DIY USB quothard drive quote

DIY USB quothard drive quote

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DIY USB "Hard Drive"

by gmgfarrand on August 7, 2008

Table of Contents

intro: DIY USB "Hard Drive" 2

step 1: Find a candidate 2

step 2: Dismantle 2

step 3: Compare 3

step 4: Hub 3

step 5: Install 4

step 6: Flash Me! 4

step 7: Button it up 4

Related Instructables 5

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Customized Instructable T-shirts 5

Comments 5

intro: 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

step 1: Find a candidate.

Any Hard Drive should do

step 2: Dismantle

Take the Hard Drive apart

step 3: Compare

Make sure your USB hub will fit, either with the plastic case on, or not

step 4: Hub

For this purpose, I removed the plastic case

step 5: Install

I placed the "nekkid" USB hub into the area where the platter used to be

Note: I was only placing this temporarily, if I was going to keep this mod permanent, I would glue the hub in either using epoxy or hot glue

Edit: I forgot to mention, if this was going to be used permanently, I would coat the circuit board with epoxy, just like I do with Flash Drives

step 6: Flash Me!

Now add your Flash Drives, you may have to remove the casing for some to fit well

step 7: Button it up.

Replace the cover to the Hard Drive, and plug in!

Now you will have a "new" Flash Drive that will be sure to get some comments

Also, there is a way, I haven't done it, but with a certain flavor of Linux, you can install Linux onto all 4 of the Flash drives in a RAID configuration, assuming you have all the same capacities

Have fun!

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Comments

This is NOT what I expected I'm suing for false advertising

the magnets are neodymium iron boron one's, aren't they?

Yes

They are lots of fun

Just don't put in hair,

Did that once, not much fun

which linux distro do u recommend? and why wouldyour raid need to have all the same size disk??

Doesn't raid always require all the disks to be the same size? Correct me if I'm wrong, I don't actually use raid, but I thought that they did always have to

be the same size

Not sure myself but i think depending on the confiuration

If you have one disk mirroring the other then you only get the capacity of the smaller drive

If mine was permanent I would remove the USB cases and revoce the hub case, put it in the HD case then fill everything up with potting epoxy (non-conductive)

Imagine a 120 GB USB THUMBDRIVE!! That would be awesome

There is one, but it is really pricey It is in the PC Connection Catalog

If I was a millionaire, I'd get it, but I'm 15 and can't find someone to hire at 15 where I live

If I was a billionare I'd buy 4 of those 4 TB USB hard drive things and put it in a hub, secured inside a dead hard drive case

I'm a little foggy on this whole instructable However, I gather from both pictures at step 4 and step 6, this means I can use some kind of case and essentially build a compounded flash drive by just using either one or a series of USB hubs Is that correct?

This would be handy-dandy to use as an instantly accessible movie collection: just save the movies on the flash drives When you want to watch one, go

to that drive This would work, right?

pretty much, although depending on what capacity your flash drives are you might not be able to store a whole movie on each one

you can get 64gb ones

http://www.centrecom.com.au/catalog/product_info.php?cPath=107_98&products_id=34691

robots199 says: Dec 10, 2008 5:14 PM REPLY

Woot! The Zeeky Bomb!

Way to expensive

but flash memory is getting cheaper,

2 yrs ago i got a 256mb micro sd for $15 now a 1GB micro sd is about $7

I picked up a 2GB flash drive tonight from Wal-Mart for $5.00

I bought an 8Gb for $14 online at Tigerdirect several months ago Its perfect for storing ripped DVD's and taking them with you to watch elsewhere

i got a 512mb flash drive for 3 bucks

how

i has 512 bought for 11 YTL, now my frieng is buying a 8 gig with the same price tag

yeh, i got a 256 for $60 AUD 3years ago now for $60 you can bet a 8GB

zeeky boogy doogy doo (BOOOOOOM)

at the start of this year, i got a 2 gig USB for $30 AUD and im pretty sure u can get a 8 gig USB for $20 AUD $60 gets u 3x8 gigs, 24 gigs

yeh you can, once i even saw a 1GB for $5 at the start of this year i have a 512 usb but i cant be stuffed buying a new one then having it outdated in a few weeks so i just use my 160GB iPod, but i only have 5GB free :(

I can't be stuffed trying to keep up, because like you said I'd have to buy a new one every few weeks lol but I don't entirely agree with your view, whenever my flashdrives are no longer adequate for my needs I buy a new larger one I don't just give up and never buy another one again

i just bought an 8g for $12.49

You can get that same 64GB corsair from the link above at Newegg for about $104 http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2013240522%201309439130&name=64GB

hehehe, 5 yrs ago i saw 1 200mb $115 and now i bought 1 thats 2 gig for $15

lol every thing gets outdated everyday

you can get a 16gb card for £22 now!

sweet but the Australian dollar is weak because of the American home loan crash but it can only get cheaper

here's what i'm gonna do:

port 1: 64GB flash drive

port 2: 64GB flash drive

Port 3: wifi adapter

port 4:bluetooth adapter

You could add a usb wifi addapter and some jumpdrives to use with a laptop and store a bunch of info and web pages, or even some games with a couple of 8gigs!

i tought its a real hard disk drive trying to connect at usb port! its like hiding usb flash drive inside the HD No comment

I have a question My hard-drive, well something is faulty in it Dell is sending me a new one because I am on their Complete and accidental protection plan They told me I can keep the hard drive

What I am wondering is Since the drive is still work, can I take it and turn it into an external hard drive? I would hate to let a kinda good 160 GB drive go to waste

You can turn it into an external drive But first, you need something like this:

http://www.slashgear.com/hard-drive-dock-for-all-of-your-external-hard-drive-needs-228087/

You forgot to add the key for winding it up

(like a clockwork toy)

I like the your idea, and I bet it does get some very confused comments when it is seen being used

is it possible to hook up a real hard drive to usb???

Radioactive_Legos says: Nov 30, 2008 2:35 PM REPLY

Yes Several, actually

1 Go and buy (on eBay) an external HDD enclosure They have a circuit board inside the case to interpret the IDE/SATA signals from the drive to USB 2.0

2 Crack open an unused USB external CD drive and replace the CD drive with a hard drive Some drive formatting may be required

There are also some other ways I think

if you find them could you tell me??

do you think this is possible with a multicard reader and have different memory cards? therefore u wouldnt need a power source

omg amazing idea!

I'm going to get 4 of the biggest flash drives I can find for this project

I did this and it works great!

My only problem is my hub has to have a power source

so just 2 gigs for now

I made this instructable in a single night I used a glue gun to glue down non conductive foam, and then glued the hub to the foam and did a single drop of glue gun glue to hold down the flash drives

I used two "broken" drives as in the cases were cracked Both were 512M I went ahead a bought a cheap 2 gig drive and took it out of its plastic case and glued it in as well

One neat side effect I got the really heavy duty magnet out of the hard drive and I am using it as a powerful fridge magnet

Great instructable here Now I wont break the cases on my flash drives or lose them because they are too small

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