Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 49—The 3.5" 4 TB hard drive mounted on the drive sled
was not as reliable or depended upon as it is today. But this physical optical-
media legacy will continue for at least another 10 years, and some media (like
high-resolution 3D movies) still almost exclusively ships on these discs.
Depending on what you plan on using your computer for, you can opt for
something as basic as a read-writeable DVD drive or spend $40 more for a
Blu-ray drive capable of playing Blu-ray movies. For the basic build, I chose
an inexpensive ASUS DVD-ROM drive.
5
Install the optical drive in any of the PC case's top drive bays. Be sure to clear
the area of any stray wiring so it doesn't get pinched when inserting the
optical drive into the bay; see
Figure 50 on page 51
.
I chose the top slot so that it's close to the case's front button panel and it
looks nicer and more contiguous as a result. Installing an optical drive is
slightly different from installing an HDD or SSD because the drive tray has
to eject outward. So instead of installing the drive from the inside, we need
to pop off the drive bay's cover by squeezing the plastic clips to release it (as
shown in
Figure 51 on page 51
).
Slide the optical drive into the drive bay with the disc tray facing outward.
Slide the drive in slowly and continue to push it into the bay until you feel
and hear a click. The plastic clips on the side of the drive bay will lock and
