replacement DVDR for m571 (Sager 5720, Hypersonic CX7)

The DVD burner on my Hypersonic CX7 has begun to fail slowly and will probably not last long.

My question is, can I find one with the same physical dimensions? It would be nice to buy online rather than pay the larger cost of getting spares from the official reseller.

The front bezel is unusual also. If I get a spare, how easy can the bezel be swapped out with my existing one?

Also I have never seen other notebook slim DVDR drives. This is a picture of the one I want to replace. As you can see, the entire depth of the drive has a cut-out on the right side.

Is the cut-out on the right side of the drive a standard feature of all notebook drives, or is this an unusual model due to the wierd shape of my laptop (it narrows down to a pinch near the front of the chassis which I assume made it necessary for the DVD drive to also slim down).

Any suggestions are greatly appreciated. Thanks.

 

First, check with the reseller you bought from (Hypersonic, I assume) to see if they sell replacements. Second, as you already have the thing out, check the manufacturer name and model number (the real ones that should be on a sticker somewheres on a part of the drive's housing that would normally be inside the laptop) and check on the manufacturer's website to see if you can purchase a replacement. Failing that, check with the various online stores (e.g., newegg) to see if replacements can be had. Lastly, google on the real model number to see if any one of the thousands of after-market OEM part sellers has one available.

With respect to the bezel, the best way to determine that (other than having the service manual handy ), is to do a visual inspection of the drive when it's out of the laptop. Look first for screws that hold the bezel on, then snaps or catch-tabs that fasten it on; lastly, look for any sort of plastic weld, e.g., where a bit of plastic has been fused through a hole in the metal frame of the drive housing. That last, of course, will make it almost impossible to remove the bezel and transfer it to a replacement drive; however, in that case, the replacement drive is most likely going to have its own bezel as well.