How to build your own external hard drive-gctid50320

[Ajamu]

How to build your own external hard drive | How To - CNET

 Building  your own external hard drive is easy to do, can save you some cash, and  offers more custom options than buying prebuilt ones.
    by Ed Rhee    March 27, 2012 10:30 AM PDT


(Credit: Macally)

 External hard drives are great for storing photos, music, videos, and  backup files. Not only can they can be used with a PC, but also with  media devices to add streaming storage, and with Wi-Fi routers as cheap  NAS solutions.

 Off-the-shelf external hard drives often contain mystery drives  inside and the enclosures aren't meant to be reused. Building your own  external hard drive can sometimes be a cheaper, more flexible solution.  And if you already have an old internal hard drive lying around, you can  turn it into a cool external drive, for as little as $10.

 Choosing your internal hard drive

 Internal interface
Modern hard drives have SATA interfaces and are easy to identify because  they only have 7 pins. If you're buying a new drive, it'll be a SATA  drive. If you're reusing an old drive, it's possible that it's a PATA  (IDE) drive, with 40 pins. Most enclosures support one or the other, so  it's important to know which internal interface your drive has.

 Size, height, and capacity
3.5-inch drives are used in desktop computers, while 2.5-inch drives are  normally used in laptops. 3.5-inch drives offer higher storage  capacities than 2.5-inch drives, so if you want 2TB of storage, a  desktop drive is your only choice. However 2.5-inch drives are a better  pick for portable use. While most 2.5-inch drives are 9.5 mm in height,  some are 12.5 mm. Note the size of your drive before deciding on an  enclosure.

Rotational speed
7,200rpm and 5,400rpm hard drives are the most common rotational speeds  for internal hard drives. 7,200rpm drives are faster than 5,400rpm  drives, but they tend to run hotter and are less energy efficient than  5,400rpm drives. If you choose the faster, hotter drive, the enclosure's  ability to keep the drive cool will be an important consideration.

Choosing your enclosure

 Plastic vs. aluminum
Aluminum enclosures are more durable than plastic and inherently better  at keeping drives cool. If you plan on running your external hard drive  24x7 or using a 7,200rpm drive, we suggest going with an aluminum  enclosure. Plastic enclosures are generally cheaper than aluminum ones,  but aren't as good at cooling. Occasionally, you can find a plastic one  with a fan, but the drawback with fans is that they can get pretty loud,  especially if they're sitting on top of your desk. On the other hand,  if you're using a 5,400rpm laptop drive for portable use, a plastic  enclosure is fine.

 External interfaces
Choosing an external interface depends a lot on how you want to use your  drive and how much you want to spend. A vast majority of enclosures are  USB 2.0-only enclosures. Most media devices and routers only support  USB drives. USB 2.0 is a good value choice and great for broad  compatibility, but has the poorest performance among available  interfaces.

 USB 3.0 is currently the fastest available interface on enclosures  and is backward-compatible with USB 2.0. The drawback with USB 3.0 is  that it's not as common as USB 2.0, and Macs don't have USB 3.0 at all.

 FireWire is more prevalent in Macs than PCs. FireWire 800 (EEE-1394b)  is faster than USB 2.0, but slower than USB 3.0. For the best  performance with a Mac, FireWire 800 is your best choice, unless someone releases an affordable ThunderBolt enclosure.

 eSATA performance is better than FireWire and USB 2.0, but is the  only interface that doesn't power the drive via cable; it requires a  separate power adapter. eSATA drives have notorious connectivity  problems as well. Unless you're dedicated to using this interface for  some reason, we'd recommend against eSATA as your lone interface

 Putting your external drive together

 Putting an external drive together is fairly straightforward. You  typically mount the internal drive onto the tray of the enclosure -- or  sometimes the rear cap -- and then screw the enclosure shut.

 
(Credit: Ed Rhee/CNET)

 That's it. After it's all put together, just plug it in to your  computer and format it. For help on deciding what filesystem to use,  Sharon Vaknin has a must-read post on the best ways to format an external drive for Windows and Mac.