Yes that is a bad drive.  I have one just like that.  You can replace it w slot loading slim drive.  The Dell P/N are here:
My Area-51 R2 has started to eject DVD's as soon as I put them in. I ran a DVD cleaner and reinstalled the Eject Driver. Do I need to install a new drive? Are they still available?
Area-51 R2, DVD Drive Ejects Disks By Itself