Turn That Old Hard Drive Into An External One

I recently upgraded the hard drive on my laptop and decided to keep my old hard drive around for extra storage. This is a great way to reuse your internal drive instead of destroying it or giving it away. What's great about small laptop hard drives is that they're very portable, so they come in handy for school or work projects. Lifehacker's Rick Broida did a nice job of posting instructions on how to turn your old hard drive into an external one.

Here are some things you need to keep in mind:

1. Look for an enclosure with an external power supply, as well as a USB/Firewire connection. You'll need a 2.5-inch enclosure for laptops, or a 3.5-inch enclosure for desktop drives.
2. Find out what type of drive you have: IDE or SATA. "An IDE connector measures about two inches wide and has two rows of pins; SATA connectors are much smaller and have only one row."
3. Never force anything into the enclosure. Make sure you're grounded, and if you're enclosing an IDE drive, ensure you select the right jumper as per the enclosure instructions. Mount the drive, connect the power plug and interface, then close it up.
4 . Desktop drives need an external power supply, while most notebook drives are powered by the USB/FireWire connection.
5. You might need drivers if you're using Windows 98 or Me, but they should come with the enclosure. Reformat the drive if you want to start over, and start using it.

That's it! Now you can use your old drive to back up music, photos or anything else you value. Head on over to Lifehacker or Computer Shopper for a complete tutorial. Believe me, there's nothing intimidating about this project. Now you won't have to feel too guilty about updating to terabyte hard drives later this year.

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