390 MT, how do I remove caddy where CD drive is

newbie321,

You can click the below to download the online manual for information removing/replacing parts in your computer.

OptiPlex 390 Drivers, Downloads and Manuals

Almost All of them in the series work the same way for the Mini Tower.

The 390 is almost exactly the same as the 9020 so the manual is very very similar.

https://www.dell.com/support/manuals/us/en/19/optiplex-9020-desktop/opt9020mtom-v2/removing-the-optical-drive?guid=guid-ecbb0dc0-73df-42e8-8280-f2f301fb7c08&lang=en-us

What is still there for the 390 is horrible.

https://topics-cdn.dell.com/pdf/optiplex-9020-desktop_owners-manual2_en-us.pdf

There is a face plate that comes off then you press down on the spring loaded latch and slide out the Drive.  There is no caddy for Optical or Zip Drive,  Floppy or media card reader W816M

• MPN: 0W816M, CN-0W816M, 0W812M, CN-0W812M, 0G7V21, CN-0G7V21

5.25 Optical Drive Removal

To add an additional drive you remove the filler from the face plate and use the 3 shoulder screws that are held in the faceplate on the new drive.  It slides in and then clicks into place.

The 5.25 inch filler is held onto the front face plate with press tabs.

When you put a media card reader in the flex bay it uses a 5.25 inch to 3.5 inch adapter to hold the card reader.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaxeqxlIkLk

Adding a 3.5 media reader to that bay requires some strange looking parts.

Thanks for your reply.  

The manual you referenced does not contain an answer I am seeking.  

You are telling me there is no caddy that holds the CD drive, yet you presented 3 pics in your reply that show what you call a caddy.  It is actually an aluminum enclosure that houses the CD drive and it also has another bay for an additional drive.  For clarity, I outlined that aluminum enclosure in blue in case it is so hard to see it.  

Thanks,

Hi, 

Thanks for a generic answer with a manual.  I looked at the manual and did not see anything that could help me in answering a question.  I am not sure if you understood my question...  I am not looking to remove a CD-drive, I am looking to remove an aluminum enclosure that houses that CD drive.    Any idea how?  

Thanks,

Thanks for the instructions on how to add a media drive.  

My original question is not about a media drive.  My question is about removing the aluminum enclosure that houses 5.25" bays so that both sides are exposed for me to put the screws in.  

Thanks,

There is no enclosure. There is NO Caddy for the 5.25 bays. The only difference is the face plate removal for older vs newer series. The Faceplate inserts for MT bays have 3 shoulder screws in them so you can have 2 DVD Drives.

https://www.dell.com/support/article/us/en/19/sln296199/

There may be a panel that needs to be removed from the faceplate.

If there is metal below the optical drive thats likely a break away RF shield.

Both Sides are NEVER exposed because the drive slides out on shoulder screws. There are 2 on the side you can see and 1 on the side you cannot.  They arent holding the drive in they are slides.

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNpgJIHD4NA

We must be seeing things through different alternate universes... LOL

Your last video that you shared has the enclosure I am talking about...
look at the blue fasteners...  they attach to what??  whatever these blue fasteners attach to also houses DVD drive.  Whatever houses DVD drive is an enclosure, caddy, whatever and however you want to call it.  

if your only definition of a caddy is a classical blue colored frame similar to what holds hard drive, then I have to disappoint you:  you have a very limited definition of a caddy.  If it is easier, we can call such caddy the 'pink socks'.  I personally do not care of the name...  

Have you actually seen real 390MT case ie actual hardware or you are one of those 'couch generals' that has tons of manuals for every model but not the actual stuff?