Laptop Optical drive replacement

[eagle777]

I have a HP Pavilion N5420L. P3 800Mhz. The optical drive went out (DVD ROM I think). Can I replace it with any slim optical drive (looking at a DVD/RW). Or are the laptop optical drives system specific. Looks like they could be kinda hot swappable (Ccorrect me if I'm wrong) and looks fairly straight forward. I don't want to spend money on a new one,my loves this one as it is (or she used to).

[ktkendall]

I do believe they are propritiery, which is to say that I'm reasonably sure you will want to get a replacement from HP that is made just for that laptop, or that series of laptops.

[glc]

If you can remove the drive from the caddy and it looks like a standard slim drive, yes, you can replace it with a standard slim drive.

[eagle777]

I don't want to sound stupid, but what would the difference between a standard and a preprieatory (spelling?) look like? And am I correct in assuming the drive what be somewhat hot swappable, in being similar to a pc drive where I hook it up and the OS should detect it and I might have to install some drivers,is this correct, or close? Thanks

[kev7555]

Proprietary simply means the drive-technology is only compatible with that made by the same manufacturer.

I would follow GLC's advice and see if when you remove the drive from the caddy it is of standard "slim" type. I have had good luck replacing these type of drives with generic ones.


-Kev

[glc]

Quite often, a Froogle search can find exact replacement drives for laptops already in the right caddy for specific laptops. They will more often than not be pulls, used, or refurbs. There are a lot of vendors of such items on Ebay.