How to convert an old internal HD into an external HD?

I have an unused 40GB hard drive. When I upgraded hard drives about a year ago, I decided to keep it for the time being in case something went wrong with the upgrade, but nothing did and I just let the old hard drive sit there, disconnected, inside the computer until now. I was trying to install a PCAC (see here if you can help with that), and decided to take the old HD out while I was at it. What's the best way to convert it into an external HD?

In particular, what would I need to power it, and to make it USB compatible?

For details, take a look at the attached pics:

 

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817193025
Here's an enclosure that is designed for IDE hard drives. It ships with all the tools (usually all that's needed is a Philips screwdriver) and the instructions. But it's really self-explanatory. You open the enclosure and inside is an IDE cable to plug into the data header on the hard drive, and a 4pin molex connector to plug into the power connector on the hard drive. You then slide the hard drive into the enclosure, tighten a couple screws, plug it into the supplied power adapter, then plug it into a USB port on your PC after Windows has booted up. That's it! It will show up in My Computer as drive E: or F: or G: (it depends on how many other drives are connected) after about 30 seconds. Each time you plug it in after the first time, it will take less than 10 seconds to show up in My Computer. If you're running an older version of Windows (like Win98) you will probably need a special driver, but it should be included with the enclosure.

BTW- there are MANY different styles, colors, and varieties of these enclosures and they're available for both SATA and IDE drives in both 3.5" (desktop) and 2.5" (laptop) sizes.

 

Thanks. That's exactly what I needed. I ordered one of the iMicro IMBS35E-SI Aluminum 3.5" Silver USB 2.0 (cheapest one with decent reviews that met my needs). eBay has or had some decent looking ones too that cost about the same, maybe cheaper - but I couldn't find proper reviews for those external closures, and I wanted to pick up a few other items from newegg.com anyway.

 

:highfive Glad I could help! :major

 

My order came in yesterday, and the setup went fine - tight fit though. I used Norton Partition Magic 8 to redo and format the the whole thing (it still had my old OS, partitions, and files on it). Works fine now. I ran Acronis backup utility for my laptop, which created a 30 GB backup file that I saved on this new external hard drive. Since it's 40 GB in total capacity, I suppose it'll just serve as my Acronis backup storage space. Thanks again for the help.

 

Here is a link to a number of IDE to USB adapter cables. Like an external enclosure w/o the case. Handy for a techie's tool kit.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...ry=-1&description=IDE+to+USB&Ntk=&srchInDesc=

.bh.