Step 2: Prepare the notebook drive.
Notebook slim drives are given much surface treatment pending the vendor. All types of rails and adapters are placed onto the unit to make them work with the given notebook computer application. Under all the junk is the same drive.
First, we'll look at an IBM Thinkpad drive.
Here's the rear of the drive.
Don't worry too much about that odd looking adapter in the rear. Use your head and take a look around the unit. Locate the phillips microscrews holding the rails onto the drive. After a minute, you should be down to this:
Dump the 2 side rails and you'll almost be ready to go.
As you can see here ...
the proper adapter is uncovered. This is what the USB Slim Drive kit was looking for.
LG manufactures drives for the entire industry. Here's an IBM Thinkpad drive (GDR-8081N) vs an HP drive (GDR-8082N).
Again, nothing to be afraid of, just locate the mounting screws.
Under the HP / IBM stickers and rails is nothing more than the same shaped LG drive.
Step 3: Finalizing the installation.
This is where the optional Dremmel tool comes into place. The LG drive purchased will most-likely be salvaged from a non-working (HP, Dell, IBM) laptop. When it arrives, it'll have a laptop model specific faceplate / bezel attached. To make your drive work with the USB case, you'll have to grind down edges appropriately.
The USB drive is fully functional without the case, so it's best to power it up, eject the drive, remove the bezel, then grind down. You don't want to have any shavings making their way into the drive itself.
When finished, you'll have something like this:
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Guide: Notebook Slim Drive to USB 2.0
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