This is my first instructable, so please be patient with me... also, since English is a foreign language for me I will not take responsibility for any spelling errors...

I want to show you how to transform a Western Digital "My Book" Firewire/USB hard disk into something that really resembles a book, using just some rather common strong glue, a bit of old leather, a couple of glueing clamps and some gold spraypaint...

Step 1: Take-Apart

First, in order to play around with your case without endangering your HDDs, you have to get the case open. I found a couple of plastic clamps holding the thing to the metal case inside when I first took out the screws... I needed some help to get them off without damaging the case...

The LED/button assembly is connected by a convenient plug - I am lazy and forgetful, so I usually just snap a picture of something to remember how it was assembled when putting it back together again. However you do it, just remember to plug it in again after you`re done....

The HDDs will neatly slide out of the case, leaving you with a robust metal case that houses all the essentials and a plastic show-case which is largely superfluous :-) any casemodders dream!

Step 2: Leather

Cut a strip of leather of appropriate size for the "book cover" . I did this project mainly because I already had a bit of old leather I had removed from an old chair I reupholstered recently... Of course which part of the old leather you choose has a great impact on the look of the book, so I chose a very used piece from the front of the chair, where the leather had been squashed, torn, whetted blank, besmudged etc...

The LED on the Western Digital HDDs is not really well suited for steampunking - maybe if you got a white or red LED edition, you might be more lucky... but fact of the matter is, it really is convenient if you`re backing up 3 servers simultaneously to just have to watch the flashy LEDs to see if the backup is already complete while you`re already juggling 5 ssh-connected other machines upgrading them to lenny on the fly whilst spawning new technological solutions to problems most people outside the hacker community will never have..... I guess you see where I`m going with this.
I did not like it, but I had to integrate the LED/Button on the front into the design... If you are merely annoyed by it, feel free to completely cover it up and ignore the rest of this step.

To mark the center I simply folded the leather in half both ways and marked the crest with a pencil. Then, I found myself a fitting template for the button, drew a circle around it after placing it roughly in the middle and cut out the circle with ordinary scissors...(btw:not really the way to go! If you got a good work surface and a sharp knife I would recommend you use those, instead)

Step 3: Spraypainting

Now It is time to pack out the good old gold spray, so handy in steampunking anything even remotely resembling plastic... Make sure you thoroughly cover all areas you don`t want painted and give it a couple of layers of paint... In my case, I gave it 3 layers of paint. Only the sticker carrying important product data like serial number etc. was saved from spraypainted oblivion by covering it up - I figured the connectors would be self-explanatory....

Step 4: Glue!

Now its time to start the glueing action... Start with the spine of the book, making sure the hole for the LED/button is centered. After giving it some time to set (read the instructions of your preferred glue carefully) you may release the clamps and start glueing down the sides. I used a hole punch for the holes in the leather where the case screws go - but I would have used some more appropriate equipment if I had found it in my mothers sewing-room...

Don`t worry if your holes, be they for screws or the center LED are slightly off - you can simply stretch the leather to fit....

Step 5: Re-Assembly

After giving the glue some time to cure, it is time to re-assemble the case. This step should be the easiest but I will remind you, nonetheless, to re-plug the LED/button connector! (I never tried it, but if you covered it up during step 2/4, you may try if the thing works with the connector off... I`d try it while you haven`t fully re-assembled the case, though, as it is such a pain in the arse to take apart)

Add the case screws, and you`re done!