Build an external hard drive yourself - how it works

If you still have an old hard drive, you can build your own external hard drive yourself. Here we show you which material you need and what you have to watch out for.

Preparation: Find a case for building the external hard drive yourself

In order for your hard drive to fit into the case in the end, you need to know a few things about your hard drive in advance:

Would you like to install a 2.5 inch or 3.5 inch hard drive? If you are not sure which type of hard disk you have, you can measure it. To do this, place a ruler on the short edge of your hard disk. With a length of 6.35 centimeters you have a 2.5 inch hard drive and at 8.89 centimeters you have a 3.5 inch hard drive.
Does your hard drive have an IDE or SATA connector? You can recognize a SATA connector by the fact that the width of the cable is eight millimeters, compared to the IDE connector of five centimeters, which is significantly smaller. In the picture you can see both connection types side by side and compare them with your hard disk.
When looking for a housing, pay attention to these features and whether the housing already supports USB 3.0 or is still working with USB 2.0. You can read the differences in this practical tip. However, the new USB 3.0 standard is recommended.
You can find a selection of different hard drive cases here, for example.

Install the hard disk in the housing

The installation is somewhat different for each hard disk housing. For this reason, please note the manual supplied. Below in the gallery you will find an example of how to correctly insert the hard drive into the housing.

Ground yourself before installing the hard drive. For example, touch a radiator.
Now open the hard drive housing. Most of the time you need a screwdriver.
Before inserting the hard drive, check whether the connection is really the right one. To do this, place the hard drive next to the hard drive housing.
Now insert the hard disk as described in the manual. In general, this should work with little effort.
If necessary, screw the hard disk to the hard disk housing.
Close the lid of the hard disk housing and screw it on.
You can now use your new external hard drive on your computer.

If you do not yet have a suitable hard drive to build yourself, the CHIP leaderboard will help you.