[ED NOTE: BP6.com apparently posted this awhile ago, so I am including a link to it. Thanks to LM for pointing this out.]

Let me start out with all the disclaimers that I feel I have to include:

First of all, there are many, many dangerous things about doing this, and this WILL VOID YOUR WARRANTY. And it is very easy to kill your hard drive. So much as one microscopic spec of dust can ruin your hard drive permanently. This is a very hard mod and not recommended for those of you who are fairly new to modding. Other than that, let me finish by stating YOU are responsible if you try to do this. Neither I or Overclockers.com can be held responsible for your actions or mistakes.

With all that out of the way, let me say that I personally think that this is one of the coolest mods that you can do. Watching the platters and the spindle moving is hypnotizing. Ever seen a snake strike? You know how they move so fast that you feel like you didn't even blink and it moved? Well that is what the spindle of the HDD does. It moves from one side of the platter to the other and you didn't even see it go. Anyway, enough talk - lets get to it.

Here is what you will need:

1. Scotch tape
2. Double-sided tape
3. Plastic wrap (Reynolds Wrap® or the like)
4. A glue/sealant (I used Goop®)
5. A sharp knife (X-acto® or the like)
6. A Dremmel® or some cutting tool
7. Cutting and sanding tools for the Dremmel®
8. A Torx "star" bit for the HDD screws
9. A very thin sheet of plexiglass
10. Maybe some alcohol or appropriate cleaner
11. A HDD to do the mod on
12. Luck and a steady hand.

Right now you need to have a few things in order before you even touch the HDD.

First of all, you need that sheet of plastic wrap (not the plexi) - make sure it is a bit larger than the HDD. You'll need that knife to cut a "void your warranty seal". And you'll need that Torx bit with the screwdriver attachment. And finally, and this may sound strange, you need to go in your bathroom and clear off a space to do some of this mod on.

Then, turn your shower on real hot and let it run for a while with the door shut. This raises the humidity in the room and effectively pulls the dirt floating around in the air to the ground. This is as clean as the air will get. Just make sure it isn't so humid that there are little drops of water floating around and you'll be fine. Once it is fairly humid, turn it off and wait just for a little while for all the water droplets and dirt to settle.

Now you are ready to perform surgery on you HDD. Take it into the bathroom, cut the seals and remove the screws. Don't take the cover off yet. Get that plastic wrap ready in one hand; as soon as you remove the HDD cover, put the plastic wrap over the HDD so you'll have some sort of cover on it to protect it. It should look something like this:

Now, just put the HDD in a safe place, preferably out of the bathroom because, at this point, it should be protected and humidity wouldn't be the best thing to have it sitting in for a long time.

Decide what the best cut will be for your cover. I chose to cut around the metal shielding plate as seen above. Just make sure that you leave a little lip to glue and seal the plexi glass window in there. When cutting, be careful on the corners. It's easy to break a fiberglass cutting wheel when you place too much pressure in the wrong direction.

I cut as far as I could on the front side and then finished the cutting on the back side. I finished the straight lines first and finished the corners at the end because the cutting wheel is noticeably smaller and thus easier to cut in smaller areas and directions - like this:

Alan Brooks (Forum name - AntiHeiss)