How to install a disk drive system unit. Installs a disk drive into a computer case

A disk drive, or optical disc drive, is a device used to read and write optical discs. Despite the fact that optical discs are losing their popularity every year, it is still impossible to do without a floppy drive, especially on a desktop computer. In this article we will talk about how to connect a disk drive to a computer.

Step No. 1. Prepare the computer to connect the drive.

Before you begin directly connecting the drive to your computer, you need to perform a number of preparatory operations. First, the computer must be completely de-energized. Not just turn it off, but completely cut off the power. To do this, you need to pull out the cable that connects the computer's power supply to the power supply. This simple action will protect you from electric shock and save your life.

After you have turned off the power to the computer, you need to remove the side covers of the system unit. We need to remove both covers, since to connect the drive to the computer we will need access to both sides of the system unit.

As a rule, the side covers are secured with four screws at the back of the system unit. After unscrewing these screws, move the side covers back a little and then remove them.

Step #2: Distinguish the old drive from your computer.

If your computer has an old disk drive that you want to replace, you will first need to unplug and remove the old disk drive. To do this, unscrew the screws that secure the drive. As a rule, there are four of these screws, two on each side of the drive.

After you have unscrewed the screws, the drive must be carefully pulled out of the system unit. To do this, slightly push the drive from the inside of the system unit and pull it out.

It should be noted that the drive is installed and removed only from the outside of the system unit. Therefore, you should not try to push the drive inside the computer case.

Step No. 3. Connecting the drive to the computer.

Now we come to the most important question of this article, how to connect a disk drive to a computer. To do this, insert the drive into the free compartment on the front side of the case and push it in until it stops. After the drive is in place, it needs to be secured with screws. Don't skimp on the screws; tighten all four of them, two on each side of the drive. If the drive is poorly secured, it will vibrate and make a lot of noise when writing or reading discs.

After the drive is installed, you need to connect it to the computer. All modern drives are connected in the same way as hard drives, using SATA cables. All you need to do is plug a narrow SATA cable (usually red) into a free SATA port on the motherboard and into the drive. You also need to connect a cable with SATA power, which comes from the power supply. The SATA power cable is slightly wider and consists of 4 conductors.

Once you have connected the SATA cables to your drive, you can close the side covers and turn on the computer. This completes the process of connecting the drive to the computer.

Replacing the drive is necessary for users who have not yet been able to completely switch to using USB ports and flash drives.

Replacing the drive is necessary if you use the optical drive frequently and are constantly burning new images to empty disks.

The optical drive replacement process described below is suitable for both DVD and obsolete CD drives. In the latter case, I recommend taking the opportunity and purchasing a high-speed DVD-class optical drive. At the same time, replacement does not require colossal investments; DVD drives, in our time, have a low price. Remember that with active use, the new drive will fail just as quickly as the previous one, so you shouldn’t buy an expensive one.

First of all, you need to determine what type of interface your PC motherboard has. Drives with SATA and IDE interfaces are sold in stores. Nowadays, you can use any of the presented interfaces. In order for the replacement to be successful, you will need to disassemble the system unit. This way you will know what type of connection your drive uses. By the way, some motherboards allow you to connect a drive via SATA and IDE. However, such boards are rare, since today only SATA remains in fashion.

Drive installation
disconnect the computer from power;
disconnect the cables connected to the back of the system unit;
the drive, in most cases, is fixed in the upper area of the system unit;
disconnect the cables and unscrew the screws.
Replacement should be done carefully, try not to damage adjacent elements with a screwdriver. Modern drives are sometimes attached to the housing using latches. If you press all the latches at the same time, you will release the drive chassis.
The optical drive slides out from the front panel, not from the inside!.

If the new drive is equipped with an IDE interface, set the jumper on its case to the Slave position.

If your drive came with a hard drive, most likely they are connected by one cable; in such cases, there is no need to change anything.

Replacement is carried out with a set of screwdrivers and special screws. Carefully insert the new drive from the front and secure with screws. Install the system unit cover and connect all peripherals to the computer. After you turn on your computer, the system will automatically recognize and prepare your new device.

In My Computer you will see a new icon shaped like a DVD drive. This completes the replacement of the drive.

Replacing a drive with a SATA interface Replacing a SATA drive is done in the same way. The only difference is the absence of jumpers.

The drive is connected to the motherboard via a flat SATA cable.

You can see how to change the drive correctly in the video below. Good luck!

You can see how to properly connect an optical drive to the motherboard in the video below. Attention! The video below shows how to connect a hard drive to the motherboard, but connecting a hard drive is no different from connecting an optical drive!

Attention! The video above only discusses connecting the drive to the motherboard! You also need to connect power to it from the power supply. You can find out how to do this

When recording DVD movies, MPEG-2 compression technology is used, so various decompression options should be provided. To improve your viewing experience, hardware decompression is recommended. Some drives come with software for playing DVD movies, but to play them without delays or dropped frames, you need a computer with a fast processor and plenty of RAM.

Many modern graphics cards have built-in hardware support for MPEG-2 decompression, so before purchasing a DVD-ROM drive, check the product description or website to see if your graphics card can support it. If everything is in order, then when purchasing a DVD-ROM drive you can save money by not having to buy an additional decoder board. Otherwise, your best choice is an all-in-one DVD-ROM upgrade kit. These sets (such as the Creative Labs DVD Encore described below) include a card with hardware MPEG-2 decompression, allowing you to get the same high-quality DVD movie as a separate DVD player. In addition, most of these boards also contain an S-VHS connector, which is considered a big plus for watching movies on TV.

So, you should seriously think about purchasing a DVD-ROM drive only when the PC is equipped with a processor of at least Pentium II-400 and at least 32 MB of RAM (only a slight deviation is acceptable). And to get maximum pleasure from watching DVD movies, you will need a high-quality sound card and speakers (for information on installing a sound card, see the next issue).

1. Check the functionality of your PC. Installing a DVD-ROM drive, an optional MPEG decoder card, and the associated software will significantly change the configuration of your PC. Therefore, before you start upgrading, make sure that your computer works without failures. Click the "Start" button and select "Settings? Control Panel", double-click the "System" icon and check the "Device Manager" tab. If there is an exclamation mark next to any device, then click the “Start” button again, check the “Help” item, find the “hardware troubleshooter” section and follow the instructions there. Don't forget that before starting any upgrade, you need to perform a full backup of your data.

2. Install the decoder board. Turn off the PC, disconnect it from the power supply and remove the cover from the system unit. Be sure to use an antistatic wrist strap connected to a grounded metal object. Find a free PCI slot and remove the corresponding metal plug from the back of the PC case. Carefully insert the board into the slot and secure with the screw.

3. Install the DVD-ROM drive. Motherboards have a primary and secondary IDE connector. The best place to connect a DVD-ROM drive is the IDE channel that serves the CD-ROM drive. Locate an open connector on the wide data cable connected to this channel. If you don't have one, take the cable from the DVD-ROM kit.

When the secondary channel already has two devices (for example, CD-ROM and CD-RW drives), then connect the DVD-ROM drive to a free IDE connector on the hard drive channel.

Make sure the jumper on the back of the DVD-ROM drive is in the Slave (A) position. If you need special brackets to install the device in your PC, secure them. Insert the drive into an open bay on the computer (B) and connect the wide data cable and power cable to the appropriate connectors on the back of the DVD-ROM drive (C). Make sure the colored wire of the data cable (usually red) is connected to the first pin of the DVD-ROM drive connector.

4. Connect the cables. A typical DVD-ROM upgrade kit includes many cables and necessary connectors - completeness options depend on the manufacturer. The instructions given here apply to the Creative Labs PC-DVD Encore 12X set with Dxr3 decoder. Please read the included manual carefully and work slowly and methodically.

Connect the audio cable from the upgrade kit to the back of the DVD-ROM drive and to the audio-in jack on the MPEG card.
If the audio cable from an existing CD-ROM drive is connected to the sound card, then switch it from the latter to the audio-in of the MPEG card.
Connect the audio cable between the line-out of the MPEG card and the internal CD audio input of the sound card.
Disconnect the monitor cable from the video card connector in the PC and connect it to the bottom connector (external monitor connector) of the MPEG card.
Connect the MPEG card to the PC video card using the special cable included in the DVD-ROM drive kit (loopback cable).
If you plan to watch DVD movies on TV, then connect it with a cable to the MPEG card. If your TV has an S-Video input (to improve quality), you will need a special cable (most DVD-ROM drive kits do not include one). Otherwise, use the split video to full video adapter included in the kit. To complete the TV connection, you will need a standard RCA cable, also not included with the DVD.
If you have an AV receiver or PC speaker system that can handle Dolby Digital Surround Sound, connect it with a cable (usually not included with the DVD-ROM) to the MPEG card.

5. Install drivers and software for your DVD-ROM drive. Connect your PC to power and turn it on. Windows should detect new devices and request their drivers. Insert the supplied floppy disk (or CD-ROM) into the appropriate drive of your PC and follow the on-screen instructions.

After installing the drivers, install the DVD-ROM drive software. Be sure to follow all instructions in the instructions - details depend on the specific kit.

Now make sure that the new drive reads both CD-ROM and DVD-ROM. There is a problem? Turn off your PC and double-check all connections: It can be easy to get confused with the many cables in an upgrade kit. If problems persist, call the kit manufacturer's technical support line. If everything works correctly, turn off the PC, put the cover on the system unit and start the computer again. Pop in your favorite DVD movie, grab some popcorn, sit back and enjoy the show.

A disk drive (also known as an optical drive) is a device for reading and writing optical discs. Now the drive is no longer so necessary for users due to the widespread use of other types of removable media, but it is still too early to abandon it. In any case, users should know how to connect the drive so that they can replace it on their computer if necessary.

Preparation

Before connecting a hard drive, optical drive, or any other equipment, there are a number of preparatory steps you need to take.

Turn off the power to your computer! Don't just shut down the system, but disconnect the wires going to the power supply. This way you are guaranteed to avoid electric shocks.

Remove the side covers. If when connecting a video card it is enough to remove one side panel, then in this case you need to remove two panels to make it more convenient to connect the equipment.

The walls are secured with four bolts that can be easily unscrewed.

If the system unit has an old disk drive, carefully remove it. To do this, you need to disconnect all the wires going to it (there are two in total) and unscrew the fixing screws.
After this, the drive can be removed from the system unit by slightly pushing it from the inside.

Connection

Once the drive bay is free, you can proceed to installing a new drive. Take the drive and insert it into the empty bay.

Important! The optical drive can only be installed externally! Do not try to push it from the inside by, for example, turning off the power supply.

Secure the drive with the mounting screws. It is better to use all four screws - then the drive will hold tighter and operate more quietly, without vibration or other annoying sounds.

You have installed the equipment. Now it is important to connect the wires correctly. Depending on the type of drive, it can operate via a SATA or IDE interface. You won’t be able to confuse them – these two interfaces are too different.

Modern drives are equipped with SATA connectors, so we’ll consider them (IDE is connected in a similar way):

Turn on your computer - the system should automatically detect and install new hardware. You can check the presence of the drive and its functionality through “Device Manager” or “My Computer”.

Since you have disassembled the system unit, do not be lazy to connect USB, adding several free ports. They definitely won’t be superfluous, considering how much the device uses this interface to transfer data.

Hello friends! A DVD drive for a PC today is not such an indispensable component as it was just a few years ago. The development of technology has made it possible to quickly download everything you need from the Internet, and the operating system can now be installed from a flash drive.

However, DVDs are still in demand, and in some cases their use is more rational - for example, in a home theater. CD Roms have lost popularity and are not used in modern computers.

In today's post, I will tell you how to install a disk drive on your computer correctly and what to consider. At the end you will find a thematic video that also contains detailed instructions.

Where to put the drive

The most popular place to mount the device is the compartment at the top of the front panel, which has a size similar to the size of the drive, that is, 3.5 inches. Most cases have several such pockets, which allows you to install an additional drive in a finished or assembled PC.

As a rule, this pocket is initially hidden by a plug - a plastic or metal plate that must be removed before installing the drive. Some cases have one compartment with a hinged door - it is best to install the device behind it.

It is most convenient to mount the drive from the front side. It can be inserted into an open pocket, that is, with the plug removed, fortunately the dimensions allow it. All that remains is to fix the device with screws, as well as connect power and the SATA interface for data transfer.

There is no need to install any additional drivers. In the BIOS, you should assign the hard drive with Windows installed as the main boot device, and the optical drive as the secondary boot device.

Despite the fact that cases of different form factors may have different dimensions, their pocket sizes are standard, as they are designed to install devices with dimensions of 2.5 or 3.5 inches.

It should also be taken into account that Slim size cases, that is, thin or ultra-thin, may imply vertical mounting of the optical drive.

This requires a corresponding modification with a special slot for vertical loading of optical discs. There is no fundamental difference between the position of the disk - any of these options functions normally.

Two or more disk drives

You can also install two or a second drive on one system unit - for example, separate ones for DVD and Blu-ray discs. The differences in installation are not fundamental: first we install and fasten the first one, then the second one, and then we connect the data transfer interface and power supply to each.

The external drive is connected using a USB cable and does not require mounting the device into a case - even its design itself is made as a logically complete portable computer component. When in use, it can be kept next to the system unit and removed when not needed.

And the last thing I would like to clarify. Cases without a disk drive, that is, those that do not involve its use at all, are gaining popularity.

For example, some top-end cases for gaming builds assume that the owner is keeping pace with progress and has long abandoned the use of obsolete optical drives.

And the developers are absolutely right - most gamers today can get along just fine without a disk drive, but it’s unlikely that without a powerful video card.

And I just want to remind you that the necessary components for assembling a PC, including if you forgot something, can be found in this popular online store. I also advise you to read the publications and DVD drive to motherboard.

You will find instructions on how to install the motherboard into the system unit.