Building a DVDRW drive?

Hello,

I've got a netbook and thus no DVD drive. I was going to buy one, but have heard that most modern DVD drives are RPC2-locked (and it doesn't say on the box whether they're RPC1 or RPC2!), which doesn't suit me since I have DVDs of various regions. (I did try - on someone else's laptop - various software approaches, but they all failed).

Hence I am considering building one myself. I don't know very much about hardware so suspect it won't be that easy, but if it's not impossible I'm willing to attempt it since it sounds like fun. Does anyone know a website where I could get detailed instructions on building one and/or order the necessary parts, and also whether there are instructions on writing the firmware somewhere too? My apologies if some of these questions are stupid.

Thanks in advance!

PS I hope this thread is in the right forum - sorry if it isn't.

Welcome to HWF :)

Why don't you just buy an external DVD-RW drive? It's the only option, as there's no soace inside a netbook to add an internal drive.

RHochstenbach said:

Welcome to HWF :)

Why don't you just buy an external DVD-RW drive? It's the only option, as there's no soace inside a netbook to add an internal drive.

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Thank you for your reply.

I did mean an external one. The reason I'd like to build it myself is to ensure that it has no inbuilt (RPC2) region protection, which most of the new DVD-RW drives have. It just seems really difficult to find detailed instructions online...

To me this is a no brainer... a decent DVD drive is not the sort of appliance which can be built in one's garden shed. The technology which goes into this sort of device will mean that you will probably spend more money on tools and parts than a brand new drive.

I am pretty sure you can buy region free devices or simply "unlock" an existing drive.
Google for "region free dvd drive" and you will see what I mean.