Can I switch the CD/DVD player from a Dell to a Toshiba?

I have a broken Dell Inspirion laptop which I was going to throw away/recycle.

Someone gave me an old Toshiba Satellite laptop to replace it, but the CD/DVD player doesn't work.

Would the Dell disc drive work in the Toshiba if I switched it out? Is that kind of an operation hard to do? Should I get a professional to do that job?

Thanks for any feedback you might have on this question!

 

It might, maybe, possibly work, but just getting it in there is the hard bit!

There should be instructions in the manual on how to strip down the laptops, but it would be hard to know if the drive would fit in the other Laptop, i do not know if laptop's use a standard form factor for CD/DVD drives.

Please give model numbers and i will see if i can get dimensions of the drives.

"Modding" laptops is always a challenge, but is do-able.

 

It is worth trying.
Go for it
http://www.ehow.com/laptop-dvd-drives/

If you look in the right column, there is a video showing how to remove a Toshiba drive.

 

It would help if you told the model numbers. Dell and Toshiba do not make Optical drives, they contract that out to companies like Teac and LG. The only problem would be most likely the drive would work but the face plate would be totaly wrong. most drives have the same connector but vastly different faces. Often enough on both dell and toshiba you have to pull one screw out roughly in the center of the back of the drive when viewing it from the bottom and it slides right out. Although personally I'd spend the $30 to get the right one on ebay and pay for it by selling the Dell on Craigslist for parts.