Laptop optical drive replacement?
I've had it with the optical drive in my Rock Pegasus 650 laptop.
It was replaced a few months back under warranty and now this replacement drive has become unreliable. It won't recognise DVD-RAM discs and I've created a few DVD+RW and DVD+R coasters while trying to image my hard drive with Terabyte's Image For Windows (a great imaging app btw). I got an image successfully written (and byte-for-byte validated) to a DVD+RW disc but it won't read (restore fails at 99% read). I got another image written to a DVD+R disc and it validated OK but this disc won't show up in WinExplorer and the drive head makes an awful noise while seeking. I tried this disc in my desktop DVD drive and that had the same problem trying to read it so it could have been a bad disc but I suspect the laptop's drive heads are out of alignment.
It doesn't seem to have any problems with reading and writing to CD's and reading DVD-ROM's so at least I can still install apps.
I could send the laptop back to Rock again (I'm in my 3rd warranty year) but I really don't want another Matsushita UJ-825S drive so I'm looking into a suitable and superior replacement. I've had a quick look at the laptop optical drives available on OcUK's site
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=10&subid=952
and they're surprisingly cheap so can anyone recommend which one to get and are they relatively easy to fit?
I realise I'll be voiding my warranty if I go ahead so I'm a bit hesitant.
Another option (to evade voiding the warranty) would be to get a USB external HD and use that for imaging purposes but again I'm bewildered at the choices available.
I've had it with the optical drive in my Rock Pegasus 650 laptop.
It was replaced a few months back under warranty and now this replacement drive has become unreliable. It won't recognise DVD-RAM discs and I've created a few DVD+RW and DVD+R coasters while trying to image my hard drive with Terabyte's Image For Windows (a great imaging app btw). I got an image successfully written (and byte-for-byte validated) to a DVD+RW disc but it won't read (restore fails at 99% read). I got another image written to a DVD+R disc and it validated OK but this disc won't show up in WinExplorer and the drive head makes an awful noise while seeking. I tried this disc in my desktop DVD drive and that had the same problem trying to read it so it could have been a bad disc but I suspect the laptop's drive heads are out of alignment.
It doesn't seem to have any problems with reading and writing to CD's and reading DVD-ROM's so at least I can still install apps.
I could send the laptop back to Rock again (I'm in my 3rd warranty year) but I really don't want another Matsushita UJ-825S drive so I'm looking into a suitable and superior replacement. I've had a quick look at the laptop optical drives available on OcUK's site
http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=10&subid=952
and they're surprisingly cheap so can anyone recommend which one to get and are they relatively easy to fit?
I realise I'll be voiding my warranty if I go ahead so I'm a bit hesitant.
Another option (to evade voiding the warranty) would be to get a USB external HD and use that for imaging purposes but again I'm bewildered at the choices available.
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. Personally I'd just upgrade the drive, I don't believe it would void the warranty 
. You'll need to check whether its height is 12.7 or 9mm (and whether it's sata or ide, but it's panasonic so it's probably ide). I'd go for a Sony Optiarc 7913 (not sold by OcUK) it's expensive, but a beast or the cheaper 7633.
