Stainless

Ok, well, I've noticed there's a few guys wanting to mod their hard drives with windows etc, so I done one about 1 - 2 months ago now, and I'm going to write a general guide... It's a long read, but oh well...

I've added pics at the bottom to show it off a little, I have a bad camera, but still, they’re there.

Ok, now, when you get you're HD you'll have a top on it (duh). It should be fastened with "Tamper Proof Screws". They're a star shaped screw. They cannot be removed with a screwdriver. So go down to your local electronics store and grab a pack for tamper proof screwdrivers (Small enough to fit the screw...).

Ok, presuming you've got them you should place your hard drive onto a piece of perspex or your "Clear plastic equivalent". Trace around and remember when cutting to give yourself some room. You need the room because you’re going to counter sink the holes later on. You can get perspex from your local hardware. 2 - 3mm would be a good thickness.

So now you've got a window the full size of the current hard drive top. Very good! But as you can probably see on the top of your hard drive, it's slightly raised a little where the disk and reader spin/move. So you can't just bolt this perspex on (Damn, but don’t worry, we’ll show them!).

Ok, so we have the window but it won’t fit on without jamming the disk, so you'll have to raise your window. Cut a shim from perspex (you can do it from anything plastic and clean really, wood isn't the best thing to have in a HD because of splinters etc). Making the shim is going to be the hardest part of this exercise... To explain shim I mean a little piece that'll run around the window/hd edge to seal it, but raise the window.

I myself took my hard drive top off, put perspex over it and used a texta to colour in all the bits I needed to cut to make my shim. The edges of the disk are quite close to the edge, so you'll need a razor blade to slowly carve your edges to size in these places. Remember, only open the HD in a clean environment and be quick. Replace the HD top and set out to do your shim...

I made mine using a jigsaw, and then I calved it perfectly with a razor blade (Scalpel).

Glue the shim to your clear perspex top. Glue the whole thing so it’s sealed... So you virtually have a single piece of plastic. Super glue would be fine. Try to use as little as posable to prevent seeing the ugly glue.

Take off the HD lid and place it on your clear one, use a texta to mark the holes onto the perspex. Replace the HD Lid. And go and drill your holes!

Now you’ve got your perspex lid, and you're almost ready to attach it! But, your screws aren’t long enough to go through 2 sheets of perspex... Hrmm, you'll have to counter sink them! Be careful when you do this if you're just using a larger drill bit. Perspex is kind of soft so your drill bit can catch on it and go all the way through it in a second... Buy a counter sinking bit from your local hardware... They're cheap and save you starting all over again. Counter sink till you've just started going through the second layer of perspex. But do it as much as you need to for those screws to fit.

I myself just got longer screws.

Now, the golden moment (Yes, it's time to be excited!) remove your HD lid quickly and put your perspex one over it, and screw that sucker on. Whenever you have your HD open make sure you're quick, and you don’t leave it open. Also don’t be in a dusty environment. Definitely do NOT touch the disk directly with anything at all.

Now plug it up and see how it goes, if you hear a high pitch noise then you've prolly jammed the disk with your shim (Shame on you, but it's not the end of the world, just take it out and cut it again).

Use an old hard drive, not a new one it’s really quite great watching this thing spin/work...

I hope this gives you a little bit of a guide line if you plan to do a HD mod. Thank you :).

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Stainless

Thanks YiffyGriffy or Crash for approving this, I was getting worried for a while. :D

Burn

It's Perspex, not perspects..I think.

Good job anyway, guide looks awesome!

KSIMP88

Oh, man, that looks sexy!

Stainless

My bad on the spelling, yes, you are right ATVKid :p Now I feel like a noob :p But oh well! I deserved it :)

Burn

:) No problem. I wouldn't want someone going to Home Depot looking for Perspects and the people there don't have any idea what it is..

ArgyrE

oh i'm not brave enough to do this to my HDD.
Thanks anyway.But if i can find an old HDD (1GB) i can do this to it.:D

aweir

Nice, but would this hard drive be just to look at? One peice of dust or a single fingerprint can cause a head crash or damaged sectors, and let's not even think about what one strand of hair can do to a hard drive it it gets stuck on one of the platters...

Bored

This is amazing. I cant wait to try this ive got quite a few crappy 2gb harddrives.
awesome idea man

Thumper

Cool guide. Seems risky ;) But the end result is very attractive. Have to mod most cases to take advantage of it though.