Here are five ideas Techno 24You can do this yourself to give your old hard drive a new lease of life, whether it’s still working or not.

Projects to run hard disks

If your old hard drive still works, it can be a valuable data storage space and should be used for its intended purpose. There are two ways to turn a useless but working HDD into a usable device.

1. Extra large flash drive

It may be necessary to transfer files from one laptop to another, but there are so many of them that you do not have a flash drive of the required volume at hand. Then a flash drive-HDD made from an old hard drive will come in handy.

Simply place your old hard drive in an external hard drive enclosure (these can be purchased online) and you have a DIY external hard drive.

Case for external hard drive / Unsplash photo

Depending on the type of drive and enclosure, you may need a power adapter for desktop (3.5-inch) hard drives, but laptop (2.5-inch) hard drives usually do not need one.

In addition, such a hard drive can be used as a mobile data storage, which will be discussed later.

2. NAS box from an old hard drive

An old, working hard drive is perfect for creating a home network-attached storage (NAS), allowing you to retrieve important data from almost any device on your Wi-Fi network at any time.

For a more professional installation, we recommend purchasing a NAS box, which includes all the necessary interfaces, to which you only need to plug a working hard disk and after installation it will be ready to go.

NAS for hard drives / Unsplash photo

An example of using this type of storage is a home media library with access to files on the network. You can throw your important memories in the form of photos or videos into this storage and open them from your TV or other device whenever you want.

Projects for non-working hard drives

Even if your hard drive fails, its physical parts are still valuable, so here are some creative ways to reuse its components.

3. A secret safe from a hard drive box

You can turn the hard drive enclosure into a hidden safe by removing all the internal parts. You can screw in one of the corner screws to make something like a revolving door. This makes it a great place to stash cash for emergencies.

Secret disk for precious little things / Photo: makeuseof

Such a hiding place is unlikely to be noticed, especially if there are several hard drives, a bunch of gear, screwdrivers and cables on the table.

4. Grinding machine for pencils

Old hard drives can be turned into something like a mini sander for various needs. The motor inside the hard drive provides rapid rotation that can be adjusted thanks to special programs.

You need to cut a circle from sandpaper and fix it with a bolt, which is one of the elements of the structure that holds the discs together. Such a grinder can be used to sharpen tools or pencils.

HDD grinding machine / Photo: Thomas Van den Dries

5. Small laser light music for room

As we said, old hard drives have small motors that can be converted into a small laser device. Using an Arduino to control the current supplied to the hard drive, you can control the laser-projecting arm with a variable audio PWM signal and an elastic band.

Old HDDs can be put to good use / Photo: Unsplash

The reflective surface of the plate is used to direct the laser beam. Although this project required some technical knowledge, it demonstrates the innovative potential of repurposing old technology.