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<blockquote data-quote="PhilMaffia" data-source="post: 2112896" data-attributes="member: 753876">it sounds goosed.The lasers and electronics can fail .Sometimes a Lens cleaner disc helps if you do a lot of burning.A new dvd/cd re writer can be had for twenty quidish($30 dollars?) and often comes with a free burning software suite although you dont need to install it .Sometimes a new one will only work with the supplied software but this is rare.To replace it you undo both sides of the computer case ,then undo the 4 small screws and disconnect the power wire (small block connector) and then the data connector(larger flat cable&nbsp; on ide type drives) and the unit will pull out the back or front, replace new drive ,fit screws and cables then side panels and your away.Newer drives use a sata type data cable which is an&nbsp; small cable ,older types use IDE which is a flat wide ribbon cable.Whatever type it is all connectors are slot based so it&#039;s impossible to put the cable in wrong.A sata dvd/cd writer is a little faster but just take your old one out and take it to the shop and get a new one.You can get one with the same colour for aesthetic enjoyment.Lastly , on the back of the drive is a very small jumper pin connector .This is used to tell the computer weather it is a Master or Slave, the bod in the shop will check this for you,they usually come set as master as most computers use one drive .with the advent of dvd/cd writers they have become more unreliable because the drives need two lasers .One for cd&#039;s (red wavelength) and one for DVDs (blue wavelength) this is because DVDs cram a lot more data on them so need a smaller laser to make smaller tracks.This is why they are a bit more unreliable as there are more things inside to go wrong.Generally&nbsp; a new drive will read and write all disks faster.You can also use the writer to back up important data in case of storage drive failure .I recommend you burn your photos and documents to a dvd backup disc using rewritableDVDss as these last much longer for storage and can be reused.Beware of cheap discs ,you just end up throwing more away and wasting your time.Remember to turn it off before take the side panels off.p.s. itunes is riddled with DRM</blockquote>

[QUOTE="PhilMaffia, post: 2112896, member: 753876"] it sounds goosed.The lasers and electronics can fail .Sometimes a Lens cleaner disc helps if you do a lot of burning.A new dvd/cd re writer can be had for twenty quidish($30 dollars?) and often comes with a free burning software suite although you dont need to install it .Sometimes a new one will only work with the supplied software but this is rare.To replace it you undo both sides of the computer case ,then undo the 4 small screws and disconnect the power wire (small block connector) and then the data connector(larger flat cable on ide type drives) and the unit will pull out the back or front, replace new drive ,fit screws and cables then side panels and your away.Newer drives use a sata type data cable which is an small cable ,older types use IDE which is a flat wide ribbon cable.Whatever type it is all connectors are slot based so it's impossible to put the cable in wrong.A sata dvd/cd writer is a little faster but just take your old one out and take it to the shop and get a new one.You can get one with the same colour for aesthetic enjoyment.Lastly , on the back of the drive is a very small jumper pin connector .This is used to tell the computer weather it is a Master or Slave, the bod in the shop will check this for you,they usually come set as master as most computers use one drive .with the advent of dvd/cd writers they have become more unreliable because the drives need two lasers .One for cd's (red wavelength) and one for DVDs (blue wavelength) this is because DVDs cram a lot more data on them so need a smaller laser to make smaller tracks.This is why they are a bit more unreliable as there are more things inside to go wrong.Generally a new drive will read and write all disks faster.You can also use the writer to back up important data in case of storage drive failure .I recommend you burn your photos and documents to a dvd backup disc using rewritableDVDss as these last much longer for storage and can be reused.Beware of cheap discs ,you just end up throwing more away and wasting your time.Remember to turn it off before take the side panels off. p.s. itunes is riddled with DRM [/QUOTE]

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