How to build an external hard drive

If you have a spare hard drive, why not build an external hard drive yourself? External hard drive enclousures usually have a USB connection. You can access and store information on an external hard drive just as you would any other storage device such as a cd or USB drive. So instead of letting your old drive collect dust, build an external hard drive to store older photos, movies or music.

I recently bought a new laptop and converted the hard drive from the old laptop to an external hard drive.

You only need 3 things to build an external hard drive:

Internal hard drive
hard drive enclosure
screwdriver

In my case, I didn't want to clear the old hard drive completely. I wanted to be able to access some old files without having to transfer them to my new computer. So, I deleted what I didn't want and left some files. If you want, you can clear your hard drive completely before removing it.

Here's how I did it:

First purchase an external hard drive enclosure that matches the hard drive you're using. The two things you need to know are the hard drive size and connection type.

In my case, I was using a laptop hard drive. Laptops typically use 2.5" hard drives. The connection type is either SATA or IDE.

The best way to find that out is to remove your hard drive and check it out.

The hard drive on a laptop should be located somewhere towards the edge. Here's where mine was:

Take out the hard drive by removing any screws securing it. Be sure to ground yourself when handling the hard drive.

Once you've taken it out, remove the screws securing it to the encasement.

It should look something like this:

As you see, I needed an enclosure with an IDE connection. Sata connections will have just a few pins.

Insert the connection end of the enclosure by lining up the pins on the hard drive.

Slip the hard drive into the enclosure and secure the connection end.

Then replace the bottom of the enclosure.

If you're using anything older than Windows XP, you'll have to install the software included with the enclosure.

If you're using Windows XP or Vista, simply plug the USB cable to your computer.

Windows should find the new hardware and recognize it. You can now access you hard drive like any other device. There you have it! You've built an external hard drive.