Replaced a DVD Drive - How Long Did/Has Yours Lasted?

[Jack Flash]

The DVD Drive that came with my Dell died some time ago. I've just done without for six months or so.

I like Dell products in general, but I saw on-line that this particular DVD Drive has a dismal track record. I think Dell just went with the low bid on this one and got burned. Or more exactly, I got burned. So I went to a little store that I like and bought a LiteOn Drive (just a player, not a burner) for $25 and installed it today. (It was a rainy day.) So far, so good.

Has anyone else had their DVD Drive take a dump? How long did it last? I couldn't have used the one that died more than 20 hours, mainly watching Deadwood. Maybe it was all that foul language...

 

[84CJ]

I thought mine was going out (05 Dell XPS). Turns out the slot where it plugs in was loose. It finally started rattling found a screw had fallen out. Replaced the screw no more problems. I don't think I have ever had one go bad. Then again I use it very little.

 

[J. Galt]

I think they vary greatly in quality, and the ones manufacturers use for their cheaper PCs are pretty low end. The one in my Gateway lasted about six months, the one in my Dell lasted a couple of years.

Fortunately they are easy to replace and even good ones don't cost that much. I have a $50 BenQ in the Gateway now that has burned almost 1000 DVDs without a hitch.

 

[Jack Flash]

The faulty one was in nice and tight, no loose screws, no loose connectors. It just would not play DVDs. My experience with this type component is that when it has problems, unless it is something trivial, it is not worth the time to try to troubleshoot it. If you do find the problem, parts are not available, or the cost exceeds the price of a new one.

Maybe I should have looked around a little. If I had known that I could have got a quality burner for only $50, I would have bought it. The place I went had burners for $80 to $100 (can't really remember), so I thought I would get the $25 DVD-ROM.

 

[vic3620]

Kind of spooky to read this thread. I am out of town on business. Just got off the phone with my wife, she says every time she puts a sd card in the computer to burn to a dvd the computer crashes. It is a dell probably three years old. Just something else to have to deal with when I get back home.
My laptop only has a dvd drive not a burner on it, So far so good.

 

[gmchenry]

Picked up a SATA $39 Samsung DVD +/- RW at Microcenter last year. It's one of the best optical drives I've ever used.

 

[scoutsdad]

NewEgg had Lite-on CD/DVD burners swapped out of a computer builders inventory $25. No papers no disc, no nothing. As long as you are plug and play worked just fine.

 

[Indiana George]

Yep.

Three year old Dell, with 2 DVD drives that maybe get utilized 5-6 times per year. Noticed that the main one was toast when I went to load this years tax software.

Looks like I'll need to hire the 11 year old down the road to come and replace it!

He wouldn't even consider doing any yard work, no matter what the pay, but will jump at the chance to work on our computer!

 

[jaegan]

+1 on Lite-on brand dvd drives. I have several in different machines, and don't recall ever having a problem with one. Also, you can download a very small exe to turn off region nonsense, and play non-region 1 movies (such as things ordered from amazon.co.uk) Unlike most other drives, Lite-on's don't require a firmware flash to be region free, just a command from that exe. You can even take the drive out and stick it in a Mac and it remains region free.

 

[cmort666]

1. DVD/CD writers can vary considerably in longevity. I had one die recently after a couple of years or so. Fortunately, my former boss had one lying around that came out of an older PC.

2. I used to like Dell, but their QC went straight down the toilet about five years ago. At one customer, I must have replaced at least one power supply and a couple of motherboards in the space of a year. They were new machines in an office environment. At another customer, I had to replace the motherboard on a machine that didn't survive from Friday until the following Monday. I came on a Thursday and did partial set up. I was supposed to come back that Monday to install their software, but it died over that weekend.

 

[cmort666]

Originally posted by jaegan:
+1 on Lite-on brand dvd drives. I have several in different machines, and don't recall ever having a problem with one. Also, you can download a very small exe to turn off region nonsense, and play non-region 1 movies (such as things ordered from amazon.co.uk) Unlike most other drives, Lite-on's don't require a firmware flash to be region free, just a command from that exe. You can even take the drive out and stick it in a Mac and it remains region free.

I usually stick with Lite-ON. I started getting them when the local Russian dealer had them for really good prices.