Why not just get a Laptop hard drive and buy one of those connectors that switch the Lap top connector to a standard IDE cable?
http://www.mycableshop.com/sku/IDE4044.htm
I would think that the extra money spent on a HDD designed to take punishment would be cash well spent on something such as this.
btw, when you get her done, coudl you post some pics? THis sounds really interesting