One of my HP laptops, HP Pavilion dv9650us, went off warranty about two months ago. I was using the machine to help fix another computer's problem when I noticed that its dvd-drive is making loud grinding noises and is slowing down the computer whenever I would access the drive. I suspect that the drive is about to die. 
I am not sure how long the drive has been doing this since the laptop is being used primarily by another family member.
I purchased an extended warranty through Office Depot, but that family member cannot afford for that computer to be sent off for an unknown amount of time so I am actively considering replacing the drive myself.
I am looking at drives on amazon.com and unsure if a 'universal laptop slimline drive' will fit. Are the drives fairly universal between manufactorers? The current drive is an HD-DVD drive so I was hoping to upgrade to a blu-ray drive. Is it possible?
FYI: These kind of internal laptop dvd drives are not available from newegg or even frys. I'd rather not buy directly through hp.

I am not sure how long the drive has been doing this since the laptop is being used primarily by another family member.
I purchased an extended warranty through Office Depot, but that family member cannot afford for that computer to be sent off for an unknown amount of time so I am actively considering replacing the drive myself.
I am looking at drives on amazon.com and unsure if a 'universal laptop slimline drive' will fit. Are the drives fairly universal between manufactorers? The current drive is an HD-DVD drive so I was hoping to upgrade to a blu-ray drive. Is it possible?
FYI: These kind of internal laptop dvd drives are not available from newegg or even frys. I'd rather not buy directly through hp.
My Computer
System One
-
- Manufacturer/Model
- Custom mATX
- CPU
- AMD Athlon X2 5600+ Brisbane 2.9Ghz (dual core)
- Motherboard
- Asus M3N78-VM Green
- Memory
- Kingston 8 GB DDR2 PC-6400
- Graphics card(s)
- PNY NVIDIA GeForce 9400GT 512MB PCIe
- Monitor(s) Displays
- Samsung 22", Samsung 24"
- Hard Drives
- WD RE3 320GB (WD3202ABYS), Samsung SPINPOINT F1 640GB (HD642JJ) External Drives: WD MyBook Essentials 500GB, WD 120GB, an old Maxtor 80GB. Portables: Simpletech 160GB, WD Passport 250GB.
- PSU
- Corsair 620W modular
- Case
- CoolerMaster Elite 341 mATX
- Cooling
- Thermaltake TR2-R1
- Mouse
- Microsoft Laser & Logitech Marble
- Keyboard
- HP Elite Keyboard
- Internet Speed
- Cable
- Other Info
- Printers: HP Photosmart C7280, Oki-Data 3400n, HP Officejet 4300