Repair of external DVD writer: is it worth it?

[Martin S Taylor]

My external DVD writer (the standard Freecom one) has been misbehaving.
Everything reads well, but when writing it sometimes waits for a few minutes,
then spits the disk out unwritten. Often it will accept the disk for writing
later, but not always; it's certainly more likely to write if I put in a
fresh disk.

So is it worth trying to open the thing up (how? doesn't seem to be a way in)
to blow some dust off it, or shall I just cut my losses and buy a new one.
The internal DVD writer on my iMac works, but is very slow, and I do need to
burn dozens of DVDs in the run-up to Christmas.

Cheers,

Martin S Taylor

[Martin-S]

In article <0001HW.C735CB55...@text.news.virginmedia.com>,

Martin S Taylor <m...@hRyEpMnOoVtEiTsHm.cIo.uSk> wrote:

> So is it worth trying to open the thing up (how? doesn't seem to be a way in)
> to blow some dust off it, or shall I just cut my losses and buy a new one.

If you have a cleaning CD lying around, you could pop that in and see if
things improve after running a couple of cleaning cycles.

--
Martin

[Martin S Taylor]

Martin-S wrote

>> So is it worth trying to open the thing up (how? doesn't seem to be a way
>> in)
>> to blow some dust off it, or shall I just cut my losses and buy a new one.
>
> If you have a cleaning CD lying around, you could pop that in and see if
> things improve after running a couple of cleaning cycles.

Do they work? I'd need to get one specially, as I've been warned off them in
the past.

MST

[Elliott Roper]

In article <0001HW.C735CB55...@text.news.virginmedia.com>,
Martin S Taylor <m...@hRyEpMnOoVtEiTsHm.cIo.uSk> wrote:

I went through that with the internal DVDs on my Pro. Pratting about
thinking of ways to clean 'em as they got sicker and sicker.

Then I went to the local computer shop and bought two more drives at
the crippling price �15 a pop. Why did I ulcerate so?

--
To de-mung my e-mail address:- fsnospam$elliott$$
PGP Fingerprint: 1A96 3CF7 637F 896B C810 E199 7E5C A9E4 8E59 E248

[Duncan Kennedy]

In message <271120092020565871%nos...@yrl.co.uk>, Elliott Roper
<nos...@yrl.co.uk> writes

>In article <0001HW.C735CB55...@text.news.virginmedia.com>,
>Martin S Taylor <m...@hRyEpMnOoVtEiTsHm.cIo.uSk> wrote:
>
>> My external DVD writer (the standard Freecom one) has been misbehaving.
>> Everything reads well, but when writing it sometimes waits for a few
>>minutes,
>> then spits the disk out unwritten. Often it will accept the disk for writing
>> later, but not always; it's certainly more likely to write if I put in a
>> fresh disk.
>>
>> So is it worth trying to open the thing up (how? doesn't seem to be a
>>way in)
>> to blow some dust off it, or shall I just cut my losses and buy a new one.
>> The internal DVD writer on my iMac works, but is very slow, and I do need to
>> burn dozens of DVDs in the run-up to Christmas.
>I went through that with the internal DVDs on my Pro. Pratting about
>thinking of ways to clean 'em as they got sicker and sicker.
>
>Then I went to the local computer shop and bought two more drives at
>the crippling price �15 a pop. Why did I ulcerate so?
>

That was a good deal for external drives but you're right - if you can
get a good price it is wise to go for it. I do long runs of CD Business
cards using a laptop and 4 stacked external writers - if one goes off
during a run then a cleaner CD will often bring it back but it usually
winds up, eventually, with a new drive.

It is sometimes possible to get the whole drive out of the case and
replace it with a normal "internal PC" drive but the connector can be a
problem id it isn't a standard one - particularly for the power. I've
found that the screws holding the drive in place are usually at the back
or hidden under labels or the rubber feet.
--
Duncan K
Downtown Dalgety Bay

[Martin S Taylor]

Duncan Kennedy wrote

> I've
> found that the screws holding the drive in place are usually at the back
> or hidden under labels or the rubber feet.

That sounds likely; I'll have a look later today.

And thanks for your help, guys.

MST

[Pd]

Martin S Taylor <m...@hRyEpMnOoVtEiTsHm.cIo.uSk> wrote:

> Duncan Kennedy wrote
> > I've
> > found that the screws holding the drive in place are usually at the back
> > or hidden under labels or the rubber feet.
>
> That sounds likely; I'll have a look later today.

If it's the big grey curvy Formac enclosure, it's a bit of a prick to
get into. I seem to remember it's glued as well as screwed. I had a CD
drive which I thought I'd just drop an internal DVD drive into, but the
interface didn't support DVDs as it turned out.

--
Pd

[Martin S Taylor]

Pd wrote

> If it's the big grey curvy Formac enclosure, it's a bit of a prick to
> get into.

Hmm. Which bit? I'd been using a screwdriver.

MST