Older laptops typically feature a DVD drive, whereas newer laptops don't. DVD drives have disappeared from notebook computers in the past few years, as manufacturers find ways to maximise space, battery life, and cooling.

If you've noticed that you hardly ever use DVDs, why not replace the DVD drive with an SSD or hard disk drive?

Below is a step-by-step guide explaining how to replace your laptop's DVD drive with a 2.5-inch SSD (solid-state drive) or HDD. We've also provided it for you in video form.

What You Need for Replacing a DVD Drive With an SSD or HDD

Swapping a barely used laptop DVD drive with extra storage is surprisingly easy. All you need is:

  • A drive caddy
  • A screwdriver
  • Plastic lever tool
  • Hot glue gun (optional)

The process is straightforward too:

  1. Order the drive caddy
  2. Select a new drive: HDD or SSD?
  3. Remove the DVD drive
  4. Insert the drive in the caddy
  5. Fit the caddy in the PC

Ready to swap your notebook's optical drive with a new HDD or SSD for additional storage? Let's start.

Step 1: Order the Caddy

The drive caddy slides into the CD or DVD drive slot. In this, you place your HDD or SSD.

At this stage, you might be thinking: "Hang on, there's no standardized design for laptops. How can this work?" And you would be right... to a point.

While there remains a lack of standardization for laptop computers, the same isn't true of the upgradeable parts. Additional RAM, hard disk drives, and DVD drives almost always have the same connectors from device to device. This means that they can be swapped.

DVD drives are mostly a certain shape and size. This means that a caddy can be easily slipped into the space that the DVD drive occupied.

Where can you find a HDD caddy? The best places are Amazon or eBay. A caddy will set you back less than $10.

Note that two variations of drive caddy are available, to fit 9.5mm and 12.7mm high drives. The difference is noticeable---you might be able make up the difference with some padding, but this isn't recommended.

Caddies are equipped with a SATA connector for the new drive, and one to connect the caddy to the laptop. Once slotted in and secured, the replacement drive can then be used for additional storage or dual booting.

Step 2: Choose an SSD or HDD to Replace the Optical Drive

As the idea is to expand the amount of storage available to you, you'll need a new drive to sit in the caddy. This might be a HDD or a faster SSD.

Read More: Buying a New Hard Drive

Obviously, the capacity of the drive will depend upon your requirements. However, we would recommend installing as large a drive as possible. A high-capacity drive has superior backup possibilities. It's also a good choice for saving personal data to, thereby avoiding data loss should the main HDD fail.

Step 3: How to Remove the DVD Drive From Your Laptop

With your new secondary disk drive ready to install, it's time to remove the DVD drive.

Removing a DVD drive is usually straightforward, although this will depend on the laptop manufacturer.

The standard method is:

  1. Place a towel on your table
  2. Sit the laptop on it with the lid face down
  3. Find the DVD locking screw (usually near the middle of the laptop, typically indicated by a small DVD icon)
  4. Remove the screw
  5. Pull out the optical drive
Remove the DVD drive from a laptop

Some laptops have a push-button removal system; alternatively, there might be a catch to depress while the drive is removed. This is similar to how you might remove a laptop battery.

In other cases, you might need to use a plectrum, credit card, or plastic knife to dislodge the drive. There should be no resistance, however.

Remove the DVD drive from your laptop

Once fully removed, use a screwdriver or plastic knife to gently remove the DVD drive fascia. Unless your laptop shipped with a spare, blank fascia for the DVD drive bay, you'll need this later.

Remove the fascia or bezel from a DVD drive

You may also need to remove the locking screw hole from the DVD drive. This is attached with two small screws and can be easily attached to the caddy for locking in place.

Step 4: Insert the HDD or SSD Into the Caddy

This should be the easy bit! With your HDD or SSD unpackaged, it should be simple to slip the drive into the caddy.

Install an SSD in a CD drive slot

Depending on the retailer, you may have received a screwdriver with the caddy. Either way, check to see if any screws are included. These will need to be tightened to secure the HDD or SSD in the caddy. Make sure these screws are flush with the caddy when tightened, otherwise it won't slide into your laptop.

Step 5: Insert the Caddy Into Your Laptop

Next, find the fascia you removed earlier. Another standardized aspect of laptops is the fascia attachment on DVD drives.

Because the eject button must be in a certain position for universal accessibility, the fascia attachments have the clips in the same place. Simply attach the fascia, pushing the catches into the slots. Hot glue may be required here, especially if a catch breaks.

replace dvd drive with ssd

With the laptop again upturned on the towel, slide the HDD or SSD into the CD drive slot, and use the securing screw to fix the caddy in place. Your laptop has a new storage device, ready to use with any operating system that you have installed.

Reuse Your Old DVD Drive

So, you've replaced your laptop's DVD drive with an SSD or HDD. But what about the discarded DVD drive? Well, you can still use it.

It's possible to install a laptop drive into an external housing that you can easily connect and disconnect from your laptop. All you need is a laptop DVD enclosure and a pair of USB connectors for data and power. A DIY portable DVD drive can be used with a tablet, ultrabook, or any other device without an optical drive.

Read More: Turn an Old Laptop DVD Drive Into an External Optical Drive

Can You Replace the Laptop DVD Drive With USB Ports (or Anything Else)?

The swappable DVD/CD drive on your laptop can in theory be replaced with other things, such as additional USB ports.

However, few manufacturers have followed up on this. While you might find a DVD drive-shaped USB 3.0 hub for some Dell laptops from around 2015, such devices are rare and difficult to find, even on eBay.

This is a shame, as such a hub could include things like a card reader, new audio hardware, or even a HDMI port.

Replace a Laptop CD or DVD Drive With an SSD or HDD: It's That Easy!

If your laptop has a largely redundant DVD or CD drive, using that space for extra storage is a good idea. With the vast file sizes that HD photography and videos require---not to mention games---having that extra capacity could prove extremely valuable.