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With the recent announcement of the PS5 Pro and the reveal that the console won't even include a disk drive at the launch price of "just" $699.99, scalpers have obviously already started cleaning up every stock on the globe in what looks like yet another chapter in Sony pathetic management of its new console parts (first the console wasn't available, then the replacement stick modules for the dualsense edge they advertised as the solution to drifting sticks, now the disk reader modules).

I am not interested in the console but I was wondering.

Given that both the original PS5 and the slim model came both in the disk and digital only version, was the disk version model just a digital only PS5 with a pre-installed disk reader? Can you detach the disk module from an old PS5 disk version console? Could you take the disk module from your original PS5 console and mount it on a PS5 digital only model? Or did Sony welded the module to the console out of spite (there is no reason to do this since it would actually increase production cost by having two separate models instead of the same base hardware with an optional part)?

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Looking at iFixit's teardown guide of the original PS5, you can remove the optical drive, but its not as easy as the Slim and now Pro's removal method (its more involved - you have to take the original console apart a bit to remove the drive versus how it works for the Slim and Pro). For that reason alone, I don't think you could remove the optical drive from the original PS5 and put it on an original digital-only PS5, and certainly not onto a Slim or Pro (or jerry-rig it even). This official video from PlayStation also shows the design differences between the original and original digital-only versions, and they don't seem interchangeable.

The iFixit guide also says:

Just like the Xbox Series X, our test results indicate that the PS5's optical drive is paired to its motherboard. A replacement drive simply won't read discs.

  • There might be a workaround if you're willing to disassemble the drive and keep the original circuit board. We'll update if we get a chance to test that.

You may say "but the Slim/Pro versions disc drive is replaceable, certainly it can't be locked down to the motherboard!" Well, probably not, but Sony requires the console have an internet connection when you install a disc drive, so its certainly doing some sort of phone-home operations here to check the validity of the drive/register it...

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  • so it basically means they were so spiteful to spend more money on having TWO sightly different hardware for the base PS5 instead of having the disk version basically be a digital version bundled with the optional disk drive just so most customer will replace the whole console in case the disk drive breaks. How disgusting.
    – SPArcheon - on strike
    Commented Sep 12 at 17:46
  • @SPArcheon-onstrike Well, I guess you could also send the console in for repair as well in the case of the Original PS5 with the disc reader. But at least they seemed to of "eased up" when it came to the slim PS5.
    – Timmy Jim ♦
    Commented Sep 12 at 18:24
  • mumble... I think I found out where my misconception was. The original digital only model (NOT the slim one) could NOT be upgraded to add the disk module. Only the Slim revision added that feature.
    – SPArcheon - on strike
    Commented Sep 13 at 7:59

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