How to fit/install a new CD/DVD drive to your PC
Have you ever had a CD drive stop reading media or wanted to upgrade to a better optical drive like a DVD burner? Well it isn’t as costly or as hard as you might think it would be. It will save you a bit of cash by doing it yourself, rather than a trip to a repair shop which can charge as much as $100 to do it for you on top of the cost of the new drive. Can we say OUCH?
Ebay is a decent place to find a cheap replacement drive, but if you are looking for something better or new, I would suggest a website like NewEgg or Tigerdirect. Both are high quality web sites that sell good and low priced new computer parts. You can also stop by your local Fry’s Electronics if one happens to be located near you. But ordering online will save you some money if you do not mind waiting for it to be shipped to you.
After you purchase a replacement drive or a newer and better one, you will need to gather a few supplies. They are common household items that you probably already have. You will need a phillips head screwdriver and possibly a small flashlight to see inside your computer case if there is not adequate lighting in the room where you are working on your computer.
First thing you need to do, is shut down and unplug at least the power cord from your computer. Depending on where your machine is located at, you may need to unplug everything and move it to a table or some place in order to get to it. Remember, always shut down and unplug the power cord to your computer as it may cause damage if you do anything inside the case. Even without it being booted up, power current can still run through the various components and short out when you remove cables, RAM, or PCI cards.
Once you have your computer ready to be worked on, look at the back of the machine and locate the screws that will allow you to remove the sides of the case. You will probably need to remove both sides, as the drive you are going to be removing usually is screwed down on both sides. Below is an image of my machine, where the screws are on my case that secures the side panels. Please note that a lot of cases are similar, but you may need to check the website of your computers manufacturer to find yours.
Once you have the screws removed, most most computer cases will let you slide the side panels off easily toward the rear of the machine. Now the fun part. Locating the old drive and removing it. Below is an image of mine to give you something to compare it to.
Next you will need to unplug the power cable and the IDE cable on the drive. Again, below is an image of mine.
Then gently pull the cables off the back of the drive. They shouldn’t offer too much resistance, and remember to pull the power cord off by the white/clear/black plug itself and not the wires. If you pull it from the wires, it may pull a wire loose and can be difficult to set back inside the plug. But not to worry! If it comes out it can be put back in. Feel free to comment this blog entry if that happens to you and I will walk you through it. Again, I will show an image below.
Now locate the screws holding it inside the case. There are usually two screws on each side holding the drive in place. Unscrew these and push/pull the drive out of the case toward the front of the computer. It should slide out easily with little resistance.
Now look at the back of the drive where the cables plug in at. You will see a place where there are small pins and a jumper pin. Look where the jumper is located and check the drive itself… there should be a legend like a map showing where it means for the position of the jumper. There are usually three… CS (computer select), Slave, and Master. Sometimes shown as CS, SL, MA. You want to make sure the jumper on your new drive is the same way, else the computer may have difficulty reading it. Sometimes it is written in letters right by the pins too. Shown below you can see where mine is set as MA or Master.
So after you set the jumper, then slide the new drive into the computer case. It should fit pretty easily considering they are all the same size. Reattach the screws, IDE cable, and the power cable. The IDE cable can be a bit more tricky though. I will show an image below of what I mean. You will notice it has a slot on top… and a spot where there is no pin. Also is an image of the back of my drive too to show the slot and missing pin. The images will clear things up if these sounds a bit confusing.
Then just reattach the IDE cable by gently lining it up and pushing it back on. Then double check the power cable and screws. All that is left to do now is put the sides of your case back on, which shouldn’t be too hard at all. Just slide them back in place and re-secure them with the screws you took off earlier. Plug your computer back in and boot it up. If your new drive came with software such a disk burning applications, you can not install that too. Windows should notice your new drive and install the drivers to use it by itself as most are common and already inside the operating system. You can always check the drives manufacturer for additional drivers if you want to. The web site driverguide.com used to be very good for finding drivers, but I have not used it in a while so I am not sure if it is even there anymore. But a simple Google search will help with that.
Good luck and hope things go well for you!
Peace out, The Doctor