I have a HP Pavilion 7845.  I need to replace my cd drive with a CD/DVD burner and have no idea what I need to buy.  Please give the basics where to startYou can buy a usb external laptop driveYou say I can buy an external for a laptop even though Ihave a desktop?  How much do they run?  Will any type WORK?Im sorry i read your post assuming you had a lap top. Yes you can add a external drive. SINCE you have a desk top you can remove your drive & replace it with a cd/dvdrewrite drive.You either have a SATA drive or a IDE drive? [CONNECTIONS] If your board has SATA connections i would buy that drive.I have been told it is an eide but I really dont KNOW.  How can I tell?  Is it hard to replace?  Please give me an idea where to look.  I have $70  in Amazon.com gift certificates.  Should I look there?  Tforit.  Thanks againFor starters google[ideribbons]&[satacable] Have you ever taken the side of your PC case?Also google dvdromdrive> scrool down to how toAny of these (internal) will do: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Delectronics&field-keywords=dvd+drive&x=16&y=13I've been told I need to get an eide ?  What's the difference?a SATA drive connects with a SATA cable. a IDE/EIDE drive connects with a IDE cable.


That machine only has IDE connectors...so you need an Internal IDE drive...
This Page  the first 9 or so are IDE internal burners along with the ones in Broni's link....
You may want to add some RAM if that machine will take more...burning uses as much RAM as you can give it.