connector attached to the external case - this is for the HD light.
This external enclosure houses a SATA hard drive which can be connected to your PC either through a SATA or USB cable. The cover comes off very easily - the large knurled knobs make it easy to unscrew the back without a screwdriver; once opened, you see the PCB and the cooling fan.
How to make an External USB Hard Drive from Lego. Technically it was not made from Lego from the bottom up it's just the SATA-USB logic chip and the frame of a normal drive enclosure encased in Lego Bricks.
With laptops getting smaller and smaller and Solid State Disk gaining popularity, disk sizes are getting smaller. This is once again making small external hard disk more popular nowadays. Here is a review of a stylish 2.5 Inch Serial Ata hard disk casing.
If you're looking for some extra external storage for your notebook you could go out and buy a ready made USB or FireWire external 100GB hard drive for around $200, or you could more cheaply and quite easily make your own portable external hard drive by buying an enclosure and "naked" hard drive and slapping them together for around $100. Furthermore, instead of chucking away that old 40GB notebook hard drive you just upgraded you can read this guide and see how to easily use it as an external hard drive for data backup.
