Fix CD/DVD Drive Issues

There are 9 large general categories of symptoms of CD/DVD drive malfunctioning from the drive not lighting up all the way to drives that burn, but with errors. This troubleshooter divides diagnosis, tips and suggested fixes into the 8 sections, Steps 3 through 10 according to the degree of problem with the drive. Additional preliminary sections for common causes and fixes and quick freeware tools are also included as steps 1 and 2.

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How to Install a CD/DVD Drive

How to Install a CD/DVD Drive

To install an external DVD drive: -

1). When purchasing a new drive be sure to understand the many formats available: DVD, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD+/-R, DVD+/-RW are a few for example. More recent technologies include DVD-DL, HD DVD and Blu-Ray Disc. A decent DVD drive should be able to read and write both "+" and "-" technologies and also support recordable (R) and re-writable (RW) technology. Essentially look for a DVD+/-RW drive if you plan on recording DVD's, or just a plain DVD drive for reading DVD's (movies, games, etc). There are a variety of speeds from 2x-16x for a wide spectrum of users and needs; higher speeds will record faster.

2). If you have a USB connection on your computer you can use an external drive. The advantage to an exterior drive is that you can use it on other computers as well.

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