Recommended DVD-RW for X3 Ultrabase?

[demesne]

Recently I bought an 8x DVD-RW DL off eBay which was advertised to be compatible with my X31's X3 Ultrabase. Turns out the drive was simply a re-badged OEM M a t s u s h i t a UJ-831s which apparently isn't a very reliable burner. I could only get it to burn at 2x, and the burn actually failed. No one seems to have any firmware updates either.

So my question is: Which burner would be the best one in terms of compatibility, and ease of modification for the X3 Ultrabase?

I am thinking of taking the rails off the UJ-831 and sticking them on the best possible drive.

[mazzinia]

I've an AOPEN Dvd writer unit,

ISU-8484G

and until now works enough well. I've not had any problems related to speed.

[demesne]

Was it hard to modify in order to get it to fit in the ultrabay slot?

[mazzinia]

Actually I've not needed to do anything. The shop was selling it with the adapter directly mounted on it.
And it fits perfectly the slot.

This is the main reason I've taken it... one shop enough specialized in thinkpads insisted a lot of times that not all brands of optical drives would correctly work inside a tp (meaning some will not permit to boot, he said). So, the moment I've seen this one sold directly with the adapter mounted (another shop)...

So I can at least guarantee you that this drive (+ a conversion adapter cheaply found around) will work without any issue.

[demesne]

Can you tell me which shop it was, and if they will ship to Australia?

Thanks!

[mazzinia]

I've bought it in a shop in Tokyo... I don't think it would ship.