I have a Dell Dimension 4600 and I am intending on replacing my DVD drive. I opened up my computer and realized that unlike every modification I've made such as installation of fans, cards, memory etc it does not seem to be user serviceable. There are two disk drives and I only need to replace the top DVD drive but it seems to be an impossibly snug fit with little excess cable connections to fully pull the old one out and connect the new one - I can't even see how I'd get the proper leverage to connect the new one.

The Dell instructions don't have graphics for that part of the job only text that makes it seem so simple - unscrew, slide out, disconnect, reconnect. Not so, not so.

I am starting to regret following the suggestion not to go with an external dvd drive!

Anyone familiar with the machine of which I write or have any suggestions?

Thank you!

 

Disconnect the cables, slide the drive out of the front of the computer. Slide the new drive in, screw it in, and attach the cables. You don't really need much slack.

 

Every Dell I've looked at had the drives mounted on plastic rails that slide right out of the chassis slots.. What's the problem?

 

Thank you for both responses - I've yet to have the opportunity to give it another shot.

To the second responder, I wish it had such a mechanism, that the drives slide right out. There is a metal casing attached to the chassis that contains the two drives. However the main issue is not getting the drives out, it is simple enough, plastic slots or not, to slide them out - it is mainly the little slack in the connector cables.

I will give it another go - though time has been a real issue, which is why I quit so early on in my first attempt to do this.

 

lol, i know how you feel when you talk about time. Sometimes i do things in a rush to go back and realize if I had the time I couldve figured things out but nontheless I'm sure once you have time you can look at it from every angle and get to it. Ive ran across some with rails, as mentioned, some where the whole metal case the drive is in has to come out, some where the whole front cover has to come off first and on. If you cant get to the cables maybe you can get to the other end on the mobo pull it out with the old drive and then connect it to the new drive, slide it back in and fish the cable back to its spot on the mobo and then slap the crap outta the power plug back in wich is more tolerant to abuse .

 

Usually drives are mounted either on rails that slide out or are directly screwed into a cage - sometimes that cage is hidden behind something though, so you'll need to locate all the screws so that you can do some sliding. Have you removed both sides of the case (there's usually two screws on each side)? You also may need to remove the front of the case, if it is on rails.

Any chance you can take a picture of the setup and post it so we can see what it looks like?

 

It's possible the cage is removable.. Usually with just one screw..

 

I have a dell 4100. I have to remove the front face of the pc. Maybe yours is the same. In order to do that I have to remove the side cover. And yes it just slides out. If slack is an issue, pry the flat ribbon off the drive somehow and replace it with a longer one when you install the new drive. My from my own experience dell desktops are the easiest to remove and replace components in...especially the newer ones.

 

I just installed a DVD drive in my computer---not a Dell, but same "no slack" issue-----AND I'm pretty much a noob. The lack of slack slowed me down a moment, then I just unplugged the ribbon-like cable, like kchinth said (I realized there's only one spot to plug it into, so how could I screw up?) Once I got the new drive in, I realized that it sits deeper in the CPU case than the original, which was kind of bow-fronted, while the new one is flat. Long story short, I drilled a new hole in the mounting bracket so that the drive would sit right, then attached it with only one of the two original screws (what's it gonna do, fall out?). Moral of the story, it's not rocket science. It's not even computer science!

 

Thanks to all who have given me advice on this!

As I suspected, and as reinforced here, once I had a little bit of free time, I did this and it was a breeze. No great technical feet at all.