Thinkpads Forum

Are there any third-party DVD writers available that fit in the Ultrabay Slim slot?

I was about to buy the IBM Multiburner - until I took a closer look at the specs. Maybe it's a limitation that comes with the size, but 2x DVD write (and for DVD-R only) seems to be at least a couple of years behind the curve...

Sven

skuehne wrote:Are there any third-party DVD writers available that fit in the Ultrabay Slim slot?

No. There is one, and only one, 9.5mm DVD burner presently on the market, the Panasonic (M a t s u s h i t a) UJ-812.

http://www.panasonic.com/industrial/com ... UJ-812.pdf

There is the promise (maybe) of a faster drive to be released with the T43, but there's no additional information yet as to what drive it might be.

Regards,

James

I really, really hope that a faster DVD writer comes along with the new T43s ...

Sven

Actually there is the Panasonic UJ-822 now. The Sony people are picking them up for their laptops, and some are actually saying they can be made region free (which I doubt). Anyway, the specs are better than the UJ-812...I believe +/- R as well as 4X. They are hard to find, and may only be available as a Sony drive right now. I'm going to Japan next week and will take a stoll down to Akihabara (Tokyo's electronic district) and see if they have them as bare drives for us to buy and do with them as we wish. I'll post back after I get back from Tokyo in 2 weeks about this.

Do we "assume" that a current T series BIOS would recognize and support a future DVD burner??

Andrew
Austin, TX

JHEM wrote:...There is the promise (maybe) of a faster drive to be released with the T43, but there's no additional information yet as to what drive it might be.
Regards,

James

Um ... the UJ-822 in Sony S cannot record dvd at 4x
DVD-RAM 2x、DVD-R/RW 2x、DVD+R/RW 2.4x.

Who knows, maybe M a t s u s h i t a has a new firmware that makes the drive burn at 4x.

aamsel wrote:Do we "assume" that a current T series BIOS would recognize and support a future DVD burner??

As long as it uses parallel ATA it should be no problem.

skuehne wrote:I really, really hope that a faster DVD writer comes along with the new T43s ...

So sayeth we all!

Regards,

James

Thanks for the correction on the recording speed on the UJ-822. I'll also look for other ultraslim bay drives besides this one in Tokyo while I'm there next week.

a uj-822 engineering sample?

http://cgi.tw.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... 17807&rd=1

or just delete the "tw" and change to ebay USA.....

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 17807&rd=1

I converted a Pioneer DVR-K14 to fit with my A31p.

To make it fit, I bought an old 24x CD writer for Thinkpads (ultrabay) and I transfered the side plastic parts on my Pioneer drive (the screws fit perfectly). There's also an interface on the back to convert from laptop IDE to ulatrabay (also a direct fit).

The hard part is in fitting the front bezel, I had to relocate the LED and drill a small hoe for the manual eject. The eject button aligned correctly. I used epoxy glue to glue it to the drive tray.

Now I have a CD-RW/DVD-/+RW/Dual layer

Burning 24x for CD-R and up to 8x for DVD-R and 2.4x for Dual layer

Cool!

Pictures of conversion process would be really nice. Found the Pioneer with a google search and the price is actually very tempting! http://www.directron.com/dvrk14.html
$134.99 Wow! Also, can use as a region free drive with DVD Region+CSS Free according to http://forum.rpc1.org/dl_firmware.php?c ... ufactor=25 Wonder if AnyDVD would work? That's the program I have a license for.
Once again, $134.99 WOW ! ! !

That's a 12.5mm drive so too bad for us T4x users.

3mm costs like $300 ....

dperron wrote: The hard part is in fitting the front bezel, I had to relocate the LED and drill a small hoe for the manual eject. The eject button aligned correctly. I used epoxy glue to glue it to the drive tray

Ive converted quite a number of various dvd burners to fit ultrabay 2000. Ive found "same" brand names keep the buttons and led etc. in the same position on the front bezel, often an easy clip on job..... eg. M a t s u s h i t a (Panasonic) made Thinkpad cd & dvd bezel fits OEM M a t s u s h i t a dvd burner, Hitachi fit H.L and LG, Toshiba fit Toshiba etc....

Ive settled on the "slot load" M a t s u s h i t a and Pioneer models myself as bezels are not an issue, just cut the corner notch.... it may not have the original contours but its a nice recessed fit, shadowline and all...

Yeah, I have a slot loader in my T30 right now (Panasonic UJ-815). It was simple to cut the corner off....very carfully with a razor blade and a small, jeweler's like hammer. But I didn't realize the Pioneer drive mentioned above was not the ultraslim (9.5mm) model. I'll be looking for these in Tokyo....I leave here Wed.

I'm sorry guys... I didn't know that there is anything smaller (thinner) than my drive... I must admit that this must really hard to find drives that fit your thinkpads...

BTW MadeInJapan: Why are you leaving Japan? and where to?

No, no...I'm not leaving Japan...I'm going to Japan. I live in the States. I go about 5 or 6 times a year for board meetings related to the Japanese school here in the states where I'm a principal. When I go, I always spend half a day or so browsing through the streets of Akihabara (electronic capital of Japan where all the newest stuff is on sale).

Wow that would be my dream! (to go to akihabara....)

Right now i'm looking for a P4-M 2.6GHz (SL6WZ), but I've heard that they don't sell mobile CPU's in Japan.

Anyways if you find any (between 100 and 150$), I would suggest that you buy as much as you can! They were selling for as much as 500$ on Ebay!

I'll check it out....don't ever see new stuff like you mention (CPU's) in Akihabara, but I do see some of the "junk shops" (That's what they call them) selling CPU's. Just might get lucky.

There is a newer multi-burner comeing out later this year, not sure if it will be in the T43 but it does list as being both a +&- R drive.

Leeper, you're probably talking about the UJ-822. It is +/- but also has its limitations. I'm in Japan now and went down to Akihabara. It is very hard to find any internal drives. Everyone here is given up on the idea and are using external drives...and these keep getting better and better and cheaper and cheaper....Did however buy an NEC internal that is +\- and dual layer for my T30...had to pay about $140 for it....used.

The new multiburner does come with the new T43. I have a few of them and they now write/read both + and - R discs. I can get the spec to you and exact model once I get back to the office tomorrow.

Link to overview of Multi Burner Plus Ultrabay Slim -

http://www-1.ibm.com/support/docview.ws ... &loc=en_AU

includes link to User's guide.

Cheers,
Rob.

Thanks for the link! Looks like it's now doing all formats, but it's still slow (2x).

I guess I'll do what the Japanese are doing, give up on waiting for an internal drive with up-to-date specs and but an external DVD writer ...

Sven