New CD Drive

[fbg40]

Hi
How simple is it to replace a DVD Drive in a PC ? Is it just a question of taking the old one out and putting the new one in ? Don't need anything fancy as I have a DVD Writer as well installed.
TIA
FBG40

[vehelpfulguy]

Well it is simple, but like all things related to computers there are some "gotchas".

Firstly, until about 2 years ago most devices in a PC (like hard drives, DVD drives etc) connected to the motherboard by a connector called IDE.

But about 2 or so years ago a new type of connector came out called SATA.

So your existing DVD Drive may be IDE or it may be SATA and you need to find out befoe buying a new one.

Secondly, devices connected to a motherboard can either be Master devices or Slave devices. If you had two devices connected to a single IDE cable you would set one as a master and one as a slave.

This master / slave option is usually set by moving a small jumber on the back of the DVD drive.

So you need to make sure that the drive you put in is set to the same setting (master / slave) as the one you took out.

(I dont think master / slave applies to SATA, I have not done a lot of work on SATA drives).

Apart from that I think it is just a case of removing the screws, sliding the old one out and sliding the new one in.

[vehelpfulguy]

It is very easy to tell if you DVD drive is SATA or not.

An IDE cable is very thin and wide, like this

http://www.gshop.com.au/images/ide_133_cable.j pg

A Sata cable is thin and narrow, like this

http://atechfabrication.com/images/htpc/produc ts/SATA_Cable_data.jpg

[vehelpfulguy]

There is a small guide here to replacing a DVD drive.

http://www.pchardware.co.uk/install-optical-dr ive.php

Searching in Google for phrases like "replacing DVD drive" or similar will often find sites where these things are explained in step by step detail.