NEC DVD-Burner in R50/p?

[Axel]

Hi folks,

because my Multiburner makes some trouble and i think about more DVD-RAM writing speed, i think about replacing it.
So i found some panasonic/matsumi devices and for example also a NEC AD-7543A which has nice possibilities.

From a distance (in the papers) it looks quite the same, but often the details are more important.
So i ask my self, if i could simply replace my old one with this new one.

Would be fine, if someone could share his expiriences in that topic.

Regards,
Axel

[Axel]

Ok, because there is no reply yet, it seems nobody has expiriences with that.

What about exchanging it with other Panasonic/Matsumi devices which support fast DVD-Ram writing?

Any expiriences in that direction?
Or any hints what i would have to take care of generally?

[christopher_wolf]

Well, if it fits physically, then you are 90% of the way towards a new DVD burner.

The only problems that I could invision occuring are issues with firmware, in which case it *might*be better to go with the Matshita/Panasonic drives.

There are instructions for refitting a drive to the ultrabay, and that is simply a physical operation for the most part.

[Axel]

There are instructions for refitting a drive to the ultrabay, and that is simply a physical operation for the most part.

Hi, thanks for reply.
You say, that there are possibilities to make the devices fitting by using some mechanical tricks?
Do you have some more infos about that, or any link please?

[christopher_wolf]

Yup,here is one guide for it

That is primarily optimized for Ultrabay 2000s, although there appear to be little problems adapting it to T30s and above, as noted.

[Axel]

Thanks,
as it looks my drive is a Multi-Burner Ultrabay Enhanced Drive:
Marketing part number: 73P3282
Replacement part number (FRU): 92P6575
Panasonic UJ-811B

And in your linked article is pointed out:

UltraBay Enhanced (and possibly UltraBay Slim) formfactor uses a proprietary connector which is soldered to the board. No standard drive can be modified to be used in UltraBay Enhanced (Slim?) equiped Thinkpads.

That really sounds bad for me now.

Thanks,
Axel

[schen]

I'm not absolutely it will work for you, but if the R50 is the "old" height (12.5mm), I have some success swapping a drive. My T30 which is UB2K had a multi-burner in it, but I got wind of a place that had some NEC 6550 refurbs for $29. Anyway, I put the rails and connector on and my machine recognized it right away! My wife's A31 has the 6500 in it and it works great too. The main thing we had to do was cut a notch in the faceplate.