Hard Drivin' Leather -- The Case Obsession Continues...

As a college professor, I'm constantly shifting large amounts of data around. This digital data ranges from graphic files to student research projects to large 3D models, so I need a high-quality, reliable storage device that won't leave me high-n-dry with an untimely crash, or otherwise be too "dainty" to handle any necessary moving from one teaching environment to another. However, as an incurable industrial designer, my sense of design and innate appeal for uniqueness compel me to change whatever it is that somebody else thought I'd like into something that I really would like. After making all those cases for my iPod (I've produced four of them in only four weeks now), I began rethinking the blandness that surrounded my portable hard drives and decided to rock out my own new hard drive case. Since I recently had to get a new drive anyway (I got a 500 GB Seagate drive to replace my three-year-old, chock-full 120 GB Western Digital drive), I thought I'd take the opportunity to do something with it in leather. 
Almost every hard drive case out there (or, at least the ones that come as an included accessory from the hard drive manufacturer) is built from black-colored materials and looks extremely generic. Some may say that black colors (or non-colors, depending on how you look at it) make a "fashion statement"; but, I think it's boring. No...it's way boring. But, of course, I mention that right after my last few blog entries on making an iPod case out of black leather. To be honest, though, I usually use my brown leather case rather than my black one...simply because everybody out there seems to have a black case for their electronics (except for those folks who have a wildly-colored silicone case, which, these days, is also overdone), and I prefer to maintain at least a little bit of uniqueness from the crowd--even if I otherwise try to blend in most of the time. With all the black-colored products available today, I can't help but think that the reason we have so much of it is based more on tradition than anything else. It probably all stems from the manufacturing practices of yesteryear--ones that started back at the beginning of the industrial revolution when the color selections for durable paints over metal surfaces were very limited. Even Henry Ford, the father of the assembly line, placed himself in the annals of quotable history when he said that people could have any color of Model-T they wanted, "as long as it is black". Over time, people have become so used to seeing black products, that it has become synonymous with conservative style in product development, and is therefore relied upon as a way to make products that will deliberately appeal to a larger population--which typically means more sales, and hence more money, for manufacturers. Add to that the fact that color changeover in the middle of a mass-manufacturing run is extremely time consuming and costly, and you begin to realize why we don't see more truly custom-colored items out there, even though the coloring technologies for most materials have improved dramatically over the past 100 years. 
So, to make a long explanation short, if you want something to stand out in a crowd these day, it's not really that hard; just make it look different from all those black, bland, conservative, similar, background noise objects in the product market. (The marketing/business book, "Purple Cow", by Seth Godin, does a good job of discussing this topic in-depth.) To further illustrate my point, check out the photo below: one of these cases is not like the other. At the very least, I'll bet you could easily guess which one would be the most tempting for a thief to steal. (Which is actually a very disconcerting thought when you consider all the work that went into the custom-built case.) I don't know about you, but my vote's for the one that ain't black.

The top and bottom of this case are shown in the photo below. The top has a simple snap that opens to access the USB port on the drive, and the back has a specially designed set of flaps created to secure the USB cable to the case. 

To build this case, I started with leather-forming press, just as I'd done for the iPod cases.

I formed one piece for each side of the drive...

...punched holes along the sides, and began stitching:

Before stitching up the entire case, I placed the drive inside, and then finished up the stitch the rest of the way around. This sealed the drive in the case--which is fine with me; there are no user-serviceable parts inside, there are no batteries to replace in it, and it doesn't get particularly hot or need ventilation during operation. So, I figured, "what the heck...why not?".

To finish up the stitch, I threaded a curved stitching needle and passed the thread ends through one of the sewn holes so it would go between the halves of the leather.

I tied these threads off and then tucked them into the seam (to be glued down with super glue later).

I then trimmed off the excess material...

...cut out the USB cable management strap...

...and snapped the strap in place.

The USB cable tucks under the strap (where the cuts in the leather provide relief for the cable to easily  fit beneath the strap)...

...a flap folds down and snaps in the middle of the looped cable...

...and then the strap can be snapped around to the top side of the case to close everything off.

When I want to plug the drive in, I just un-snap the strap, pull out the USB cable, and plug it into the drive's USB port that is accessible through a pair of "lips" on the case. (Notice the hole in the case, next to the snap on top, that make it possible to view the white indicator LEDs which show that the drive is working.)

Once plugged in, it is ready to do its business. (Also note that the snaps on the USB cable management strap work nicely as feet for the bottom of the drive. I thought this ended up functioning well as a nice double-duty feature to the whole design.)

When it was finished, the drive had a much more desirable feel than it did when it was just a boring little "commodity" drive. Now it looks like it's got much more worth to it...even though it really didn't cost that much more to fabricate. It did take a little bit of time to make it all, but the results were well worth it to me. But, then again, objects always seem to be "worth" more to you when you put actual work into them, rather than just work to acquire them--which is one of the many reasons why DIY-types (like myself) do any of this stuff anyway. Rock on.