How do I connect the power connector to my optical drive?

Category: technology and computing computer peripherals
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Fit the power cable
Optical drives tend to use a Molex power connector. This is the large four-pin connector on your power supply. Locate a free one and push it into the drive's power connector. Use a bit of force to get it to connect properly.



Also, do optical drives use SATA?

Serial ATA (SATA) optical drives require the same basic installation steps as standard ATA/ATAPI optical drives, except that SATA drives do not require setting a Master/Slave jumper. We do not recommend using SATA optical drives, because they are plagued with compatibility problems.

Also, is an optical drive needed? Optical drives, that can read and write CDs, DVDs, and sometimes Blu-ray discs, have been an important part of the PC universe for a long time. But there's less and less need for them. Most users download and stream music and movies these days rather than buy them on a shiny five-inch disc.

Herein, how do I connect my SATA DVD drive to my motherboard?

Insert your SATA DVD drive in the front of the case until the clips snap into place. Connect the SATA cable to the back of the DVD drive and to your motherboard (see image for step 2 for position of SATA ports). Connect the power supply cable to the back of the SATA DVD drive.

Why is my CD drive not working?

Reinstall or Update Driver in Device Manager Boot to the Windows 10 desktop, then launch Device Manager by pressing Windows key + X and clicking Device Manager. Expand DVD/CD-ROM drives, right-click the optical drive listed, then click Uninstall. Exit Device Manager then restart your computer.

39 Related Question Answers Found

What is optical drive on a computer?

An Optical Drive refers to a computer system that allows users to use DVDs, CDs and Blu-ray optical drives. DVDs have a storage capacity of 4.7GB and can be used to store data for various uses. For you to write content/data to a disc, you will need a blank recordable DVD disc.

How do I connect my CD ROM?

  1. Remove the CPU case.
  2. Remove the drive bay cover where you put the CR-ROM drive.
  3. Insert the CD-ROM drive inside the drive bay.
  4. Fasten the CD-ROM drive with the locking mechanism, to let it steady.
  5. Connect the SATA power cable to the CD-ROM drive.
  6. Connect the other end of the SATA power cable to the power supply.

How many pins are there in the motherboard connector?

P1 (PC Main / ATX connector)
The primary task of the Power Supply Unit (PSU) is to provide your motherboard with power. This is done via the 20-pins or 24-pins connector. A 24-pins cable is backwards compatible with a 20-pins motherboard, often this cable can be split into 20- and 4-pins (like in the image above).

What are the main steps in physically installing an optical drive?

  1. First, make sure your PC is completely powered down.
  2. You must open the computer to install the CD or DVD drive.
  3. Remove the drive slot cover.
  4. Set the IDE drive mode.
  5. Place the CD/DVD drive into the computer.
  6. Attach the internal audio cable.
  7. Attach the CD/DVD drive to the computer using an IDE cable.

How do I install a DVD drive on my laptop?


Installing software using a USB thumb drive
  1. Insert the software CD into the CD/DVD drive.
  2. In Windows Vista, click Start, Computer, and then double-click the CD/DVD drive.
  3. Select all files and folders, then right-click and select Copy.
  4. Insert a USB thumb drive into a USB port on the computer that has a CD/DVD drive.

What is the DVD drive connected to?

1Remove your computer's case and examine the data cables that run from your computer's motherboard (the large, flat circuit board filled with chips and cables) to your CD/DVD drive or drives. If the drive's cable is small (left), then your computer uses SATA drives. (The SATA connector is often labeled, too.)

What type of power connector does your optical drive use?

Optical drives tend to use a Molex power connector. This is the large four-pin connector on your power supply.

What kind of cable connects the optical drive to the motherboard?

An IDE, or PATA hard drive, uses a wide, flat or thick cable to connect to the computer's motherboard. Find out what type of cable system is used to connect drives to the motherboard. There are two systems in common use: IDE drives (also known as PATA, or Parallel ATA), and SATA (Serial ATA) drives.

Can you use an external optical drive to install Windows 10?

If the computer can be started on any OS then you can use the external HDD with the necessary Windows 10 installation files to install the Windows 10 system, over existing OS as upgrade. The Windows 10 Installation Disc itself is an bootable Disc to run & install the OS.

How do I open my CD drive on Windows 10?


Press the Windows Button and E simultaneously. In the window that appears, on the left side, click on This PC. Right-Click on your CD/DVD Drive and click on Eject. Is this what you are referring to?

What is SATA optical drive?

In computing, an optical disc drive (ODD) is a disc drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves within or near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs.

How long do optical drives last?

Among the manufacturers that have done testing, there is consensus that, under recommended storage conditions, CD-R, DVD-R, and DVD+R discs should have a life expectancy of 100 to 200 years or more; CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, and DVD-RAM discs should have a life expectancy of 25 years or more.

Should I replace my optical drive with SSD?

Yes you can definitely replace your laptop CD drive with SSD it will increse your laptop speed by 8–10 times. But it will only work if you will install your operating system in SSD and by giving it first boot priority in BIOS setting. The process is very simple you will have to remove your CD drive completely.

Why do laptops not have optical drives?

1 – Most music, movies and computer software is being delivered to the consumer over the Internet instead of on discs these days, making optical drives completely unnecessary for younger consumers who don't own a library of optical media.

Which is an example of optical disk?


Digital vesatile disks is an example of an optical disk. Compact disks (CD), digital versatile/video disks (DVD) and Blu-ray disks are currently the most commonly used forms of optical disks. These include CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs.

What is the hard disk?

A hard disk drive (HDD), hard disk, hard drive, or fixed disk is an electro-mechanical data storage device that uses magnetic storage to store and retrieve digital data using one or more rigid rapidly rotating platters coated with magnetic material.

How does an optical drive work?

An optical disk drive uses a laser to read and write data. An optical drive that can work with multiple types of discs will therefore contain multiple lasers. The mechanism to read and write data consists of a laser, a lens to guide the laser beam, and photodiodes to detect the light reflection from the disc.