Good source for T2x ultrabay goodies?

[alternative minimum]

Looking for either a Combo drive or DVD Writer drive for an old T20 (2647-41U)

Do any of you have good experiences with particular vendors?

[leegaard]

I can recommend a Nec ND-6650 DVD writer.

Much superior over my current Ultrabay drives in my T42´s

I takes some modification however to make it fit ..

Not hard at all though

[LtTPfan]

Ditto on the NEC DVD burner. I got a 6500a new for $41 on eBay. It worked great after trimming the notch on the face plate. The faceplate is flat rather than contoured like IBM drives so it doesn't fit flush all the way around but unless someone familiar with Thinkpads looked at it closely I doubt they'd know it wasn't factory. You can buy new NEC DVD burners in stores for about $80-$90. Compare that to the price of an "IBM" drive!

[alternative minimum]

Can someone tell me what's involved in making the ND6650 work for my T20, or point me to a resource that tells me how to do it?

Many thanks for the reccomendations.

[LtTPfan]

First off, look at your Ultrabay, you'll notice the opening is not rectangular but rather there is a notch cut out of the right lower corner. The NEC's face will be rectangular. You'll have to trim that corner off. There is nothing there behind it to worry about. I used a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel but I'm sure you can figure some way to trim it, maybe a fine saw blade. It's just thin plastic. I imagine a razor blade or Exacto knife would do the trick.

Second, you'll need to remove the plastic rear adapter and side rails (also plastic) off your old drive for mounting on your new drive. There are two small Philips screws on each side rail and two on the rear adapter. The rails and adapter may also be attached with double-faced tape which will require some gentle prying by slipping a thin blade (knife, etc) between them and the drive. On mine there were some small tabs on the rails and connector which fit into holes in the drive and there were no matching holes for them on my new drive so I used a knive blade to trim them off. Then all that remains is screwing the side rails on then the rear adapter.

It probably sounds more difficult than it really is but I tried to include every detail.

[leegaard]

Photo gallery of how to do it.'


http://markoff.biz/pivot/entry.php?id=856



Text in (i believe) russian ..

However - if you let the cursor rest on the photos there will come small english remarks

Another "how to do it"

http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_bu ... aBay_drive