It seems that these days everyone is making their own hard drive icons. All the popular kids are doing it, so why can't we?
Getting Started
If you don't already have Inkscape then you should go get it.
Once you have Inkscape installed create a new file and we can get started.
In your new file go to File > Document Properties. In the Page tab of the new window change Width and Height to 256 in the Custom size section. This will create the Page Area for you to draw in. This just serves as a visual guide and will not show up in the finished product. I chose 256 pixels because it is a realtively easy size to work with and is good for making icons.
Now with the rectangle tool create a square 145px tall/wide in the center of the page area. Make the fill color of the square RGBA: bebebeff and round the corners as shown. Before you do any thing else copy the square, but do not paste it yet. We will be using this shape again a little later on.
With your square still selected, click Path Menu > Object to Path. This will take our square created with the rectangle tool and transform it into a polygon with nodes we can work with.
With the Edit Path Nodes tool select the two top left nodes of the square. Tap the Right Arrow key 5 times to move the nodes in toward the center of the square.
Do the same with the two top right nodes of the square, but move them to the left instead.
Switch back to the regular selection tool and select your polygon. In the toolbar at the top right you should see a group of buttons that look like the ones show in the image above. Click on the one highlighted in the image so that it looks like shown. Make sure those four buttons look like they do in the image. The reason for this is that when we paste the square we copied earlier on and resize it, the corners will stay the same.
Now click Edit Menu > Paste In Place. This will paste our square we made earlier right over our polygon.
Make the new square 40px tall and make the fill color RGBA a7a7a7ff.
Copy the polygon we just resized and paste it in place. Then resize it again by holding down Shift and dragging one of the corner arrows in towards the center. Make the fill color RGBA 919191ff.
Copy the polygon we just resized and colored and paste it in place. Remove the fill color entirely and add a stroke path 3 pixels wide with the RGBA color 4e4e4eff.
From the fill and stroke window set the Blur to 8%. You should be able to see our hard drive shape coming together now.
If you haven't noticed by now, we have only created one unique shape this entire time. The rest of the shapes are just copy and pasted versions of the first one, or other slightly modified copies. That's the great thing about working with vector graphics, they are so versatile.
Create the USB Symbol
Now we are going to create that little USB symbol that you regularly find hanging around USB ports.
This is pretty simple. Just create a circle with a line coming out the side of it.
Add a triangle to the end of the line. Create a second line coming out at an angle from the side that bends and points right.
Add a small circle to the end of the second line. Create another line branching out from the first line that curves as shown.
Add a square to the end of the third line and you are done.
If you made the USB symbol big then shrink it down to about a total of 22px wide. Now stick it on the front of your hard drive leaving a little room on the right for the mini-USB port, as shown in the image.
Make The Mini-USB Port
Regular USB ports are cool, but minature ones are even cooler. Not to mention the fact that they take up less space than their older siblings.
Start off by making a pure black rounded rectangle 20px by 6px with the Rectangle tool.
Make a second rounded rectangle 14px wide and 6px tall that slightly overlaps the bottom of the first one.
Select both of the new rounded rectangles and click Path Menu > Union to combine the two shapes. Then add a 1px border with the RGBA color aeaeaeff.
Now it is time to make the small conductors found inside the USB port. Just create a 1px wide/tall rectangle and fill it with the golden RGBA color 675503ff.
Copy and paste the new rectangle 4 times and position them as shown.
Now slap that port onto your external hard drive.
Add Some Sparkle
Our HDD is taking shape, but it looks a little bland. Time to spruce it up.
Select the very first shape we made. Right click to bring up a menu and click Duplicate. This has the same effect as copy and pasting in place. Fill the new polygon with the color RGBA b9b9b9ff.
Remember how we clicked that one button earlier? well, now it's time to click it again. This time we want to have the radii of rounded corners to scale when resizing a shape. Make sure those four buttons look like the ones in the image above.
Hold down Ctrl+Shift and grab one of the arrows on the corner of the new polygon while moving towards the center of the shape to shrink it without distorting it.
With the shape still selected hit the Page Down Key a few times to move it down a few layers. You want it so that it is below everything, but the first shape.
In the top left corner create a triangle-like shape with two nodes using the Bezier tool. Fill the new shape with the RGBA color c0c0c0ff.
Repeat this process for the bottom right corner.
Add A Drop Shadow
Duplicate the inner polygon as show in the image above.
With the new shape still selected hit Page Down until it is on the very bottom layer. Using the Down Arrow Key then move the shape into the area show in the image above. Make the shape completely black.
From the Fill and Stroke window add a 6% Blur and make the shape 65% opaic.
Select those two shapes in the corners and add a 3% blur.
The Final Result
That's it, you are done! Maybe add some text and it is complete. I've shown you how to create a external hard drive with relatively simple techniques and something other than an Adobe product.
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