The drive - until recently a mandatory element in any computer, today is losing ground to flash drives and retires. Manufacturers have caught this trend and are now happy to follow it, refusing to install a drive in computers and laptops. But what if you need a drive? About this - in our article.

First we need to decide what we need a drive for. It's not about his type - by default, he should be able to read and write DVDs, such is the time. But there is such a thing as a connection type - an interface that our drive connects to a computer. He is to be chosen.

The easiest way to determine this is visual inspection motherboard and determining available places for connection.

Let's take it in order:


Have you considered the motherboard? Let's evaluate the availability of free ports. If there are several free SATA ports and an IDE port, then you definitely need to choose the first option. He has seriously more pluses, and it’s easier to connect. If there is only one free SATA port, then you can think about it - suddenly you want to connect another one to the computer HDD? He needs this port. Well, the easiest option is if you have either SATA or IDE ports. You have no choice, act according to the circumstances.

Removing an old drive

To do this, you will need a medium-thick Phillips screwdriver with a good slot and a vacuum cleaner.

Note! Take care in advance of collecting mounting hardware in a separate place - it will help a lot with reassembly. It is very unpleasant to look for bolts all over the apartment.

  1. Remove the side covers from the system unit. To do this, unscrew a pair of screws on the back of each side and pull the covers back. After shifting them a couple of centimeters and freeing the grooves, remove the covers.

  2. It's vacuum time. Be careful not to touch electronic components(this is important!), remove the top layer of dust. Residues are best removed with a can of compressed air - there is less risk of damaging components.

  3. Find your drive from the inside. Remove traces of hot glue from the cables with a screwdriver. Be careful!
  4. Carefully remove the ribbon cable from the drive and motherboard connectors. Then take out the power.

  5. The drive is fastened with rather thin screws on the sides - their number varies from two to four on each side. Unscrew them and remember the approximate position.

  6. Now remove the drive. Pull it inside the system unit and pull it out, being careful not to touch the rest of the computer components. If the drive does not pull in, push it from the inside out and pull it towards you.

Note! Some models of system units do not allow you to pull the drive inward. Pulling it out is prevented by the front panel - for example, the drive bays have rounded edges, for which the drive clings. In this case, you need to remove the front panel by unscrewing the four bolts or slightly bending the latches in four places. Do this with the utmost care: system unit with an insecurely fixed front panel, it will finally lose its presentability.

Installing a new drive in the system unit

In addition to a screwdriver, you may need pliers.

On a note! If you replaced the drive and completed the previous step to remove the old one, then you have already prepared everything for installation.

Now we will consider how to be someone who wants to put a drive in new computer, where it never was, or wants to put a second drive in addition to the old one.

  1. Using the instructions from the previous paragraph, open the system unit and remove the front panel.
  2. Gently pull one of the 5" plugs out of the front panel. Be careful not to break the slots, as it may come in handy in the future if you want to get rid of the drive.

  3. Using pliers, break out the metal plate opposite the selected plug on the front panel. The plate is definitely not useful, so just break it out. You can bend.

  4. Remove the new drive from the antistatic packaging. Remove all shipping stickers. Carefully insert the drive into its place in the system unit.

    Note! It would be nice to find complete bolts from the system unit, but there are none, buy four or eight bolts along with the drive to mount it.

  5. Secure the drive with screws. Watch its position: it is important that it fits neatly with the front panel. One way or another, its position can be adjusted after.

  6. Replace the front panel. If the drive does not align with it, loosen the screws and slide it into position. Tighten the screws.

Connecting an installed drive to the motherboard

Consider first the option with the IDE


IDE is an old format with its own customization rules. The loop implies the installation of two devices, so it turns out that one device is always the master (“Master”), and the other is always the slave (“Slave”). This is where the problem may lie if the connected drive is not detected. To fix it, check the position of the jumper on the back of the drive. Pay attention to the screenshot.

Universal case: if there is only one drive on the cable and it is connected by the last connector, then set the jumper to the left position (“Cable Select”, or auto-detection of the connection type). If there are two drives or devices in general on the cable, then the jumper should take a position based on the position of the device: if the connector is extreme - "Master", that is, the right position, if the middle one is "Slave", that is, the middle one. However, IDE motherboards have been around for a very long time, so they can easily fall short of standards. In this case, there is only one advice - refer to the instructions.

Now with SATA option


It remains only to close the side covers, tighten their fixing screws and start using the computer. Ready!

Video - Connecting (installing, replacing) a PC drive

A visual tutorial for working on a netbook Senkevich G. E.

How to connect a DVD drive to a netbook?

Let's try to share over the network to the DVD drive installed in home computer. Entire drives are shared a little differently than individual folders.

1. Click right click on the laser drive icon.

2. Will open context menu. Choose a team Sharing|Advanced setup public access.

3. The disk properties dialog will open on the tab Access. Click the button Advanced setup.

4. A dialog will open Advanced setup general access. Check box Share this folder.

5. Press the button Permissions.

6. A dialog will open in which permissions are set. Click on the group All.

7. Check the boxes in the column allow.

8. Press the button OK.

The dialog will close. Click the button OK in dialogue Advanced sharing settings and button close in the disk properties dialog.

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Hello friends! Today we will consider connecting a drive to a computer. Existing ways not so much, however, they can also cause difficulties for an unprepared performer, especially if he is with computers on “you”.

Built-in drive

Such a device, regardless of the data bus, is mounted in a special pocket, 5.25 inches in size. Such a compartment is located on the front panel and usually there are several of them - at least two.

It is installed horizontally, but not always. Slim type enclosures do not have sufficient width to mount such a drive. They need a special drive that supports vertical loading of disks. It differs from the usual one in that there is a special disc holder on the tray.

At the same time, it is important to install the device correctly - so that the disc does not fall out when the tray is closed.

On the chassis, the device is fixed with fixing screws. Usually, there are four threaded holes, but it is enough to screw in two screws. On the back cover there are slots for connecting power and data bus. I want to note right away that when buying new components, you will most likely come across DVD drive SATA.

Although these slots are similar, it is difficult to confuse the data cable and the power cable, and it is completely impossible to connect it incorrectly due to the difference in size.

If the power supply does not have a suitable connector, you can use a Molex to SATA adapter (read more about this in the publication about all PC power supply connectors, which you will find here).
The data cable must be inserted into the appropriate slot on the motherboard(I also advise you to read about all the connectors on the motherboard).

In general, the installation procedure is simple and even with a deliberate delay in the process, it will take no more than 10-15 minutes. The same connection scheme is used in outdated IDE format drives, only the data cable there has a much larger width.

If you do not connect the power, the device simply will not work and be determined by the computer. If you do not connect the data bus, the tray will open, but the BIOS will not see the device.

I also want to note that an optical drive from a laptop to a computer is suitable if it is SATA: the connectors on it are the same.

However, installation can be problematic, as it is difficult to fix it to the chassis, due to the lack of appropriate fasteners. Additional "crutches" will be required if you want to install the device motionless.

External drive

In this case, everything is much simpler: as a rule, such a device does not require installation inside the case, as it is designed for regular transportation, and has a self-sufficient design. Both data and power are transmitted via USB, which are plentiful on a modern computer.
If there are not enough ports, you can purchase a special hub - a kind of splitter with one plug and several "sockets". Besides, external drive, as a rule, does not require the installation of drivers. Just as easy, you can disconnect this drive from one computer and connect it to another.

Possible problems

A common occurrence is when, when a drive is connected, the computer does not boot, but in the absence of a device, it works normally.

The problem is most likely in the boot priority: the drive is listed as the first device in the queue. If there is no disc in the tray or a disc with non-OS content, the computer will not boot.

It is not difficult to get rid of such a problem - just go into the BIOS and set the hard drive or SSD drive as a priority device.

Everything is much more serious if, after installing the device, the computer does not turn on. In this case, the problem lies, most likely, in the power supply: although the drive consumes little power, the power supply does not have enough.

Probably, some time ago, such a device as external disk drives could have puzzled a computer scientist a lot. After all, often the very presence of a CD drive inside a PC case automatically made this device"elite": not everyone could afford it.

However, time did not stand still. Pretty soon, laser disc drives became commonplace. And then external drives appeared on the scene.

External drive - what is it

Probably, and without any definitions, it is clear to many that an external drive is a compact device designed to work (read and write) with all kinds of disks, which connects to a computer through one of its ports.

An external device is called precisely because it is not inside the system unit, but outside. That is, you can simply take an external drive and disconnect it at any time, connect it to another computer or drive, take it with you on the road or somewhere else.

When You Might Need an External Drive

There are many situations when such a drive may be needed, or even completely - you cannot do without it.

For example, for a netbook. For the sake of compactness, netbook manufacturers did not put a laser disc drive in the case. So the user lost the opportunity to work with such disks. And things would be really bad if not for an external CD drive. It simply connects to the device via a USB port - and you can start working with laser discs. Therefore, most often external drives are purchased in tandem with a netbook.

An external drive may also be needed if the main drive on the device is out of order. Or if you need to quickly rewrite information from one laser disc to another without first transferring data to a hard drive (many will probably remember the once common two-cassette recorders).

In a word, all sorts of situations where you may need an external drive for your computer, simply cannot be counted.

What are external drives

External drives can be classified in different ways: depending on the connection port, on the ability or inability to record, on the power supply, on the types of readable discs, and on other grounds.

However, most often external drives are divided into:

  • CD drives - those that can only read and write CD discs (they are practically non-existent at present);
  • DVD drives are the most common type of drive that "sees" both CDs and DVDs;
  • Blu-Ray - respectively, in addition to CD and DVD, such devices can also work with Blu-Ray discs;
  • writers and non-writers - those that can not only read, but also write information to a disk, or only read (the latter are also practically not used today);
  • powered via USB and via outdoor unit nutrition.

Are there laptop-only or desktop-only models? No, there are none. External drives are universal, they work equally well on netbooks and laptops, and paired with

Advantages of external drives

Of course, an external drive has a number of advantages, both as an independent device and over its built-in “colleague”.

  • External devices for working with disks can be simply disconnected from the computer at any time and, for example, given to a friend. In order to do this trick with the built-in drive, you will need to disassemble the system unit or laptop case.
  • An external drive will help out if the main drive on the device breaks down.
  • It will help to work with disks even on those devices where such drives are simply not structurally provided. For example, external drives for tablets have recently appeared.
  • External drives are compact and easy to connect and easy to replace.

Cons of external drives

But, as always, there were some drawbacks:

  • Speed ​​is the main weak point of any external drive. Whatever one may say, but USB port still slower than the internal system ports.
  • Often, an external drive for a laptop requires a separate power supply. Moreover, it can be carried out both through USB and through a regular outlet. Poor-quality power supplies burn out quickly, but it is almost impossible to find another one exactly the same - it's easier to just buy another drive.
  • An external drive is more expensive than its built-in counterpart.

How to connect an external drive

Fortunately, there is nothing complicated about how to connect an external drive. Usually, all that is required is to plug the USB cable into the appropriate port on the computer, and the power supply plug into a power outlet.

If necessary, you can also install additional software and drivers. But often you can not do this - the system simply recognizes the device as a new drive and works quite correctly with it using standard tools.

How to choose a removable drive

When choosing an external drive, you need to take into account the following points:

  • If the computer has a USB 2.0 port, then you need to purchase just such a drive. The process of reading and writing will go much faster.
  • If possible, you should prefer a model powered by both USB and wall outlets. If the power supply burns out, the device can be powered directly from the computer. In addition, such external drives will allow you to work offline. For example, on the road with a netbook.
  • If possible, the drive should read and write to most common disc formats. For the sake of universality, you can neglect other secondary functions, which are most often used only a couple of times for all the time, and then only out of curiosity.
  • The appearance of the drive also has a role to play. A beautiful device looks stylish on the table and will attract a lot of curious looks.
  • As for speed, there is no need to purchase the highest speed ones. The standard 52 speeds are enough "for the eyes" for all occasions. Moreover, the record high speeds often goes wrong. And the drive motor itself can quickly fail if you abuse it too often at high speeds.

Regarding the manufacturer - there are no unambiguous recommendations here. In principle, all companies today produce external drives of good quality. Each company has both successful and not so good models. But frankly bad today you will not meet anymore.

No laptop is immune to optical drive failure. Its repair can take quite a long time. To immediately open a disk on a laptop, you can use your home PC's disk drive. There are several ways to connect a drive to a laptop, depending on the drive interface of the device.

If the drive has a USB interface, you need to connect it to the USB port, and then turn on the laptop. After the system detects new hardware, the necessary drivers for the device will be installed. After connecting the drive, a notification will appear stating that it is ready for use. The drive can be used after the corresponding icon appears in "My computer". If the drive is equipped with a SATA interface, you will need an adapter " USB-IDE/SATA ”, which can be purchased at a computer store. You can connect any device that supports the SATA interface to the adapter. Complete with adapter USB-IDE/SATA There are additional power supplies. "USB-IDE / SATA" must be connected to the laptop's USB port, then connect the optical drive to the adapter, then the drive. Plug the adapter into AC power. After turning on the laptop, you must wait until it boots operating system. New hardware should show up. After notification that the equipment is ready for use and the icon appears, you can start using the drive. The system may not be able to detect the new device immediately. In this case, you need to open the context menu "My Computer", select "Properties". The Device Manager tab will display a list of hardware. Right-click on the top line and "Update Configuration".


If the list contains "Unidentified Device" need "Update Driver" by right-clicking on the device. In the next window select " Automatic search drivers". You can use the Internet to search for drivers.