T420 optical drive replacement

[excal32]

My DVD drive on my T420 has died. i need a replacement drive for it. what will fit? do i need something specific to make the bezel fit or am i going to need something specific?

[rkawakami]

The T420 has what's called a Serial Ultrabay Enhanced. It supports 12.7mm high optical drives. You could also use the 9.5mm "slim" drives but there will be a gap between the bay and drive and from what I understand, is probably not recommended for sustained usage. There's also at least two types of bezels; flat and beveled. I don't have my T420 systems yet (two are on their way) so I can't say exactly which bezel you need. However, if you stick with the FRUs in the Hardware Maintenance Manual, you shouldn't have any trouble:

DVD-RAM/RW drive: 75Y5111, 75Y5113, 75Y5115
DVD-ROM drive: 75Y5117

There's several of these listed on eBay for $20-$25. Double check the pictures and descriptions with what you have and go with a seller that has good feedback and a return policy. You could also submit a WTB here in the forum's Marketplace.

Or you can attempt to bring your drive back to life. Is it "dead" or "mostly dead"?

edit: Upon re-reading your post, I thought of something to add. If your original question was along the lines of "what can I put in here that's NOT a genuine Lenovo part", then I can't totally answer that at the moment. In the past, I've installed non-IBM/non-Lenovo optical drives into Ultraslimbay (600-series), Ultrabay 2000 (A2x, A3x, T2x) and Ultrabay Slim (T4x) systems. Besides ensuring that the electrical connector on the back of the drive matches what's in the Ultrabay, you also have to transfer/install some rails or catches on the drive so that it latches into the Ultrabay. Finally, the bezel has to be altered/replaced in order to fit the outlines of the Ultrabay opening; typically the "notch" at the lower right edge of the drive. Once I have my T420 systems, I'm planning to see what it would take to install aftermarket Blu-ray drives in them. My best case scenario would be put in a slot-loader (something like a Panasonic UJ-165 or UJ-265 I think will work) as I'm planning to use one of them as my streaming video machine with my HDTV.

[excal32]

thanks! it can only burn successfully if i burn CDs at 12x and give it a long time to finalize the disc.
i burn tons of CDs and kill CD drives pretty frequently. i usually buy used disc drives and i had only put a few months of considerable use on it before it got pretty bad like this.

should i avoid the 43N3229?

[rkawakami]

So, "mostly dead" it is .

While you might have (slightly) burned out the laser, it's possible that all you have is some contamination on the lens. I'd try cleaning the lens assembly with a dry Q-Tip, or one that has a small amount of good quality isopropyl alcohol on it. You could also try another brand of blank media.

From what I can find, 43N3229 references a Serial Ultrabay Slim drive but I don't know the actual manufacturer. I don't believe that any of my T410 systems has one of those; Panasonic UJ-892 and HLDS DU20N is what's listed in my inventory. The Slim drive should work but as I said previously, there will be a gap between the drive and Ultrabay housing. I'd think you would be better off using the 12.7mm thick drives. Beside a better fit, you might also get a faster drive. I don't know if it is still true, but with the early slim drives, they were not as fast as the thicker drives.

[RealBlackStuff]

I've had various problems with Ultrabay burners not working the way I want.
Especially when installing Windows afresh.
To overcome this, I'm using a SATA desktop DVDRW/CDRW in an external USB enclosure.

I know it's bulky and some would even call it cumbersome, but it works like a champ every time!
It can also house a 2.5" or 3.5" HD or SSD in either IDE or SATA, and it has a fan built in (which I disconnected).
Currently you can get a really good deal for the above case for $14.99 shipped: http://www.cooldrives.com/index.php/hdd ... sures.html

@Ray: this would definitely also take a Bluray drive.

[rkawakami]

I received the first of two T420 systems today. Inside was an FRU 75Y5115 Serial Ultrabay Enhanced DVD Multi III drive made by HLDS (model GT50N). Haven't yet got the chance to verify if the drive is okay (I need to get my hands on a restore disk set first). It has a beveled bezel since that's what matches the T420 bay opening.

@RBS: Understand that the external USB enclosure will handle a desktop Blu-ray drive but I'd rather have a "all-in-one" solution for my media center laptop.

[ZaZ]

should i avoid the 43N3229?

If you burn a lot of discs, you're probably harder on them than most users, which causes them the fail more frequently. A desktop drive will be more durable, but obviously, not as portable.