If you ask any budget PC buyer about the most difficult aspect of PC shopping, they'll tell you that searching for good deals ranks near the top. Many sites have bare bone kits, combo deals where one can get a processor and an SSD; motherboard and an HDD. The list is endless. Unfortunately for me, I'm stuck dealing with this because the LCD screen on my laptop busted. Buying an LCD replacement may be the more viable short term option but not so viable when you consider the shelf life of frequently used laptops.
In any case, because of my budget I'm forced to improvise a little. Then it hit me: I don't have to fork over money for an HDD or even an optical drive. Great idea. It's amazing how valuable those old, dust collecting computers can be. So I dug out the old Optiplex computer. Unfortunately for me, Dell isn't a manufacturer I'm familiar with so I was unsure how to remove the HDD. After 10 minutes of good ol' elbow grease and hard thinking I found that the solution was easy as pie (man do I feel dumb). Here is how to accomplish this:
First, disconnect the PC and remove the power outlet. Just because your pc is off, doesn't mean it isn't drawing some power. Lastly, pull the flip-out security lever on the back of the case to eject the left side.
Now the nitty gritty begins. (I recommend disconnecting all SATA and power connectors to your drives). You should see a blue tab on top of the drive bays. Pull it up, then push the optical and floppy drives back (just poke your fingers through the slots).
Once those drives are out of the case, you now have access to your HDD. The last step is simply to push in on the wings on your HDD's side and push it toward the PSU.
Walla. Your HDD is now free. Just be sure to put it in an anti-static bag if you plan to use it again.
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