Harvesting Old Parts

Marelo · 01-15-2009, 06:46 PM

I have an old laptop that I want to dissect for parts, and I have a few questions.

1) Is there somewhere I can get an external enclosure for the optical drive? Do those even exist? 'Cause all I can find on Newegg is enclosures for hard drives.

2) Is there any feasible way to turn the screen into a standalone monitor? If it involves a lot of in depth knowledge, I won't be able to do it, but it would be nice to know if it's possible.

3) The processor is a Core 2 Duo, but I don't have anything to put it in. Any reason I should hang onto it? I guess I could stick it in a barebones...

4) I currently plan on taking out the optical drive, RAM, hdd, display (if it proves to be much easier than I think it would be), and probably processor. Can anyone think of anything else useful from it?

5) Before doing all of this, I plan on testing out Windows 7 on it. Does anyone know where I might find drivers for it? It's an XP machine from the beginning, an Acer Aspire 5670.

6) Are there any foreseeable difficulties with doing this? Anyone have any related experience they could share?

Eltargrim · 01-15-2009, 07:05 PM

1) Same principle for optical drives as for hard drives. Find a 5.25" enclosure. I found this.
2) Not worth the effort required, imo.
3) Spare processor in case yours burns out? If you ever want a torrent box? Don't chuck it.
4) The RAM is not compatible with anything but another laptop.
5) Drivers specifically for 7? Good luck.
6) Why bother dissecting it? It's new enough to have a C2D, just toss a low-requirement Linux distro on it and turn it into a netbook.

Marelo · 01-15-2009, 07:14 PM

I already have a real netbook (Lenovo Ideapad s10), and the old laptop is a 15-incher with 1 hour battery life :P. The reason I want to dissect it is the thing is falling apart. Really. I've had to send it in 4 or 5 times now in the ~2.5 years I've had it, and I've found out that one of the things they fixed before broke again: The power jack is loose and will eventually stop allowing me to charge the battery.

I thought about it some more, and I could definitely use the processor in a media center/torrent box, especially with how cheap hdds are. And I already knew that the memory would only be compatible with another laptop, but hey, 2GB spare for my s10 if the stick in there dies.

I guess I was thinking more along the lines of, would Vista/XP drivers work for 7?

Edit: That enclosure is exactly what I was looking for. I didn't think to figure out what the size of an optical drive is :P Thanks!

Edit 2: Actually, a second look shows that the optical drive is very thin. I think it's called Slimline... This is the info on it: Pioneer Slim DVDRW DVR-K06RS

Edit 3: I'm finding enclosures that would work.

01-15-2009, 06:46 PM	#1
Marelo Napoleon Impersonator Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Kansas Posts: 816	Harvesting Old Parts I have an old laptop that I want to dissect for parts, and I have a few questions. 1) Is there somewhere I can get an external enclosure for the optical drive? Do those even exist? 'Cause all I can find on Newegg is enclosures for hard drives. 2) Is there any feasible way to turn the screen into a standalone monitor? If it involves a lot of in depth knowledge, I won't be able to do it, but it would be nice to know if it's possible. 3) The processor is a Core 2 Duo, but I don't have anything to put it in. Any reason I should hang onto it? I guess I could stick it in a barebones... 4) I currently plan on taking out the optical drive, RAM, hdd, display (if it proves to be much easier than I think it would be), and probably processor. Can anyone think of anything else useful from it? 5) Before doing all of this, I plan on testing out Windows 7 on it. Does anyone know where I might find drivers for it? It's an XP machine from the beginning, an Acer Aspire 5670. 6) Are there any foreseeable difficulties with doing this? Anyone have any related experience they could share?

01-15-2009, 07:05 PM	#2
Eltargrim Fifty-Talents Haversham Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: FABULOUS Posts: 1,904	1) Same principle for optical drives as for hard drives. Find a 5.25" enclosure. I found this. 2) Not worth the effort required, imo. 3) Spare processor in case yours burns out? If you ever want a torrent box? Don't chuck it. 4) The RAM is not compatible with anything but another laptop. 5) Drivers specifically for 7? Good luck. 6) Why bother dissecting it? It's new enough to have a C2D, just toss a low-requirement Linux distro on it and turn it into a netbook. __________________ <Insert witticism here; get credit; ???; profit!>

01-15-2009, 07:14 PM	#3
Marelo Napoleon Impersonator Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Kansas Posts: 816	I already have a real netbook (Lenovo Ideapad s10), and the old laptop is a 15-incher with 1 hour battery life :P. The reason I want to dissect it is the thing is falling apart. Really. I've had to send it in 4 or 5 times now in the ~2.5 years I've had it, and I've found out that one of the things they fixed before broke again: The power jack is loose and will eventually stop allowing me to charge the battery. I thought about it some more, and I could definitely use the processor in a media center/torrent box, especially with how cheap hdds are. And I already knew that the memory would only be compatible with another laptop, but hey, 2GB spare for my s10 if the stick in there dies. I guess I was thinking more along the lines of, would Vista/XP drivers work for 7? Edit: That enclosure is exactly what I was looking for. I didn't think to figure out what the size of an optical drive is :P Thanks! Edit 2: Actually, a second look shows that the optical drive is very thin. I think it's called Slimline... This is the info on it: Pioneer Slim DVDRW DVR-K06RS Edit 3: I'm finding enclosures that would work. Last edited by Marelo; 01-15-2009 at 07:24 PM.