User:Cre8/Optical Disc Drive Parts

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This page provides an overview of sources for replacement parts. It focusses on obtaining parts from other drives, but will give a note in case parts are available stand-alone. Many of the referenced drives can be found on eBay or other local sites and tend to be cheaper than replacing the defective drive entirely.

Introduction

Terminology

• OPU: Optical Pickup Unit – common failure point, especially for older drives. The OPU houses the laser(s) and the lens(es), which are the crucial parts for reading a disc correctly. Exemplary image
• Disc drive motor assembly (DDMA): The disc drive motor assembly moves the tray of the drive. Usually fitted with N amount of gears, where N is directly correlated to the funniness of the drive. Exemplary image
• Spindle motor assembly (SMA): The spindle motor assembly is responsible for spinning the disc inside the drive. Exemplary image
• OPU motor assembly (OPUMA): The OPU motor assembly will move the OPU across the disc surface in a linear motion. It usually consists of a motor and a spindle. Exemplary image

Reasoning

Many drives – especially old Plextors – do not have widespread availability of spare parts. Because some drives are more special than others, it can be justified to sacrifice a drive of similar parts, but different model or brand, to the greater good. It is quite common to find identical parts within drives of different brands, which are just providing a different firmware to their products. Sometimes replacement parts can be found on sites like eBay or AliExpress. Compatibility is not guaranteed; if the parts are reproductions quality can also be a problem. If you order a part from such a site, please share your experiences.

Repair Guides

A page for repair guides might be provided on this wiki in the future. In the meantime, refer to this guide for replacing a Plextor OPU, to get a basic understanding for the procedure of replacing parts in an optical drive. Avoid touching thermal pads, laser lenses, bending or damaging ribbon cables – work with care and patience, not brute force. If you have problems or questions, feel free to ask on the VGPC Discord Server.

Parts

Motor assemblies will be grouped and given a number, due to lack of distinct model numbers (or the documentation thereof). OPUs may be referred to after their base unit, e.g. SF-DB10 instead of the brand-specific SF-DB10L – there is no functional difference between the two.

Plextor

Plextor models and parts (receiving end)

Model numbers are inclusive of their respective possible connector types. Many Plextor-drives come in IDE (e.g. PX-708A), SATA (e.g. PX-708SA) or USB variants (e.g. PX-708UF).

Donor drives

OPUs

Confirmed parts can differ for revisions of the same drive.

Other brands

Here be dragons. Expand as needed for other models that experience widespread failures.