CD /DVD Drive

talos · May 14, 2012, 09:35:44

I recently upgraded my laptop to Win7 all seems OK but the disk drive no longer functions, Win reports it as OK drivers correct etc, and after several rollbacks I have to conclude that the drive has broken, I have replaced drives in a desktop several times without problems, is doing that to a laptop similar or are their any pitfalls I should be aware of? , I have looked at a few and they all seem to look about the same ( size, configuration, etc ),
do I need to replace it with EXACTLY the same drive or would similar with the correct drivers do?

Glenn · May 14, 2012, 09:51:17

The drive would need to have the same connector/location, not all are SATA, also it would need to be the same physical shape and size to fit into the drive bay. Have you tried reseating the drive?

MisterW · May 14, 2012, 10:41:00

There are 2 main types of optical drive for notebook computers available in two different sizes. Tray loading or Slot loading & 12.5mm or 9.5mm. There is usually an adapter attached to the drive to convert from the bare drives SATA or IDE to the motherboard connector. You simply detach the adapter from the old drive and attach to the new one. You do need to check whether the old one is SATA or IDE though, and its probably not easy these days to get an IDE replacement.
here's examples of a couple of SATA replacements
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Storage/Optical+Drives/DVDRW+Dual+Layer+-+SATA/Samsung+SN-208BB%2FBEBE+Notebook+Slimline+8x+DVD%C2%B1RW+SATA+Drive+?productId=45816
http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Storage/Optical+Drives/DVDRW+Dual+Layer+-+SATA/Sony+AD-7740H+8x+SATA+Slim+Internal+DVD+Multi+Writer+?productId=49481

Lance · May 14, 2012, 12:39:04

You could always save the bother and get a USB drive:

http://www.aria.co.uk/Products/Storage/Optical+Drives/DVD+External+-+USB/Samsung+SE-208AB+8x+DVD%C2%B1RW+with+DL+with+Direct-TV+USB+Slim+External+Optical+Drive+-+Retail+Boxed+Black+?productId=47091

Might give the advantage in the long run as some of the newer laptops don't have optical drives.

talos · May 14, 2012, 13:41:00

Quote from: Glenn on May 14, 2012, 09:51:17
The drive would need to have the same connector/location, not all are SATA, also it would need to be the same physical shape and size to fit into the drive bay. Have you tried reseating the drive?

Iv'e not yet tried to remove the old one Glen, but I will try that, thanks for the suggestion

Technical Ben · May 14, 2012, 14:12:03

Does it fail data dvds and movie ones? If it just fails on movie DVDs then I'd think windows has forgotten your mpeg codec licence. so you need to reinstall a codec of DVD player software.

Oh, and if you want I can check if my old HP (Toshiba) DVD lightscribe writer would match. How much is P&P? The laptop died years ago, but I kept the drive as it's in top condition.

pctech · May 14, 2012, 15:55:33

If you need a freebie (and legal one) to test try installing VLC Media Player from http://www.videolan.org

talos · May 14, 2012, 17:46:44

Quote from: Technical Ben on May 14, 2012, 14:12:03
Does it fail data dvds and movie ones? If it just fails on movie DVDs then I'd think windows has forgotten your mpeg codec licence. so you need to reinstall a codec of DVD player software.

Oh, and if you want I can check if my old HP (Toshiba) DVD lightscribe writer would match. How much is P&P? The laptop died years ago, but I kept the drive as it's in top condition.

It does absolutley nothing, it just sits there and ignores me, I really think its dead

. Thanks for the kind offer, Ill get the old one out & photo it for comparison

talos · May 14, 2012, 17:48:35

Quote from: pctech on May 14, 2012, 15:55:33
If you need a freebie (and legal one) to test try installing VLC Media Player from http://www.videolan.org

Got that in all my mc's, brilliant program seems it will play almost any format

Technical Ben · May 14, 2012, 22:12:33

AFAIK my one is SATA, and nice and slim.