@Amigamad & kwoodall
Off the top of my head...
1. Get an old analog panel Amp-meter,
stylish as hell. A 25mA DC one should work.
2. Remove the HDactivity light from your computer, replace it with the meter connected in series with a 300ohm resistor.
3. Voila, a fancy smancy analog hd activity meter. It may not be "professionally made" but who cares.
Some tuning may be necesary, ie add a capacitor to get it to integreate the HD activity over a longer time hence giving a slower respons.
In Kwoodalls defence though, considering the cost of panel meters his product has a pretty reasonable price.
For scandinavian readers, I noticed that Elfa has a very atractive
VU-meter for a low price, however use a 30k resistor for that one.
-Peggus