Add new DVD-RW drive to 5672?

Ok, I've decided to replace my dead DVD-rw drive in my 5672 with a "Pioneer Slim DVD Burner With 5X DVD-RAM Write Black IDE Model DVR-K06 - OEM"

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827129003

I could not figure out how to remove the old drive. Anybody know the secret. I can get to the CPU, memory and hard drive but can't for the life of me figure out how to remove the DVD ROM drive.

 

Why not have Acer just give you a new drive which I am assuing is the cheapest option. There has got to be a screw you missing somewhere. Did you take off the keyboard?

 

I could do that but it would require sending in the unit to Acer and would take several weeks before I got it back (at least according to CompUSA). I'm planning to slowly upgrade the notebook when certain parts become available. Larger hard drive, faster processor, more memory and now a faster DVD-RW drive. As some as stated before and I have observed with mine, the included DVD-RW drive is not particularly fast, usually only reaching a speed slightly over 2x when burning DVD+R media. I read some good things about the Pioneer Drive especially in regards to speed.

As for taking off the keyboard, I've removed all the screws that I could see but there still seems that at several spots the keyboard cover is still attached and I'm afraid if I add too much force I'll break the cover.

 

AFAIK, there is a screw under the keyboard that permits removal.
Please let us know how it went, because if there is one thing that I would change on this laptop it would be the godaawful DVD burner. Let us know how the Pioneer works out, because I'll be right behind you.
Good Luck!

 

Finally figured out how to remove the drive from the 5672. Actually quite simple. Here's instructions from another thread.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=15950

Order the Pioneer DVR-K06 today, hopefully get it by Friday. I'll post when I get it installed. Any benchmark that I should run on the drive?

 

I got the drive today. Installation was pretty easy (about 5 minutes). You do need to remove the mounting bracket from the old unit and put it on the new. I ordered the OEM version from New Egg. The only thing in the box was the drive, nothing else. The 5672 BIOS saw the drive right off and WinXP displayed new hardware found and proceeded to install it without a hitch. The face plate mounts flush with the unit. You'd never know that the drive did not come with the notebook. Here's some benchmarks using Nero CD-DVD speed 4.51.1. You can download it free off of here.

http://www.cdspeed2000.com/

I tested using a TDK DVD+R 8x Blank DVD. I first did the write test then a read test on the same DVD.
Here's the write test:

http://www.tccycling.com/misc/PIONEER_DVD-RW__DVR-K06_101.html

Here's the read test:
http://www.tccycling.com/misc/PIONEER_DVD-RW__DVR-K06_102.html

The green line is the write/read speed. The yellow x1,000 is the drive's rotational speed.

If someone is willing to do the test on a stock 5672 DVD drive, I'll post the results on my web page with a link from this tread. Save the results in HTML format.

 

Excellent! Now I will be able to use my DVDRegionfree software again, I am going shopping!