replacing dvd drive

[samunars]

How can i replace the optical drive on my old laptop? it's a pavilion dv6 2141-sl. I was wondering if I could but a replacement that is not an official one, just one the same size

[TheGlenlivet]

You may be able to make it fit, but sometimes there is equipment that is proprietary and will only work with that specific model.

You won't know unless you try.

The good news is it should be pretty cheap.

 

Have you opened the laptop up to look at the connectors?

[Kilrah]

Start by taking the old one out so you can check that your potential replacement has the same connector.

[paddy-stone]

You should be able to no problem, but you might have to swap the bezels from the old one onto the new to get a nice finished look. That's what I did on my Asus k53 when I swapped it's dvd writer over to a blu-ray writer I bought.

It's usually a case of how easy the manufacturer has made it to swap things like that. With the k53 I knew that there was a panel to remove to get to the screws for the dvd drive. take those out and swap the bezels over, then put the new one in and push into the SATA port, then lock in place by re-inserting the screws. That was it except for software.

 

I would suggest looking at ifixit or similar for your laptop make and model and seeing what the disassembly looks like for an optical drive swap. then go from there.

If it looks beyond your skillset, then maybe just get a usb drive.

[Kilrah]

Bezel doesn't always work, I've run into several scenarios where bezel mounting was different between manufacturers.

But it's cosmetic, functionally there's nearly always some kind of machine-specific connector/frame at the back of the drive that you'll need to remove and put on the new one, and you need to make sure the new drive has the same connection so that will fit on.