Macbook Pro (2007) DVD drive is almost dead. Where to buy a new one?

Hey guys, my old MBP 2007's Superdrive is slowly dying. It can barely read any of my DVDs.

I'm wondering, where can I buy a slot-loading drive that would fit inside? It's already out of warranty, so I don't mind opening it up. I just want to have a drive that can read DVDs and such.

So do you guys have any ideas of sites I can buy one from?

Cheers!

 

Before you think about replacing it I'd suggest buying a DVD cleaning disc, you know the ones with a little brush on them. My late 2007 MBP was having problems with CD/DVD's (it would just spit them back out) - I thought my drive was stuffed and was about to take it back into an apple store. Bought a Philips DVD cleaning disk and haven't had a problem since (now been 4 months and has been working perfectly).

Give that a try.

Merry Christmas.


Jay.

 

Why don't you get the original? It's a little pricey but sure to fit with no problems. I found this place online but I have never dealt with them before.

 

iroiro is right.
It is far more likely (and a lot cheaper to fix) that the lens has gotten dirty. Try cleaning it 1st and see if that fixes it before looking at drive replacements.
Good luck.

 

Thanks guys, I'll buy a DVD cleaner thing today and let you know how it went.

Cheers!

 

I'd be interested to know the results of a cleaning. My DVD drive has problems burning DL discs. It can burn and read single layer fine and can read previous DL discs I burned fine, just can't reliably burn new DL discs. Although in my case, it may be my laser is getting weak rather than just being dirty (which admittedly may be one and the same).

 

You might be able to get a new drive from apple, if you make an appointment with the genius they might be able to order one in for you.

 

if it comes to replacing the drive, buy one from a 3rd party instead of direct from apple to save some $$$.

 

If it is still under warranty or Applecare you can ask Apple to replace it.

 

I haven't had time to buy a DVD cleaner yet. I will in the next couple of days, and let you guys know how it went.

The computer is out of Applecare.

 

Could you describe in detail what the drive is doing, or not doing?

A few months back my drive was reading poorly (some discs, not others, all very random), and getting worse. I started scouring eBay for replacements. Then an IT guy at work said to try squirting canned air in the slot -- simple as that. I thought, yeah, right. Well, I emptied half a can in there, and bam, it solved the problem perfectly. Hope it's that easy for you!

 

My dad just bought me a DVD cleaner. Well, more like a CD cleaner.

It's just a CD with some windows software like a go.exe and some progress .jpg pictures. The CD itself has two little fins like this:



The difference is that my CD has TWO little things like that.
You also get a little bottle with some liquid that you're supposed to put on the cleaning fin.

So I did, and inserted the CD in my old MBP. It took a while for it to read it, and then I could browse the contents (the jpg files and such). But it was really slow.

My computer was really vibrating because of the fins. I don't know how to feel about that. But after 4-5 minutes of it being inside, when I ejected it, the two fins were BLACK. So they did in fact clean my lens.

So I wanted to try it out with one of my blank DVD-DL disks it wouldn't read before and VOILA, IT READS IT JUST FINE NOW!

Yay, so happy

 

Congratulations, Cdnalsi! Glad you Superdrive is back to normal!

 

I am glad this worked for you.
Aren't you glad that you didn't go through the expense and trouble of a DVD burner replacement?

 

Totally mate!
That's why NBR is such a great place

 

Wow, so they actually work. I'd be a bit scared that they fin would get caught on something or be left behind.

Since it worked for you I guess I'll get one too.

 

Yeah they work. But the noise they make is really scary.

The whole computer vibrates and there's that sound when the fin touches the lens (I guess, or whatever). And because the drive spins the CD really fast, it sounds like a machine-gun