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I finally have a do-absolutely-everything laptop!
From the shape showing in the pictures, I knew I was close to finally finding the CD/DVD +/- R/RW drive I always wanted for retrofit into my "old" (May 2000) Gateway Solo 9300 laptop. (650MHz PIII, 256MB, 80GB HDD upgrade from drivesolutions.com; I would replace it -- but I haven't found anything newer with video input jacks and Dolby Digital sound output!) The drive was the right shape and form factor, probably standard for laptops -- but would it work in MY laptop? Taking a tiny phillips screwdriver to my existing DVD-ROM drive, I discovered the odd connector on the rear was a removable bezel and adapter. Yeah, the pinout facing outward was oddball proprietary, but the inside of the adapter was pure ATAPI-compliant standard 50-pin. With the adapter removed, the pictures of the rear of the old drive and the SD-R6372 were identical twins. Decided to gamble $169 with ultradrives.com on a Friday and it was here on Monday via USPS Priority Mail. The rear connector and bezel transferred-over with zero problems, and the "handle" underneath (that you pull on to remove the drive from the drive bay in the laptop, and also where the latch catches to keep it in-place) mated with 100% alignment of existing screw holes. All the holes in the housing of both old and new drives matched. Not bad for 4 years age difference! The body, with door open, fit the drive bay perfectly. The "gotcha" was the front faceplate when closing the door. The Solo 9300 overlaps the lower-right corner of the CD/DVD drive with the upper-left corner of the FDD, and the SD-R6372 faceplate isn't removable, so I couldn't swap fronts. No matter! A nice precise pair of wire-cutters (that has the "bite" completely flush with one side rather than the middle of the jaws) and I was able to notch-out a 3/4 inch by 1/4 inch chunk of the Toshiba's faceplate's rubbery lower-right corner, and then I found I had to take about 1/16th of an inch along the entire top edge of the front and YOWZA it fits AND closes without interference. Recognized by OS (Win98-SE) at first reboot without incident or comment. Using DVD Decrypter 3.2.1.0, DVD Shrink 3.1 and Imgtool 0.98, I'm ripping-n-burning DVD's while poolside with my laptop running on batteries and zero problems so far. I had no idea I would enjoy NOT being tethered to my external DVD burner so much. I have walked the laptop to my minivan and driven to do errands and kid pickups WHILE BURNING DVD's; NO detriment noted from shock, motion, etc. No burn failures. I suppose there is some level of shock or motion that would impact burning -- but I haven't found it yet. THE EXTERNAL DVD BURNER HAS BEEN RENDERED OBSOLETE! "With God as my witness, I'll never burn externally again!" (My apologies to Scarlet O'Hara.)
Rating:  [5 of 5 Stars!] |
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