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Step 1: Remove any inserts from front panel

On the front of almost all cases, you will find some type of insert on the front of a drive bay. These are just there to keep out dust and make your case look nice but you have to remove one to install a CD/DVD drive.

If you push in on the insert from the outside, it may come off inside your case and you can just reach in and grab it. Sometimes it pops out from the inside, other times it requires you to remove the front panel first and sometimes they are even screwed in.

However it is set up, remove the insert where you want to install your CD/DVD drive.

There may also be a metal plate inside that needs to be removed as well.

If you need to remove the front panel, since all cases are different, please consult your case owners manual on how to do this.

Most front panels can be removed by using a flat head screwdriver and prying it off. Before you do this though, make sure you don't have any locking tabs or screws on the inside you have to deal with or you may risk breaking it.

Remove one insert per drive for all drives, including the floppy drive while we are here.

Once the inserts are removed, put the front panel back on the case.

Step 2: Install DVD drive into a drive bay

Now that the inserts are removed, slide the drive(s) into the bay.

Some cases require you to screw in the drive to secure it into the bay and others have a "no tools required" type setup. Go ahead and secure the drive however it is set up in your case.

Step 3: Connect SATA cable to motherboard

Your motherboard should come with a few SATA cables. Yours should look similar to the one below:

Connect one end of the cable to the motherboard in the next lowest number SATA connector available .

In the previous lesson, we installed a SATA hard drive. You should have plugged it into the lowest connector (SATA0 or SATA1 depending on motherboard manufacturer). The CD/DVD Rom goes in the next available connector.

For example: if you plugged the hard drive into "SATA0", you would plug the CD/DVD drive into the "SATA1" connector.

Sata cables and connectors have a sideways "L" shape to ensure they can only plug in one way.

Step 4: Connect SATA cable to CD/DVD drive

Connect the other end of the cable we just plugged into the motherboard into the back of the drive.

Step 5: Give it power

Connected to your power supply are SATA power connectors. They also have an "L" shape to them but are much wider than a SATA connector. Plug one of these into the back of your CD/DVD drive.

Step 6: Repeat any steps for more CD/DVDdrives

If you are installing more than one SATA drive, repeat steps 1-4. If you are installing an older IDE CD/DVD drive, click here for instructions on how to do that.

Next Lesson: Installing a Floppy Disk Drive

Now that we've installed our CD/DVD drive, if you have any IDE CD/DVD Drives you wish to install, proceed to Lesson 14b: Installing an IDE DVD Drive.

If you do not have any other CD/DVD drives to install, skip to installing the floppy disk drive.

If you do not have a floppy drive, please proceed to installing case fans.

If you also do not have any case fans to install, skip all the way to hooking up the front panel.