Here’s a novel idea I found on YouTube some time ago: You’ve probably heard of case-modding: Well here it is taken to a new level: Drive-modding.

You can recycle that old CD-ROM/optical drive’s case, rather than sending it to landfill.

What you’ll need is some silicon/mastic sealant, an old CD-ROM/optical drive (Working or broken.), a small fan, possibly one from an old CPU cooler, and a hard-drive (SATA or PATA/IDE), a can of compressed air, some plastic mountings, and possibly some (black) spray paint. (The bit with the spray-paint isn’t shown in the video: That was my idea; I’ll explain further down.)

Take your old CD-ROM/optical drive and open it up as demonstrated in the video. Take the guts out. Use the can of compressed air to blow out any grime that may have accrued inside the case. You may also like to wash and dry it.

At this point here’s the bit that’s not in the video that I suggest: That is that you spray the outside of the case the same colour as your computer. Allow the paint to dry.

Draw an outline of your hard-drive with a pencil, central to the baseplate and towards the rear-end (See video.). Position the mountings appropriately on a thin bed of sealant and sit the hard-drive on top of the mountings. Apply the silicon sealant as demonstrated; making contact with the baseplate, mounting, and outside of the hard-drive’s casing in all six events.

Affix the cooling fan to the outside of the case as shown, using the sealant solution.

Allow the silicon solution the recommended time to cure.

Reassemble the case with the hard-drive in position; and put some form of mesh where the CD-ROM door once was.

Connect the cooler fan to the drive’s 12 volt supply. Insert the modded drive into the computer and connect up appropriately.

Note: This modded drive will require space at the top due to the external cooler-fan.

You could, of course, use this method to construct an external hard-drive by adding either an e-SATA interface, and connecting up accordingly; or a USB interface cannibalised from a defunct external hard drive, and connecting the 12 volt lead to a spare 12 volt line from your PSU inside the computer.