How to disassemble a CD drive?
I have a CD-R/RW drive, pulled from an eight year old desktop, with a CD stuck inside. Software eject didn't work; neither did the front panel eject button. The "paperclip-pinhole" release doesn't work, either. I'm thinking that the tray transport motor has failed, or the solenoid / spring assembly that clamps the CD to the drive motor is locked somehow.
I don't care about the drive; the whole computer is on the way to the scrap heap, anyway. But I would like to save the CD inside. So, I'd like to dismantle this thing as systematically as possible.
Getting the bottom off was simple: four machine screws. But pressing on the plastic "ears" doesn't seem to be releasing either the front bezel, or the whole assembly from the metal case.
It's a Sony CD-R/RW, Model CRX216E. Does anybody have any suggestions, or tips? Again, all I care about is saving the CD.