Build Your Own USB Hard Drive

Posted by Chad Criswell Aug 9, 2007

In a recent article I talked about the benefits of purchasing a portable USB hard drive for your home or office computer. I went into detail about what to look for and why they are important to your overall setup. Today I am going to share with you some hints on how to build your own USB hard drive on the cheap.

The first thing you need to purchase is a portable hard drive enclosure. It so happens that just this evening I found a great little USB/Firewire enclosure on sale at TigerDirect.com for less than $20. This particular hard drive enclosure is made by Ultra Products, but there are similar enclosures out there from other retailers for roughly the same amount.

Once you get your new enclosure you need something to put inside it. The enclosure by itself won't do anything, it needs a working hard disc hooked up inside. You can buy a hard drive online, but you can also use an old one, scavenged from an old computer or one that you have laying around (or am I the only person that has hard drives laying around my desk?). One caveat about using an old hard drive is that the older the drive is the more prone to failure it is. If you are using this new portable hard drive as a backup or if you are storing very valuable information you might want to invest in a new drive instead.

The enclosure will have instructions on how to open it up and mount the hard drive inside. You may need to set the jumpers on the hard drive to set it as a slave device before screwing it into the new case. Again, check the instructions and follow them precisely. Once the drive is assembled you may have to format the drive, but in general this is a pretty easy little way to create extra storage space for your computer. The best part is that by reusing old equipment and looking out for sales you can save a ton of money by building a USB hard drive on your own.