broke disc drive tray

D

dfairchild19

New Member
Hi

im new to the site in posting but have been searching and browsing quite a bit and finally registered. i broke my disc drive tray by backing into the side of it with my chair. i think that a little stub on my chair hit the eject button which is why i didnt know that it was open. it is a dell dimension desktop with a single 48x cd-rw/ dvd drive. i am not sure how to go about replacing it. i have been inside towers before so changing it out should not be an issue. im just not sure what to get to replace it. oh and i forgot to mention that it is a work pc so im just looking for a somewhat cheap replacement for it.

thanks
derek
 
I use generally Sony drives here while LG, Nec, Lite-On, and a few others are good brands except Artec! I once made the mistake of trying out that brand seeing the new drive simply quit in a week's time for the 56x cd drive.

The choice seen now on most brands is whether or not you want an ide or sata type optical drive. Most likely you would be replacing an ide type prepackaged with the system there. For deciding on which drive you want to look over what you want it to support like Lightscribe, Blu-ray, etc. A few Sony-Nec drives are seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...description=&Ntk=&SpeTabStoreType=&srchInDesc=
 
somebody blurted out the lite-on has a sony mechanism. heard this years ago. most work well now and fast. dont forget to consider duel layer. there nice when ya can get a good price.
 
Lite-On was making drives for Sony at one time before seeing Nec making them now to be sold under the Sony brand name. Generally the drives seeing Sony on them are usually top quality and quite reliable. I've moved Sony branded drives from case to case here over the years seeing them very reliable.
 
plextor was another one but have not bought in years. sol terminal and trs80.
cd burner, 4x $600.00. approx year 1979.

gone a long ways.
plextor seems to be way overpriced for years. havent checked lately.
of course this was before the internet. just whip asss bulletin boards.

cheers.......
 
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I've heard of Plextor but not in some time. When ordering now especially at this time of year following the Black Friday specials and people looking for gifts plus year end clearance all you can do is go by what is available at the vendors you can order from.

What model Dimension is that there by the way? A look at the specifications will show if you can use a sata burner rather then having to stay with only the selection of ide models in order to increase your selection there.
 
thanks for all the input again guys, the model is a dimension 9200.... if you dont mind answering, whats the difference between a sata and an ide drive?
 
Its the connection between the drive and the motherboard. SATA is alot faster at about 1.5g/s or 3g/s depending on what you have.
You should pull open your case and look at the back of your cd drive. Is it a very wide cable of a thin cable?
 
That model will easily see a sata model optical drive go right in. The specifications can be seen at http://support.dell.com/support/edocs/systems/dim9200/en/SM_EN/specs.htm

You won't find any sata drive so much faster then an ide type simply due to the ATA100/133 hardware limitations. But you won't have to put up with the wide flat ribbon type cable since you should be seeing a sata hard drive in use on that model already. The sata bus itself is faster while the limitations put a damper on that.
 
ok ok that makes sense and that was also another question i had was whether they all had universal connections or not. ive got to open the case up to remove the broken drive so ill do that and let you know.
 
If that's an ide model and you decide on a sata replacement you would need a sata dable to see a new sata type go in. The plugs for each type are standard. ide=ide sata=sata

When you buy a new drive of the same type even a different brand it will go right in on the existing cable. The sata data cable and power connector coming from the supply are different. The photo here shows what the 7pin data cable's plug and the 15pin power connector look like for reference.

The 15pin power connector is wider but much thinner then the typical 4 wire molex connector for ide drives. You will see this type on the hard drive when going to look inside the case there anyways.



When looking at the rear of any sata drive the 7pin data cable will plug in right next to the power connector on the right side on any Sata II type drive as well as on any sata optical drive.



You notice the sata cables included along with any new board will be red just like those seen there. Other cables bought from cable manufacturers may be orange or yellow not red while still being the same type.
 
i opened up the case today and removed the broken disc drive and it is indeed a sata model as you said, pc eye. i looked on newegg.com but i am unsure as to which one to go with. any suggestions?
 
Lite-On used to make some good drives for Sony. But lately you see Nec-Optiarc instead showing Sony is another brand that maintains a higher standard. LG and a few others are as good as any other except for Artec! That has to be the actual cheapest garbage brand anyone ever came out with! :rolleyes:

Make sure to pick out a good 20x speed model like the one mep916 linked there. Asus usually sees a few good side products like drives and video cards while they tend to slipping somewhat on board quality in the last few years. :(

Another page full of dvd burners can also be seen at http://www.newegg.com/Product/ProductList.aspx?Submit=ENE&N=2000100005 1036506653&name=DVD Burner
 
mep916 said:
That's completely untrue. Do you have any evidence to support that statement?
Click to expand...

I'm seeing more and more of the same problem coming up on Asus boards seeing bad batches. People end up going through a few boards to get one that works.

I saw my own first bad board ever on this build while having helped a friend out over a year ago with a 939 build seeing 3 in a row doa. :( I suggested going with a different model or make and model at the time. The next being a different model finally worked.

As far as the usual problem that's been evident for several years now about bad caps effecting quite a bit besides boards themselves. In fact there's one site dedicated to just that. http://www.badcaps.net/pages.php?vid=2
 
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