Build your own External Hard Drive

Build your own External Hard Drive :)

I hope this will be Helpful to new users / members.


Materials needed:

External HD enclosure kit ( I got mine from eBay $ 12.50)



a good brand HD (Sata or IDE) (I got a WD Blue 500gb for $39.99 from NewEgg)
Use the proper enclosure case for either Sata or IDE HD.


Open the new Ext enclosure carefully. Some have screws holding the 2 ends onto
the aluminum case. The one I just used had small plastic push tabs, that can break easily.


Connect the Data & Power cables properly to the HD. Most are coded so they can only be
inserted one way.


Slide the HD & cabled end assembly back into the case. Attach the ends to the case.
Next connect the power supply cord to the Ext case.

Then the USB cable.



Connect the power supply to your standard home electrical source.


Connect the USB cable to a USB port on your computer, turn on the switch on the EXT case.


Now Windows should find the new hardware & install the drivers for it.

Windows may give you a prompt that this HD may need to be Initialized (especially if it is a new Raw HD).


Follow the prompts if you need to Initialize your new raw HD.







If windows does not automatically asign a drive letter to your new Ext HD, then you will need to go
into Disk Management to asign it a drive letter.



Enjoy the use of your External Hard Drive

DocBrown said:

Build your own External Hard Drive

Enjoy the use of your External Hard Drive

These things are awesome I've used them almost as long as I've had a computer.... My first computer was purchased in 94 or 95, I forget. :) I've got one for a 400g IDE and two for SATA 2.x. I'm not changing my thinking for a while...

I use an external Dock for post portable hard drive uses these days

USB2 and eSATA;
Newegg.com - Thermaltake BlacX ST0005U External Hard Drive SATA Enclosure Docking Station 2.5” & 3.5” USB 2.0 & eSATA

I love mine. I have 2 Rosewill enclosures with 1T Samsung Spinpoints. They are great.

Doc, Nicely written article! I always appreciate the effort that goes into something like that. It takes a lot of work.

FYI, recently I went with an off-the-shelf dual-HD solution called BlacXduet from Thermaltake. Stuff your own SATA drives in. Not as pretty, but you can swap out quickly. eSATA or USB connection. About $58 from Best Buy.

I have been checking on external hard drives and just about all come with a 1yr warranty. I like the idea of getting a good HDD with 5yr warranty and sticking it in an enclosure. I am still looking for an enclosure with USB3.0/2.0 and a SATA III interface. Found a few with USB3.0 but with SATA II interface. They state SATA III compatible but run at SATA II speeds. Not in a hurry so will wait for the higher specs.

Jim

soho1 said:

Doc, Nicely written article! I always appreciate the effort that goes into something like that. It takes a lot of work.

FYI, recently I went with an off-the-shelf dual-HD solution called BlacXduet from Thermaltake. Stuff your own SATA drives in. Not as pretty, but you can swap out quickly. eSATA or USB connection. About $58 from Best Buy.

You can also get those that except both 3.5 and 2.5 I'm not sure if the one shown does but thought I'd mention it anyways.
One of the cool things is the hot swap feature.

Also very well written and attached photo's Doc should help out some members. +1 on that.
Fabe

Phoneman, I have sata 6 connectors in my computer. I also have a sata 6 HD and a sata 3 HD. The only way to tell the difference is through benchmarks, and that is even minimal. Truth is there is no mechanical drive that can max out sata3 capabilities much less sata6. and the enclosures usually come with a 1 yr warranty, the HD comes with extended warranties.
As far as performance of sata 3 vs. sata6.
WD1002FAEX sata6-internal 1TB

Seagate sata3-500GB internal

Samsung sata3- external esata