

If you bought an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) optical drive which only came with the bare drive and nothing else, you will need to use a SATA data cable provided by your motherboard (most boards come with at least 2). The first of which is the SATA data cable which plugs into the back of the optical drive and into a SATA port on the motherboard. Once your CD/DVD/Blu-ray drive is securely installed in your computer case, you need to connect 2 cables. Locate Spare 5.25" Drive Bay and Remove Cover
HOW TO INSTALL A DVD DRIVE IN A CUSTOM PC FULL
If you have all that, let's dive into the full steps to install an optical drive in your PC case and connect it to your motherboard and power supply.ġ.

Computer Case With 5.25" Drive Bay: Due to falling demand for physical media, not all modern cases come with a 5.25" drive bay, so make sure your particular case does have one before buying an optical drive.Modern motherboards no longer support IDE, so in the rare chance you're installing an old optical drive in a newer PC, you'll need an IDE to SATA adapter. SATA Optical Drive: IDE is the old connection format for optical drives, but has been completely replaced by SATA.
HOW TO INSTALL A DVD DRIVE IN A CUSTOM PC UPGRADE
To install or upgrade to an optical drive, you'll need the following: All that's involved is mounting the drive into a 5.25 inch drive bay in the front of your case, securing it with screws, attaching a SATA data cable to the motherboard, and then connecting a SATA power cable to the power supply. They're not 100% necessary in a modern computer these days, as not everyone has a need to play or burn physical media since almost everything is digitally available.īut if you do have an optical drive to install in your PC, you'll be done in no time as they are one of the easiest, quickest PC components to install. Optical drives can refer to either CD, DVD, or Blu-ray drives and burners.
