The EeePC and I'm sure some other netbooks come with a recovery DVD - problem is that netbooks (understandably) don't have an internal DVD drive, so being me I didn't want to go out and buy an external one, because I simply wouldn't have any use for it . instead, I started looking around for stuff I had laying round the house...

I happen to be using a case and drive with IDE connectors, but SATA should also work

Step 1: What You Need

- Old unused external HDD/HDD enclosure (or a used one if you want a temporary external Drive)
- Unused DVD drive
- Screwdriver
- Patience

Notice that the connectors inside the enclosure must match the connectors on the DVD Drive for it to work. I happened to have an old IDE drive and an old external HDD which is also IDE connected. I don't know about the modern ones, but i guess it would also work with SATA.

Step 2: Disassembly

Unscrew then open the external harddrive enclosure and slide the mounting bracke
after that you should be presented with somthing like what you see on the second picture.

Step 3: Assemble the Whole Thing

the next step is pretty simple - just put everything together - not really much to look out for.
after you have everything connected, set up the boot priotiry on yout netbook to USB and voila! - you now have an external USB DVD-Drive and can install all the great programs and old games on your netbook.