Has anybody tried Toshiba TS532 DVD+/-RW R5T on thinkpad a31

[stingbandel]

I am thinking of upgrading my a31p machine with dvd rw. However, I am not sure if this one will fit on a31p.

so, my main question, has anybody tried it and does it fit with a31p?

I have seen on here people are saying that the nec drive will work. but I am wondering if I can also try with another brand other than nec one.


or maybe if there are other brands that I can use so I can choose which one to put on my a31p.

thank you

[schen]

I've tried a variety of drives in the UB2K ThinkPads and have had success in basically every case. I'm one that has used the NECs and we one in an A31 and another in a T30, they were previously in an A21 and a T23 so these machines seem to not be very picky. I also recently had a Samsung combodrive in that worked as well.

The only real issues seem to be whether the drive fits physically and possibly some software issues. I had a problem with my Roxio burning software recognizing the newer NEC DVD burner until I got an update. My brother says that he's had excellent results with Toshibas and sent me a matrix of drive models that he knows will work. Although your model wasn't in the chart (his all seem to have a model number starting with R followed by 4 digits), I'll bet it works.

Good luck.

[stingbandel]

judging from the size side, I am almost sure it will work. But what I am not sure is the eject button location.

I am not sure they are equally positioned with the toshiba one.

now I am thinking of buying the one from the newer thinkpad which has the dvd rw device.

could you recommend me from what model of thinkpad which would fit right away without having to modify it?

does the z series have the same physical size as the A series one?


thanks

[schen]

Basically, there are 2 sizes of current drives: 12.7mm and 9.5mm Virtually all the newer machines T/R/Z use the "ultrabay-slim" or 9.5mm drives. They need very little adaptation in that their bays use the actual interface on the bare drive itself.

What you are looking for is the older (thicker/12.7mm) Ultrabay2000 height drive along with the UB2K "caddy" (rails, plus interface adapter). Also, since the TPs of that generation have the release lever in the lower right-hand size, there needs to be a notch in the bezel of the drive to acomodate it. Therefore you can use almost any drive that fits (such as my Samsung DVD/CDRW Combo), you just have to either get it with the bezel or find a bezel that fits (I ended up buying a cheap Samsung CD-ROM), making sure it attaches the same way and has the various, holes, buttons and mounting points in the correct location. That's actually the hard part (finding the correct bezel). Then all you have to do is the cut a notch that follows the inverted "L" shape on the right side of the drive. Most people tend to do that with some sort of a "dremel" type tool, or it can be done with a utility knife, a file and some patience. On the last drive (Samsung) that I did for a family member, I ended up having to sand some excess plastic off the top that kept hanging on the overhang of the A22 that it was going into.

It's actually is more complicated than it sounds. Once you gather all the parts together, what you need to do will become fairly apparent. Good Luck with it.