Cracking open an external DVD burner

Well, a fair question, IF indeed, the optical drive failed, it's not worth 'repairing', although the article didn't go this far, what it was heading to was, one CAN reuse the controller board, that 'converts' IDE signals to USB, (or SATA, Firewire...) And, sometimes, one will find a simple small flaw that can be fixed, a loose wire, bad solder joint, etc, that WILL repair it. Doing a postmortem on these things is a good idea, you can learn what to watch out for in the future, as I mentioned about the ribbon cables in another post. Otherwise, you are correct, what's the point? If the optical drive actually HAS failed, there's usually nothing you can do about it other than replacement. The days of wielding a soldering iron and fixing, rather than replacing, are long gone. And, one must consider their time, how valuable it it?

You are absolutely right! The technology that goes into one of these little gems is staggering, when one really thinks about it. The title of the article, however, has nothing to do with this. IF the optical drive failed, why did the writer waste ANY time on looking at, and showing US, the readers, the 'failed' component? I mean, come on, who's going to replace a failed laser?! No thanks! Or even replace the whole sub assembly? Maybe... but is it worth the time? Not mine... I have extra drives laying around... Just drop one in.
Reusing the 'board' IS a way of salving the wound of paying too much for an external drive only to have it fail 6 months after the warranty expires. If you can simply plug in a new drive, possibly gaining new(er) features in the process, sure, one can save a few bucks. Or, we can switch from almost any IDE drive to almost any other... Ditto for SATA. Or cobble together a pair of IDE drives and tuck it away out of sight. (With enough airflow) BTW: I find that the ribbon cable fails at least as often as any other part. (Especially drives meant to be opened often. I have a couple of that sort...) Check it! (Replace with a known good one, & it's OK if it's a longer one... just be sure it's an 80 wire cable. Even some optical drives use an 80 wire, 40 pin IDE cable. Frankly, I think all the cheap drives being 'dumped' on the market in the last couple of years are the manufacturer's way of dealing with an excess inventory of IDE drives... No one is buying very many new IDE drives... Replacements, yes, but when was the last time you saw a NEW system bragging about IDE drives? I predict rising prices for external drives once this inventory is exhausted... How else are they going to use up all that they have sitting around? How many average Joes will ever look inside to see if it's IDE or SATA, or care? My tip, if I NEED a new, large capacity IDE drive, I go to Walmart and get a cheap external drive, crack it open for the drive, and hang onto the rest... The Walmart stores in my area were selling a 1.5 TB Seagate USB drive for $60.00 just last week! I bought 3 for personal use.

I find that most external DVD/Hard Drives do NOT fail, it is the 'board' that adapts them. Generally, the kind with a multi-pronged power adapter plug will die first. The drives themselves generally do not fail. What I would have liked to see was a detailed explanation on how to tell WHAT failed, and HOW exactly to put back to work that part that didn't... If any. (In my experience, if the power supply took a crap, it may take the rest with it when it goes) Explaining how this is simply a packaged up IDE to USB converter would help... And the newer SATA to USB versions starting to show up. And most importantly, given the title of this article, HOW to use them! On the plus side, the photos were really good, clear, and descriptions of where screws are, etc, were flawless. THAT part is often sorely lacking in most 'tutorials' of this kind. Better yet, tell me how to make, or adapt, one to do something more. Other posters correctly pointed out, if the drive is all that failed, it's a simple thing to replace the drive with almost any other drive. (electronically, if not mechanically. And,WHY all the wasted time on the 'failed' optical assembly?) Or go to the likes of Evertek.com, and buy a simple multi-adapt-any-drive gadget for a few bucks.
What this article lacks is technical details on How To... For a How-To, that's a fatal flaw.