Looking for external CD/DVD read/write drive for T23

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wylbur · #1 Post by **wylbur** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 7:55 am

I'm currently using an IBM T23 Thinkpad running Windows XP Pro.
It has a swappable CD/DVD Ultrabay drive. The CD/DVD drive is a
Toshiba SD-C2512, which I believe is read-only (if I'm wrong, please
correct me), so I need an external CD/DVD drive that can read and
write to CDs and DVDs, and plugs into the USB port.

I could technically get an Ultrabay CD/DVD writable drive but (a) it
would probably be more expensive, (b) it would be less widely
available and (c) I wouldn't be able to use it on any other computer.
So that's why I'd prefer USB (or possibly PCMCIA) interface.
Then again, maybe getting an Ultrabay drive is worthwhile because it
would be guaranteed to work on my Thinkpad.

By the way, are there any external CD/DVD drives that plug into the
PCMCIA slot instead of USB? Are those better than USB?

Also, my computer presently has USB 1, but I don't think that'll be a
problem since I presume that any peripherals that work with USB 2 will
also work via USB 1, although a bit slower.
But, if I had to use USB 2, I believe that it would just
involve getting an adapter that plugs into the PCMCIA slot, correct?

So, would you be able to recommend external CD/DVD burners that have
worked well with a Thinkpad T23, and which ones have been known to be
problematic?

Thanks for your help.

JHEM · #2 Post by **JHEM** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 8:15 am

Any of the external burners will work just fine with a T23.

The problem will be speed, as USB1.1 is so slow.

The T2X series has the ability to use almost any current "slim" internal burner in the Ultrabay, unlike the T4X series which is confined to a very limited number of "ultra-slim" drives, so the choices are wide ranging.

A very popular internal burner solution for the T2X series machines are the offerings from Toshiba and Lite-On, either of which can be made to fit the Ultrabay with only minor, if any, modifications.

You can also find IBM 8X multi-burners specifically for the T2X Ultrabay on eBay for between $125 and $150.

Regards,

James

stuart2000 · #3 Post by **stuart2000** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 10:33 am

I have a T22, i use a pioneer 110 fitted to an external box, i also bought a usb2 pcmcia card. The external dvd writer now plugs into the pcmcia card and there is no loss of speed. The whole shebang cost about £60, i can also fit it to any other pc using the usb lead.

Stuart

Nolonemo · #4 Post by **Nolonemo** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 1:40 pm

I saw a bunch of USB dvd-rw drives on ebay a while ago, they seemed to be going for around $25. I'm guessing that the shipping on these was around $15, so you're $40 all-in. Add a USB 2 PC card, for around $20 shipped, and you're up to $60. Plus, you'll have to use a power brick for the drive unless it comes with a power cable that draws supplemental power from the PS/2 port or USB port.

Therefore, I think you're better off spending an extra $15 and getting an NEC dvd burners put into the ultrabay. Newegg is selling the ND-6750A - OEM for $75 shipped free, a killer deal.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.a ... 6827152069

Search the forums for NEC and ultrabay and you'll get lots of information.

awdark · #5 Post by **awdark** » Sun Apr 02, 2006 2:24 pm

Hope I haven't bumped a thread past the normal thread-life cycle.

What type of interface does those ultrabay drives use?
For example the NEC ND-6750A drive has that neat little connector on it... while other drives have an IDE interface... Does it have a generic name so I could search for those specifically?

What type of modifications would a Liteon or Toshiba need to work in a T20 as Jhem has mentioned?

t20user · #6 Post by **t20user** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 9:55 am

Looks like Newegg has the 6750A for $69.99 shipped today. That killer deal is getting more killer everyday. Not quite as good as the $29 refurb Unity deal a while back, but I would go Newegg if I was in the market for one of these again.

As for internal vs. external: I had the same dilemma a while back before I bought the 6650. I do not regret my decision to go internal at all. I too thought having an external drive would be more universal and cheaper, but in the long run I think the Ultrabay DVD burner is the way to go. At $70, it is probably only a little more expensive, and who cares if you can't use it on your next laptop you buy. Most likely when you go to sell your T23 you will get more $$$ because it has the internal DVDR anyway.

awdark · #7 Post by **awdark** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:48 pm

I don't understand, would that work in the ultrabay of a laptop?

I searched and this is the best picture I could find of the back of a Ultrabay2000 port. http://cgi.ebay.com/IBM-ThinkPad-24X-CD ... dZViewItem
And the back of that NEC drive has a (I think) 50pin connector instead...

Will do a search now.

http://markoff.biz/pivot/entry.php?id=856
http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/How_to_bu ... aBay_drive

I see...

JHEM · #8 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:52 pm

awdark wrote:I don't understand, would that work in the ultrabay of a laptop?

you take the connector off the rear of an existing optical drive and connect it to the IDE connector on the back of the new optical drive.

You'll also need to take any shims/spacers that may be on the sides of the existing optical drive and install them on the new one.

Regards,

James

JHEM · #9 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 1:55 pm

t20user wrote:Looks like Newegg has the 6750A for $69.99 shipped today.

Back up to $74.99 again!

Still an excellent burner for the price.

Regards,

James

#10 Post by **schen** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 2:17 pm

I'll have to agree with the above posts in the for the kind of money we're talking about , it's really worth it to buy an internal unit. I was one of the lucky ones on the Unity refurb deal and have the NEC 6650 (which I might add is very nice). It actually replaced an older IBM/Panasonic Multi-Burner which in turn replaced a DVD/CDRW combo drive. It's been just great to have a burner that will handle anything and do it internally. I really think it's important to allow the machine to do things in a mobile fashion and I doubt that many people really want to drag around an external drive along with it attended cables and power brick if they don't have to.

Although I haven't looked at the drive on Newegg to be sure, I'll bet that there is one other think to think about. I believe that much like my 6650 from Unity, these drives are being sold "bare", which means, in the standardized form without the "caddy" (which is the adapter interface for specific manufactures). In the case of IBM, it's a plug, and some rails, for others like some Dells for instance, it's an actual little box that the drive fits in. So you also have to factor that in. You can take the ones off of any drive you have, but then you have a drive without an interface... just a different one. Or you can go to ebay or a parts dealer and buy a set.

JHEM · #11 Post by **JHEM** » Mon Apr 03, 2006 11:43 pm

JHEM wrote:
t20user wrote:Looks like Newegg has the 6750A for $69.99 shipped today.
Back up to $74.99 again!

Back down to $69.99 again!

God. Up, down, up, down. Reminds me of when I dated Liza Minelli!

Regards,

James

#12 Post by **schen** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 12:36 pm

Wow!!! You dated Liza Minelli!?! I don't mean wow as in.... oh, say.... Liz Hurley. More like, awestruck in meeting someone who's plane crashed in the Amazon, but walk out alive! I don't know her myself, but her crazy personal life is legendary!

Looking for external CD/DVD read/write drive for T23

Looking for external CD/DVD read/write drive for T23

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