DIY USB "Hard Drive"

Using a dead Hard Drive, a 4-port USB hub, and a few Flash Drives, we will kill some time and get a few laughs from anyone seeing you use this.

**NOTE**
You guys can see MAKE magazine's rip-off article of my project at:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2009/03/weekend_project_flash_memory_hard_d_1.html

Thanks for the credit MAKE, I really appreciate it....

Step 1: Find a candidate.

Any Hard Drive should do..

Comments

[Quazaka]

I must say that this comes out very cool, here is mine :P

[frenzy]

have great news!

This posting has won today's "I Made It" Challenge. For winning you will receive a 3 month pro membership!

Thanks for using instructables!

http://www.instructables.com/community/June-is-I-Made-It-Challenge-Month-Win-a-Pro-Mem/

[divimo]

wa ! It's so cool,回去弄一个！

[squee2088]

You, sir, are a legend! Very clever

[ubotbuddy]

VERY cool instructable! Now if the LED lights could blink when in use THAT would be awesome. I'll have to check my usb hub to see if it has lights.

Kudos for your project!

[ChrisE123]

my laptop dosent work know moar. alls i d0ne is take-out the soft drive

[dog digger]

At this step, SAVE THE MAGNETS. THEY ARE EXPENSIVE AND POWERFUL. Save them. they are also very cool and very strong.

[gionwhorphin]

Any tips on how to get them off the steel part they're stuck to? I often break the magnets trying to get them off - they're more brittle than the metal they're on.

The best way I've found its to try and bend the metal piece the magnet is on in a clamp or vise. This usually introduces a gap somewhere along the magnet I can exploit, but it doesn't always work.

[PieterDC]

I'd think it would be unwise to ruine a hard drive IF it was still functioning espacially when you can buy a litle housing for them that makes them usb connectable for only 10 or 20 bucks, it's not flash but you probably have more capacity that way

[mguima]

If you do not run a museum, I think that is really wise dismantle an OBSOLETE electronic equipment if you can use it for something cool or useful. I´ve already dismantled an operational cable modem (the cable company provides one for free), DSL router, hand scanner... The only case I would be wrong would be after global nuclear war, when suddenly an old 386 with 40GB HD could become rare and useful again.

[mguima]

I meant to say 40 MB

[Tech_Master]

Do all the flash drives show up as one because of the adapter or do they show up all separate?

[Buggerlugz]

They show separate

[bštrkalj]

if you open hard drive air will destroy him ,inside is vacum :)

[Buggerlugz]

you dont need a vacum to run 4 usb drives

[gmgfarrand]

Negative, that information is INCORRECT.
DUST will kill your drive.
We do data recovery on the platters, and we do it on earth, not in a vacuum. ;)

[aidanjarosgrilli]

I did something like this but with one 2gb stick, and my brother put his resume on it to give to some dude, but he said he didn't want to put a virus on his $5000 computer. My one turned out great and people didn't believe me that is was 2gb.
hahahahahaha
great ible by the way.

[glargod]

Made myself one, but single USB cuz I didn't had a HUB (Sad :( ... ). It took me about 2hrs, precision working (something that I never do >.> ) and the result is that on the picture. Been using a old silly Acer 383.74MB HDD from an Old IBM computer, took off the board and all the internal component and fixed with electrical tape the usb on a usb extender cable that I had. Putted all the panels on with the board so it looks like a real HDD that haven't been touched at all, and removed the sticker's on the top and putted some of the tape I used for decoration. Result? 4GB "External Hard Disk Drive" (USB in ^.^)

[Tech_Master]

"But will it blend that is the question"

i had to do it

[mrmouseboy2]

With my usb hard drive i can't get the motor thingy that connects to the platter. So i only have 1 4gb flash drive in it. Your usb hard drive is cool though.

[Marcos]

 Last time I took one apart, I think I had to drill out the screw for the "motor thingy", also known as the spindle.  ;-)

[Gabse]

Kipkay

[ravibhadaniya]

awesom .........................................................................................................................................................................

[romulopericles]

wow... a nice fake HD, just to show off, ok

[porschedude]

I can see some fun with this one, what if you used the normal connection to the HD and made a cable to adapt the IDE Data Cable end and power connector to a USB. Most people would think it was no big deal since we have seen adapters for a lot of things, but the more geek the person is, they are going to wonder what it is...LOL

[skeetshooter11]

i painted mine in a painted cardboard holder

[sokamiwohali]

hahaha...you had me going there for a second...i thought you jerry-rigged the HDD just the way it was by just soldering a few wires from the USB Cable into the HDD...i sure didnt see the USB hub and flash drives coming...Great Instructable!!

[daguilar4]

ha this is to cool but I do have to lol @ everyone getting all tec and not seeing it as a working joke lol, I can see all the Baristas at starbucks freaking at the portable hd lol, how bout a hd in a pepsi can lol just saying

[gmgfarrand]

Thought about using a can... It needs to be more structurally sound...

[MadScientist101]

Why do you use USB drives, would it not be possible to run the actual hard drive?awsome idea anyway though!

[seerixprojex]

USB doesn't supply enough power to run a 3.5 inch drive, but it would for a laptop (2.5") drive in most cases. But a DIY for that would be a little pointless because you can get a 2.5" enclosure packaged and ready to go for around $10 these days. Good question though!

[chevy62]

couldn't you use a normal 20gb hard drive and figure way to use that 20gb as a flash drive so you can have that as a portable 20gb flash drive

[seerixprojex]

There is one thing you could do, you could get one of those USB drive adapters that uses an AC adapter to supply the power needed to spin up a 3.5 inch drive.

[chevy62]

i need a link to do it i am not sure what you are saying but i also do know what you mean if you get what i am trying to say

[seerixprojex]

I know exactly what you mean. Here is a link to one of many brands available. This one might be a little expensive ($35) because it is so universal, meaning it supports so many types of drives. So keep in mind that this is not the cheapest method to accomplish making a spare 3.5 inch drive into a portable USB drive. A basic external USB enclosure is way cheaper, I've seen them on sale for $10. But what's nice about this device is you can use it to connect many types of drives via USB without the enclosure.

http://www.newertech.com/products/usb2_adaptv2.php

[riekard]

so...does anyone know where to get dirt cheap flash drives???

[bendog38]

CVS

[rebelgrunt]

ebay???

[Adam Manick]

Ebay

[shenzer]

nowdays flash drives are 4gb for 10 so its pretty cheap