HDD GURU FORUMS

Has anybody seen or made a transparent hard drive lid?

I saw a picture of one about a year ago that made the platter and heads visible and I am interested in buying or making one.

Get lid from scrap drive as sample and CNC a perspex sheet. Don't forget the gasket and breather hole + eventual valve and/or filter... Maybe some adaptation needed. Simple.

Although not as much fun/work, and not as much visibility, you could just buy Raptor X as well.

Get a WD clearcover drive.
Or made the lid yourself....

yeah those raptor drives don't really show that much off. I might make one. I saw a picture where some guy put an LED in his also and made it look the trick. I'll put the task on the drawing board over the next couple of months.

A few years back, I made a window in an old WD200BB. Cool part was that as there was only one head on the bottom, I was able to draw patterns on the top surface with retroreflective tape, then with a bunch of ultra bright leds flashing a short pulse at 120 hz, the pattern appears stationary.

It was quite impressive in the dark! My tip would be to find two identical drives, one to play with and the other to leave untouched until you are ready to swap the new lid. Old WD's are quite nice because the lids are relatively thin and easier to cut without deforming the shape. Small windows are easier to make that changing the whole lid, the head support, gasket and breath hole are already done.

This year I did away with the lid and put the whole HDD in a bell jar! Video is on youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5un_GkwjCs

Good luck with your hard drive.

this is amazing!

See my ghetto drive project.