Before you upgrade or replace the DVD/CD-RW drive in your notebook, make sure that the drive you are buying is compatible with your computer. Some notebooks require an optical drive that works in cable select mode (CSEL). Some notebooks require master/slave (M/S) drives. Typically the drive is set to master or slave through a firmware flash. If the optical drive is not configured properly, it will not be detected by the BIOS or you will get IDE #1 error when you start the laptop. The best way to avoid these kinds of problems is to buy an optical drive designed for your laptop. If you plan to buy a generic drive, make sure to contact the seller and confirm that the drive will work in your computer.
In most cases you would be able to use the same connector board and DVD drive caddy (braces) from your old device. Just remove them from your old drive and install on a new drive.
Also make sure that your current plastic bezel (front panel) will fit a new optical drive. All bezels are different and very often you have to have a specific bezel for a specific drive. Do not hesitate to contact the seller and ask about the drive and the bezel computability.
If you find this article useful, please consider making a donation to the author. Thank you!
May 16th, 2009 at 9:29 pm
I want to put a bluray drive on a toshiba a215 s4757 laptop. What kind do i buy?
March 23rd, 2009 at 4:17 am
Hi,
I have quite an old DVD ROM drive in a Thinkpad (Matshita SR-8171). I can not get it to play most DVD’s as it just freezes or doesn’t recognise the disk. It plays audio CD’s fine.
However what I have noticed is that it plays a few DVD’s which are short in total duration, 60 mins or less (e.g. my child’s cartoons).
I don’t use any writeable disks(e.g. DVD-R etc), they are all originals.
Is there any technical explanation for a DVD drive not playing DVD’s when the video is of longer duration?
Many thanks
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:13 pm
yes i have an inspiron drive from my old laptop…the motherboard died a month ago…..i got this toshiba from someone else…drive doesnt work…so trying to change the drive …….is that possible?
March 22nd, 2009 at 10:06 pm
aho,
Do you have that Inspiron drive? Can you try?
You can find some info about the drive in the device manager. Even though the optical drive is bad, most likely it’s still detected by the computer. Also, take a look at the DVD drive entry in the BIOS menu.