Need An Internal Laptop Dvd Drive - Will Any Drive Fit

[JustAnotherFarang]

Hi guys

recently bought an external lg 5169d drive which no longer reads or writes to blank cds and fails halfway through writing dvds with write seek errors, tried it on 2 computers and the same thing happens, also tried the dvds and cds in my friends dvd drive and they write and work perfectly...........so Im guessing its gotta go back under warranty as I have tried updating it but to no avail

Which leaves me with no dvd drive to back up my torrents or to watch movies from. So I need to buy a replacement online, will any brand fit and what are the best prices or bargains online right now

thanks for your advice as always

JAF

[bkk_mike]

What's the brand and model of the laptop?

i.e. If it's a regular sized Taiwanese laptop (Acer / Asus / etc.), it's not likely to be a problem. But you may have issues if it's a particularly small laptop (some of the smaller Fujitsu / Sony / Toshiba laptops could definitely be using non-standard size parts.) Or if it's Dell it could be an issue (I've bought one Dell in my life - after discovering everything was non-standard when I started looking at upgrading - I never bought another one).

The other thing to consider is if the notebook is particularly new, it may not be an IDE drive. (If more than 2 years old - probably not an issue).

I would take the laptop to a place like Fortune IT Mall - so that you can find a drive, and check it fits, and works, at the shop, rather than hope it fits by going mail-order. (laptop drives do cost a bit more than regular sized drives.)

Alternatively, stick the model number in Google, and see if anyone has documented their own upgrade of their optical drive. If so, they'll hopefully have put a model number. (and you can then check the stats for that model - interface / WxDxH / etc.)

[nikster]

No, any drive will not fit in a laptop - better follow the advice above, buy from some shop and have them install it, that way you can be sure it fits.

Or you could get another external one...

[monty]

Actually the drives themselves are pretty much standard (as long as you have an IDE model)

The connection to the laptop might differ a bit, but the original drive will be fitted onto some kind of an adapter, which will then fit into your laptop.

Removing the old drive from the adapter and connecting the new drive to it will then make the thing fit nicely in your laptop!

Normally (but certainly not always) the faceplate of the drive should be removable and can be put on the new drive as well, to keep the aesthetics of the laptop!

[JustAnotherFarang]

cheers guys

always appreciate your input. With regards to the machine, its a standard sized laptop and the original drive was a Pioneer DVR K14DA which I would not want to buy again as it proved to be inferior quality.

I did borrow my friends dvd drive from his Acer machine which slotted in and worked fine in my machine, albeit the holding screw was in a different place but my laptop rarely if ever travels anymore so thats not a problem. As for aesthetics. I really dont care about that, function and performance are my only concerns.

sadly I dont live in one of the cities and taking it to the local shops always proves to be exhorbitant so I was hoping that I could just buy a similiar drive and just pop it in and away I go

as for buying another external........ simply solution until you realise, as I have done, that you cannot boot and install windows from external USB nor can you run programs like Spin Rite either

External will go back under warranty, still need an internal drive to keep me running........ any suggestions please for a mail order option

thanks again

JAF

[JustAnotherFarang]

As an aside, if the prices of replacement internal dvd drive is exhorbitant, I may well consider an external hard drive and case to back up all my torrents whilst in the meantime returning my external dvd drive for repair.

I have seen the following drives available from Busitek which are of interest

WD Mybook 3.5" 250GB , 7200 RPM USB 2.0 3,890 3 Years

WD Mybook 3.5" 320GB , 7200 RPM USB 2.0 4,390 3 Years

WD Mybook 3.5" 500GB , 7200 RPM USB 2.0 5,690 3 Years

and the 2.5 drives which are more expensive but less mb per buck

WD Passport 2.5" 80GB , 5400 RPM USB2.0 3,490 3 Years

WD Passport 2.5" 120GB , 5400 RPM USB2.0 4,390 3 Years

WD Passport 2.5" 160GB , 5400 RPM USB2.0 4,990 3 Years

would prefer the 3.5 drives as you get more bang per buck so to speak, is there any problem using one with a laptop or am i forced to go along the 2.5 route

thanks for your helpful comments

JAF

.

[Crossy]

As an aside, if the prices of replacement internal dvd drive is exhorbitant, I may well consider an external hard drive and case to back up all my torrents whilst in the meantime returning my external dvd drive for repair.

I have seen the following drives available from Busitek which are of interest

...........................

would prefer the 3.5 drives as you get more bang per buck so to speak, is there any problem using one with a laptop or am i forced to go along the 2.5 route

The single big advantage of going the 2.5" route is that the drives require only a 5V power supply and can therefore be powered by the USB port. 3.5" drives need 5V and 12V power and therefor need an external power brick. Obviously if you don't travel much it's less of an issue.

Edited August 9, 2007 by Crossy

[JustAnotherFarang]

As an aside, if the prices of replacement internal dvd drive is exhorbitant, I may well consider an external hard drive and case to back up all my torrents whilst in the meantime returning my external dvd drive for repair.

I have seen the following drives available from Busitek which are of interest

...........................

would prefer the 3.5 drives as you get more bang per buck so to speak, is there any problem using one with a laptop or am i forced to go along the 2.5 route

The single big advantage of going the 2.5" route is that the drives require only a 5V power supply and can therefore be powered by the USB port. 3.5" drives need 5V and 12V power and therefor need an external power brick. Obviously if you don't travel much it's less of an issue.

Granted thats true but I cant really see any other benefits in buying the 2.5 inch version to be honest. as long as they throw the brick psu in with the Mybook 3.5 drive then I will be happy as it appears to still be far better value than the undersized, slow and expensive 2.5 inch drives

I guess the real consideration is whether to buy the Mybook or maybe have one built using my choice of drive, casing and psu though bearing in mind it will be connected to a laptop thru usb2. Has anyone done this at a comparably cheaper price than the Western digital Mybook ??

JAF

[bkk_mike]

The other advantage of the 2½" drives is that they're built for laptops.

That means they're generally a little bit more rugged than the 3½" drives which are built for going into a box that doesn't move much.

Personally I have both, but find I'm always using the 2½" for backup as I don't have to find a vacant power socket so I can plug it in.

[nikster]

Really depends on your setup. I pull out a backup HD every once in the blue moon and it's just a lot more convenient with a 2.5" drive. Connect to USB. Go.

With the 3.5" drive, you have to connect the power brick to UPS, power brick to drive, drive to laptop, then go. Not an issue if you have a computer room where everything stays connected at all times and have a free UPS plug. The last thing you want is the drive to die in a power outage during a backup

[JustAnotherFarang]

Have you tried updating the firmware for the drive and flashing it?

The Firmware site

Yep, the firmware is fully updated so thats not an issue here.

The drive reads most of my recorded sony dvds and pre recorded cds but fails to read or record to blank cd media other than CDRW. This was not a problem previously.

It was until recently writing Sony DVDs fine but has started failing now....... write seek errors....... It wont read previously recorded Princo DVDs anymore which although are cheap, they still read and write perfectly in my friends Acer internal notebook drive. So as of now it is only usable to open Sony dvds that I recorded before and even then it does not play so smoothly.....I end up writing the file back to hard disk to watch

I tried a cd cleaner but that made no difference, not sure what else I can do other that to return it under warranty and hope they can diagnose the problem

JAF

PS Ended up buying the Western Digital Mybook 320 gb external hard disk to store my files. anyone else bought one of these ??

Edited August 11, 2007 by JustAnotherFarang

[JustAnotherFarang]

Yep, automatic update done but no difference. shame I didnt get your opinion before I bought this drive, it wasnt so cheap either but it is under warranty so I hope it will at least be repaired or replaced

cheers for your comments

JAF