CD/DVD Drive Help/Recommendations

[KabeRinnaul]

So I've got a 6-year-old eMachine (T2682, running Windows XP), and at this point neither my CD nor DVD drives work properly. the DVD drive will read a CD, but not a DVD. If it has a DVD in it, it refuses to recognize the disk as even being there. The CD drive, on the other hand, won't read or write anything. They've been like this for a while, so I'm not sure where the problem came from. I just haven't actually needed them until recently, so I haven't bothered.

Anyway, any theories as to why they're misbehaving? If it helps, DVD drive shows up in Device Manager as "HL-DT-ST DVD-ROM GDR8162B" and CD as "LITE-ON CD-RW SOHR-4838S".

And if it would be better to just replace one or both of them, and recommendations for CD/DVD drives? I can spend another $50 or so of Christmas money, maybe $60 if I have to.

[Pedersen]

Considering the age, it's likely just a mechanical failure. However, you don't have to burn $50 or $60.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106334 <-- $22 for SATA CD/DVD burner

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16827106328 <-- $26 for the same thing in IDE

So, chances are the drive is dead, but it's not as bad as you might think to replace. It's also why I don't bother troubleshooting optical drives anymore. They're cheap enough that I say replace them the once every year or so that they're needed.

[KabeRinnaul]

Thank you. But I have to ask, what's the difference between SATA and IDE? I'm not sure if it matters which one I get.

[dalesys]

Thank you. But I have to ask, what's the difference between SATA and IDE? I'm not sure if it matters which one I get.

The difference is critical, as older motherboards only support IDE (also known as PATA), newest are tending to only SATA.

Looking at the manual for your machine (and the age), it appears that it would be IDE only.

Look at the cables going to the back of your existing drive. If the wider connector is just over 2 inches wide, it is IDE.

[KabeRinnaul]

Look at the cables going to the back of your existing drive. If the wider connector is just over 2 inches wide, it is IDE.

Thanks. Yeah, it's IDE. I've never installed anything in newer machines, so I've never come across SATA before. And I tried to look it up myself, but wound up going through a bunch of pages of technical specifications before finally just seeing a picture comparing the two.