Convert an Internal PATA IDE (Desktop) 3.5″ Hard disk to External USB Hard Disk

this is how my home (personal network setup) looks like (picture diagram):

Phenom aka Opteron aka AMD’s quad core 2.0 -~= AMD x2 2.8 ghz -~= AMD Athlon 64 2.8 ghz -~= P4 1.7 (williamate) -~= P2 233 mhz * 2 -~= P1 133 mhz * 3

- = bluetooth, ~ = traditional cat5 lan, = = wifi

simple diagram

[ opteron -~= x2 -~= Athlon 64 -~= p4 -~= p2 -~ p1 ] – openwrt on linksys * 2 (WRT54GL); Bluetooth PAND LAN; CAT5 UTP 1000 mbit LAN.

p1/p2 works as routers and switches and gateways and firewall and vpn and radius when working in LAN/WLAN/PAND else a mono tower when browsing and “JUST 1 (one) monitor” and 2 laptops. zig-zag at times.

hard drives? DONT ASK, its in TB’s of storage, a huge power bill and 2 capless broadband connections each 1 mbps, developing linux related things.

thus for me data is the CNS (central nervous system) so loosing data is like becoming nervous and panicky. :-p thats why the tip. hope it helps, than annoys.

that doesnt solve many issues. they are as follows.
#1. there is no heat exhaust. when the hdd spins it generates a huge amount of heat most of the time the aluminum case is not what it is its made of plastic. and when hard plastic melts? it sticks on to the hdd. and the static noise from hdd spin from those high magnetic base ends makes it generate a LOAD of noise and they produce vibration which sometime helps the disk slide if the surface is smooth/slippery
#2. the power supply is weak. its not optimised. and some hard drives require specific voltage as per the industry guidelines. and i lost my friggin 250 GB seagate drive. thanks to one such case and a stupid case mistake and i had to recover the data from a electronic hardware store where they charged me a heck a lot of money to recover the data.
#3. they aint designed to be shockproof. so? if you drop it by slightest mistake? kiss it byeeeeee, thats history and spoilt american pie.
#4. alternate solution? instead of spending cash like duckbucks? go for IDE/ATA/PATA to SATA connecting cables. they work on same voltage which is regulated by the SMPS so if your processor gets a burn black dont blame the manufacturer. because it gets a different voltage from other plug point. PC on PCI cards support 3.3/5.0 volts and there are bits specifications also. so? if you are making the thing “totka” mast? baapu aap jaldi pachataoge. the 32-bit and 16 bit PCI cards and both with 3.3 and 5.0 volts are not always measured the same by that power outlet. and second the old drives work more with 80 pin IDE cables and new ones outperform a 40 pin IDE cable and as you can see its an IDE cable with 40 pins. WTF man, dont you know? in a oneway the one can go oneway. even though its a bidirectional dataflow, but when stripping from 80 pin to a 40 pin? via IDE you will surely have some major issue. and even if you do have spare 80 pin how will you mux it to make’em both work with one board terminating node and other hdd pin terminating node. because you need to cross connect the cables. the pinning is not the same for 40-80 and pinning is really hectic. so? rather than for a MAGIC “BS (BOLD)” (BS=BULLSHIT) go and purchase sata – ide converter. for picture/photo? try here. http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/2-in-1-IDE-to-SATA-SATA-to-IDE-Converter-Adapter-B017_W0QQitemZ320291453278QQcmdZViewItem?hash=item320291453278&_trkparms=72%3A12%7C39%3A1%7C66%3A2%7C65%3A12%7C240%3A1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14
rest is upto you.
my 2 cents!