Vaio VPC Z1 Broken disc drive

I have only used my dvdrw a handful of times but lately I wanted to use it and realize that it will not read/write to any discs.

When I put a CD into it I can hear a sound for a second but the disc never spins up.

Has anyone had this happen? Has anyone taken the unit apart and fixed this?
Thanks.

 

People have replaced the optical drive before. http://forum.notebookreview.com/sony/518005-vaio-vpc-z128gg-blu-ray-drive-uj-242-result-5.html

Here are some disassembly instructions though not exact for what you need to do: Sony Vaio Z installation guide 18

You would need a 9.5mm optical drive. Might be able to find one on eBay.

 

In India, where I'm from, dust is the major killer for optical drives. I would seriously consider replacing the CD drive with an HDD or a couple of SSDs, and carry around an external DVD writer in a plastic pouch to use when necessary. Ever since I started using this approach (keeping the CD drive in a plastic pouch when not in use) my CD drives have lasted several years instead of dying in just a few months.

Another thing - I have very rarely had a repaired drive function satisfactorily. Something about the lens alignment is never quite right. Even opening the drive to wipe the dust off the lens more or less ruins the drive. (e.g. a CD writer will not write more than 450MB to a 700MB blank CD; will read some discs fine, but give errors reading other discs, etc.)