It's not a failed drive
The registry becomes corrupted, after installing updates, and the drive disappears from the system.
This has been reported hundreds of times, right here in this forum.
http://club.myce.com/f44/dvd-cd-drive-not-recognized-windows-7-solution-here-307976/#.UJF8c4ZoHmE
99% of the time, nothing is wrong with the drive.
So I can't understand why you keep telling people to replace it. Replacing it won't fix the problem.
Also, do not download "free" software that claims it will "fix" your computer. BIG mistake.