Older laptops typically feature a DVD bulldoze, whereas newer laptops don't. DVD drives have disappeared from notebook computers in the by few years, every bit manufacturers observe ways to maximise space, battery life, and cooling.

If you've noticed that y'all hardly ever use DVDs, why not supplant the DVD bulldoze with an SSD or hd?

Below is a step-by-step guide explaining how to supplant your laptop's DVD drive with a 2.5-inch SSD (solid-state drive) or HDD. Nosotros've also provided it for you in video form.

What Yous Need for Replacing a DVD Drive With an SSD or HDD

Swapping a barely used laptop DVD drive with extra storage is surprisingly easy. All you need is:

  • A drive caddy
  • A screwdriver
  • Plastic lever tool
  • Hot glue gun (optional)

The process is straightforward as well:

  1. Order the bulldoze caddy
  2. Select a new drive: HDD or SSD?
  3. Remove the DVD drive
  4. Insert the drive in the caddy
  5. Fit the caddy in the PC

Fix to bandy your notebook's optical drive with a new HDD or SSD for boosted storage? Permit'due south start.

Step ane: Club the Caddy

The bulldoze caddy slides into the CD or DVD drive slot. In this, you lot place your HDD or SSD.

At this phase, y'all might exist thinking: "Hang on, there's no standardized design for laptops. How can this work?" And y'all would be right... to a bespeak.

While there remains a lack of standardization for laptop computers, the aforementioned isn't true of the upgradeable parts. Additional RAM, hard disk drives, and DVD drives most e'er have the same connectors from device to device. This means that they tin can be swapped.

DVD drives are mostly a certain shape and size. This ways that a caddy can be easily slipped into the infinite that the DVD bulldoze occupied.

Where can you find a HDD caddy? The all-time places are Amazon or eBay. A caddy will set you dorsum less than $10.

Note that 2 variations of drive caddy are available, to fit 9.5mm and 12.7mm loftier drives. The departure is noticeable---y'all might be able make upwardly the difference with some padding, merely this isn't recommended.

Caddies are equipped with a SATA connector for the new bulldoze, and one to connect the caddy to the laptop. In one case slotted in and secured, the replacement bulldoze tin and then exist used for additional storage or dual booting.

Step 2: Choose an SSD or HDD to Replace the Optical Drive

Every bit the idea is to aggrandize the amount of storage available to yous, you'll need a new drive to sit in the caddy. This might be a HDD or a faster SSD.

Apparently, the chapters of the drive will depend upon your requirements. However, we would recommend installing every bit large a drive equally possible. A high-capacity drive has superior backup possibilities. It's also a good choice for saving personal data to, thereby avoiding data loss should the main HDD fail.

Step 3: How to Remove the DVD Bulldoze From Your Laptop

With your new secondary disk bulldoze fix to install, it's time to remove the DVD drive.

Removing a DVD drive is usually straightforward, although this will depend on the laptop manufacturer.

The standard method is:

  1. Place a towel on your table
  2. Sit down the laptop on it with the chapeau face up downwards
  3. Find the DVD locking screw (usually near the middle of the laptop, typically indicated by a minor DVD icon)
  4. Remove the spiral
  5. Pull out the optical drive
Remove the DVD drive from a laptop

Some laptops have a push button-button removal organization; alternatively, in that location might be a catch to depress while the drive is removed. This is like to how y'all might remove a laptop battery.

In other cases, yous might need to use a plectrum, credit card, or plastic knife to dislodge the bulldoze. There should be no resistance, withal.

Remove the DVD drive from your laptop

In one case fully removed, utilise a screwdriver or plastic knife to gently remove the DVD bulldoze fascia. Unless your laptop shipped with a spare, blank fascia for the DVD bulldoze bay, you'll need this later.

Remove the fascia or bezel from a DVD drive

Yous may also need to remove the locking screw hole from the DVD drive. This is attached with ii pocket-size screws and can be easily fastened to the caddy for locking in place.

Step 4: Insert the HDD or SSD Into the Caddy

This should be the easy chip! With your HDD or SSD unpackaged, it should be simple to slip the drive into the caddy.

Install an SSD in a CD drive slot

Depending on the retailer, you may have received a screwdriver with the caddy. Either way, check to see if any screws are included. These will need to be tightened to secure the HDD or SSD in the caddy. Make sure these screws are flush with the caddy when tightened, otherwise it won't slide into your laptop.

Step 5: Insert the Caddy Into Your Laptop

Next, find the fascia you removed earlier. Another standardized attribute of laptops is the fascia attachment on DVD drives.

Because the eject button must be in a sure position for universal accessibility, the fascia attachments have the clips in the same place. Simply attach the fascia, pushing the catches into the slots. Hot mucilage may be required hither, peculiarly if a take hold of breaks.

replace dvd drive with ssd

With the laptop once again upturned on the towel, slide the HDD or SSD into the CD drive slot, and use the securing screw to fix the caddy in place. Your laptop has a new storage device, set to use with whatever operating system that you take installed.

Reuse Your Old DVD Drive

So, you lot've replaced your laptop's DVD drive with an SSD or HDD. But what about the discarded DVD drive? Well, you tin can still use it.

It's possible to install a laptop drive into an external housing that you can easily connect and disconnect from your laptop. All y'all need is a laptop DVD enclosure and a pair of USB connectors for data and ability. A DIY portable DVD bulldoze can be used with a tablet, ultrabook, or any other device without an optical drive.

Can You Supercede the Laptop DVD Drive With USB Ports (or Anything Else)?

The swappable DVD/CD drive on your laptop can in theory be replaced with other things, such equally additional USB ports.

However, few manufacturers have followed upward on this. While you might find a DVD bulldoze-shaped USB three.0 hub for some Dell laptops from around 2022, such devices are rare and difficult to discover, even on eBay.

This is a shame, as such a hub could include things like a card reader, new audio hardware, or even a HDMI port.

Replace a Laptop CD or DVD Drive With an SSD or HDD: It'due south That Piece of cake!

If your laptop has a largely redundant DVD or CD bulldoze, using that space for extra storage is a good idea. With the vast file sizes that Hard disk drive photography and videos crave---non to mention games---having that extra capacity could prove extremely valuable.