Rather than order a connector he pulled the circuit board out of an old USB hard drive enclosure and connected to his DVD drive. Bang, recognized and running.

Unboxing and giving a brief overview of the Hornettek Goliath USB 3.0 Hard Drive Enclosure. More information at <a href="http://www.ThinkComputers.org">http://www ...

mounting enclosure, or adapter to connect the HDD to your PC. For a barebones setup involving 2.5-inch drives, you can grab a SATA to USB (preferably USB 3.0) converter and call it a day.