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    m14x optical drive replacement

    Discussion in 'Alienware 14 and M14x' started by tehdewm, Aug 21, 2011.

  1. tehdewm

    tehdewm Notebook Guru

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    Is there any place I could buy an m14x optical drive, or a compatible one. I was considering replacing the optical drive with another HDD. But just on the off chance I wont, I would like to having a working optical drive if I don't have another HDD.
     
    tehdewm, Aug 21, 2011
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  2. /Drakk_

    /Drakk_ Notebook Consultant

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    What?

    If you don't have another HDD...you'll have the optical drive. So why would you need another optical drive?

    You could buy a USB optical drive, I guess. Then you can use that if you decide to replace the standard optical drive with a HDD. I'm not sure if you could just put the old optical drive in an enclosure. You'd have to find an enclosure that was slot loaded.
     
    /Drakk_, Aug 21, 2011
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  3. Croatoan

    Croatoan Notebook Consultant

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    Glad you said that Drakk as was thinking and reading about five times confused lol
     
    Croatoan, Aug 21, 2011
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  4. tehdewm

    tehdewm Notebook Guru

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    I suppose I didn't type this out clearly as I was tired last night. For some reason the optical drive I got is not working properly. But, the fix would be easy enough for myself if I could just find a replacement. I meant to admit I was considering replacing the ODD for a hard drive. While that may be the best idea, and the idea I may end up going for, I would like to know if it is possible to buy another compatible one for the m14x. I hope I made it clearer now.
     
    tehdewm, Aug 21, 2011
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  5. FelipY2K

    FelipY2K Notebook Consultant

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    what kinda of problems do you have? my optical drive is dead after 1 day of use .... follow this post:

    http://forum.notebookreview.com/ali...ll-secondary-hard-drive-your-m14x-w-pics.html
     
    FelipY2K, Aug 21, 2011
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  6. Gearsguy

    Gearsguy Notebook Deity

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    Why not have dell send you one? If its not your fault, or if it is and you have accidental, itll be free.
     
    Gearsguy, Aug 21, 2011
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  7. tehdewm

    tehdewm Notebook Guru

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    Well, as soon as I got it, I played around with it on the stock hard drive. I then took the SSD out of my m11x, and put it in my new m14x, and I went to install windows. Well for some reason the install failed, (it also failed using an external too, and was so slow, it said 17% expanding windows files, after almost an hour).

    Well I found that the disc would not eject out of my ODD. I took the ODD apart and got the windows disc. After that I kept hearing the drive mechanisms clicking and making noises. When I tried to put the disc in again there was something blocking the disc, the little black plastic thing (I have no idea what it is).

    Anyway, THAT is my issue with the ODD. I have no idea why the OS won't re install on my SSD but it works fine int he m11x. So I threw the old HDD back in, unplugged the ODD and now that is the current state. I loved my m11x, but the m14x is not up to par with my expectations. Even still, I love it.

    Now to make this final, I may do the HDD in the optical bay idea, BUT even so, I would like to know if you can order this part, or buy it (the slot loading disc drive) from somewhere. If anyone is going to say, just do the HDD thing, please don't even reply (not you FelipY2K).
     
    tehdewm, Aug 21, 2011
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  8. tehdewm

    tehdewm Notebook Guru

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    I tried contacting them, they said they could not send me/sell me that part currently.
     
    tehdewm, Aug 21, 2011
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  9. FelipY2K

    FelipY2K Notebook Consultant

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    did you try change from AHCI to ATA in BIOS? .... my DVD was locked inside the Optical Drive either and i opened up the cover and got the disc!
     
    FelipY2K, Aug 21, 2011
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  10. tehdewm

    tehdewm Notebook Guru

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    No I have it in AHCI and have not changed it. I used intel migration software and an external HDD/SSD adapter to transfer my OS to my SSD, so now I at least have that working. I figure I may get a 1TB WD blue drive for the ODD area.

    I would still like to get my hands on new ODD though. Seems they are awful ones though.
     
    tehdewm, Aug 21, 2011
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  11. /Drakk_

    /Drakk_ Notebook Consultant

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    Just get a USB external optical drive. Preferably a tray loaded one with a manual release.
     
    /Drakk_, Aug 21, 2011
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  12. tehdewm

    tehdewm Notebook Guru

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    As noted I do have one. The funny thing is it worked for installing windows on a mac book air (which pretty much only the superdrive is supposed to work with mac airs for OS installs) yet when trying to install windows on a pc machine, it took forever for me to get it to work.

    Anyway I honestly do not need these JUST DO THIS or DO THAT comments. I don't care what you are thinking, I am asking an objective question, not an opinion question. I will try more dell/alienware calls to see if I can get the part.

    Otherwise my main goal was just to SEE if there was a place or someway I could order the replacement part. If my google skills fail and there is a place, let me know. If not, don't throw your opinions in here, thanks for the consideration though.
     
    tehdewm, Aug 22, 2011
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  13. FelipY2K

    FelipY2K Notebook Consultant

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    this is the drive that you´re a looking for ...

    SATA HL GS30N DVD RW Burner Drive Replace UJ-867A 867A | eBay
     
    FelipY2K, Aug 22, 2011
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