Computer has DVD drive in it, but no way to open it.

moomanjohnny

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Mar 2, 2013
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Hi, I just bought a Toshiba (C55T-b5109) for a great deal for $304 (tax already included) US dollars and it works wonderful. But the thing is, though, there is a DVD Drive shaped "thing" on the left side of the laptop. It won't open, it's stuck. There might not even be a DVD drive in it, but I would like to know what it is and what it does, or if I could buy one to put it in, and if so, what drive should I buy. I have been trying to Google about this ever since I got the computer and found nothing, just the Toshiba website to buy the computer. I want to know mostly because I play Sims 3 sometimes and its really annoying to carry around my external USB DVD drive. Any help would be appreciated. I can provide pictures if needed.

By the way, I'm new here so if I put this in the wrong place then I'm sorry.
 

volcanoscout

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That's an optical drive bay with a cover on it, as your model doesn't come with an optical drive. The only place I found the drives is on eBay (search "C55T optical drive"), and here's a video demonstrating installation - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbWPSoYbQ6Y

The only catch is this - looking at the specs and product pages, there's a note that an optical drive is not included, and offers a Toshiba portable external ODD as an option. This might mean that there's no drive connector in that bay. If that's the case, there's no point in getting an internal optical drive as it won't get power or be able to communicate with the motherboard. The only way to verify is to remove the cover and look into the slot and see if there's a port for the optical drive's connector. Watch the video and look at the back of the ODD to see what the ODD half of the connector looks like.
 
Welcome to Tom's Hardware Forum,
There should be an eject button on the drive itself (lower part), if the eject button does not cause the optical drive to open, there is a small hole just to the right of that in which a straightened paperclip can be inserted to manually open the optical drive (best to do this when off). Possibly a disk was not fully inserted onto the spindle (common occurrence) and the drawer was closed. Manually opening it should work anyway
 

volcanoscout

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Unless it's used and the previous owner installed an ODD, the OP's model doesn't have one in the bay.
 

moomanjohnny

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I saw that video too, but that is not the same model as mine. I tried following the tutorial but the screws are in different places. I wonder why they would include a bay when you can't even power the ODD. I found a ODD on ebay, but the description says it works with every Toshiba C55T except the C55T-B5109.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Toshiba-C55-C55D-C55T-C55DT-DVD-rw-writer-optical-Drive-w-faceplate-/141303965088?_trksid=p2054897.l4275

I think I am just going to take it apart and see whats going on. I think that Toshiba should have not put a ODD bay in if you can't even put a ODD in.



Unfortunately, there is no button or small hole anywhere.
 

volcanoscout

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It's a function of economics - it's cheaper to make one case mold that will accommodate options for multiple models than it is to use multiple molds. Then all they have do is install (or not install) components based on model level.
 
Weird stuff, the only retail pic I came across showed an optical drive, reviews I found didn't mention either way and Toshiba seems to be their normal vague self about specific models... oh well.
Most likely you cannot use an internal optical drive (the connections on the motherboard wouldn't be there), but there are external options
 

moomanjohnny

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Mar 2, 2013
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Yeah, I've been using a cheap external USB DVD Drive. It works good but it requires 2 USB ports to work, one for power and another for data transfer. I just didn't want to carry around a DVD drive when I could get an internal one in my laptop. I'm going to take it apart tomorrow and see if there are connections for the DVD drive. Thanks for all the help guys, you are all really nice, but It's getting late where I am so I'm going to bed it's (12:48 AM).