DVD Stuck in Computer? A Paper Clip to the Rescue
DVD STUCK IN COMPUTER? A PAPER CLIP TO THE RESCUE
Yes, there is a nondestructive way to open a stuck tray-loading drive door. You’ll notice that the face of the door has a tiny hole; unfold a paper clip and gently push the end of the clip into the hole until you feel a click that signals the unlatching of the lock. That should immediately pop open the door. If the door doesn’t pop all the way open or is stiff, very gently work it out. Once open, check if there is dirt clogging the latching mechanism.
However, if the drive is broken and needs to be replaced, consider buying an external drive rather than replacing the computer’s more expensive custom internal drive. You may, however, encounter one problem: Your computer may automatically assign a new drive letter to it and some programs will only work correctly if they address the former drive letter. Worry not, switching drive assignments is easy and takes only a minute.
Open Control Panel from the Start menu, click on Administrative Tools and on the Computer Management applet and Disk Management in the Storage section. That should display a list of the fixed and removable disk drives on your system (see screenshot below).
To swap drives D and E, right-click on E and choose Change Drive Letter and Paths from the pop-up menu. Click the Change button and select an otherwise unused drive letter, such as S. Click on OK and answer Yes when prompted to confirm. Repeat these steps to swap the current D drive to E, and then do it again to change the original E drive from S to D.
