# /????? about changing disc drive



## kentuckyhippie (May 29, 2004)

I just bought a secondhand computer and one of the cd drives will play my cd's but the drive that I would put a blank cd in to make a copy isn't working. I have an older computer that has good drives . could i switch drives without having to reinstall any program. the newer computer has windows xp and the old one is windows 98. I'd like to just yank out the bad one and plug in the good one and not have to do anything more complicated than that. anybody know if that would work? thanks


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## tkrabec (Mar 12, 2003)

it's pretty much that easy, do it with the power off, and un plugged. also make sure the cables match


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## Nevada (Sep 9, 2004)

The drives should work in your machine, but you have to avoid device addressing problems. You need to pay attention to whether the jumper on the drive is set to master, slave, or cable select. Also, be aware of whether the IDE cable is a cable select cable or not.

If you install the drive and it doesn't work then it might be helpful for you to take some photos of the jumper positions and ribbon cable. I can give you specific advice with that information.


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## wogglebug (May 22, 2004)

You might run into brand problems as well. If they're the same brand, (Sony, Teac, LG) then you should be fine. If not, then the software you're using to write CDs may have been "tailored" (restricted) to only work with the original brand. You can get free open-source software that doesn't have those restrictions, but you might have to find it, download it, install it, and learn to use it.

CD or even DVD drives are cheap these days, and come with software (Nero) if you want them to. I'd suggest you try swapping the drive as you've proposed, and if you still get any trouble after you've worked through device-select as Nevada suggested, just buy a new one. It 's astounding how cheap they are these days.


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