adapting DVD burner for ultrabay

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seaweedsl · #1 Post by **seaweedsl** » Mon Oct 22, 2007 10:49 am

I'm trying to replace the failed multiburner on my new R50p. I know that I can use a 9 or 12 drive ultrabay slim or enhanced, but I wonder what other drives (maybe cheaper and/or more reliable) might fit using my existing ultrabay rails and faceplate (if needed).

Anybody got a list of verified fits? Is it that critical?

Here's a link to one I'd like to buy if it would fit...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0163016212

Thanks,
Steve

seaweedsl · #2 Post by **seaweedsl** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 9:58 am

#3 Post by **ryengineer** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 2:17 pm

You can ask the sellers on ebay regarding their compatibility with your thinkpad.

seaweedsl · #4 Post by **seaweedsl** » Tue Oct 23, 2007 11:48 pm

Thanks for responding.

Yep, I got one answer from an ebayer: "should fit, but not 100% sure" !

I was hoping somebody here had some experience with non-oem drives and could tell me what works....

If nobody has any experience with this, then maybe I should reframe my question.

Steve

#5 Post by **schen** » Wed Oct 24, 2007 1:14 pm

seaweedsl wrote:I'm trying to replace the failed multiburner on my new R50p. I know that I can use a 9 or 12 drive ultrabay slim or enhanced, but I wonder what other drives (maybe cheaper and/or more reliable) might fit using my existing ultrabay rails and faceplate (if needed).

Anybody got a list of verified fits? Is it that critical?

Here's a link to one I'd like to buy if it would fit...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0163016212

Thanks,
Steve

I can't look at the ebay ad at the moment, but hopefully will have time tonight when I get home. Here is what I know about your situation. I recently had an R50 and tied a couple of things with it hoping to replace the CD-ROM with at least a combo drive.

Although it looks bare (other than the small rail on one side), it isn't. The connector on the back is different than the earlier 12.7mm drives (such as the ones I've used on our T30 and A31s). And AFAIK, the connect is part of the drive. I swapped drives between the R50 and my R60 from work and it is interchangeable, but it is a different connector from the earlier 12.7mm drives.

Hopefully that makes sense and is useful.

seaweedsl · #6 Post by **seaweedsl** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 12:36 am

I can't look at the ebay ad at the moment, but hopefully will have time tonight when I get home. Here is what I know about your situation. I recently had an R50 and tied a couple of things with it hoping to replace the CD-ROM with at least a combo drive.

Although it looks bare (other than the small rail on one side), it isn't. The connector on the back is different than the earlier 12.7mm drives (such as the ones I've used on our T30 and A31s). And AFAIK, the connect is part of the drive. I swapped drives between the R50 and my R60 from work and it is interchangeable, but it is a different connector from the earlier 12.7mm drives.

Hopefully that makes sense and is useful.

Yes, thanks. A confimation that T60 drives also fit. And you say you tried some things to change drives- what happened?

I saw a rail kit they sell for adapting a drive to ultrabay and they include an adapter for the connector in back from universal to Ultrabay Enhanced. Has to be soldered on. Hmmm. I wonder how tricky that is.

Know anything about that? Or other pitfalls in swapping in optical drives?

It sounds like you gave up on adapting alternative drives and are using the OEM panasonic/M a t s u s h i t a UJ-xxxx?

I keep seeing bad stuff about these panasonics and that they are locked in a certain way with DVDs as well. I don't want to pay a premium to get a finicky drive that is limited.

So, besides hoping to hear about any pitfalls and experiences adapting opticals drives to MBay E, I also like to know- what's your experience with the Thinkpad multiburners ? Do they consistantly read/burn both CDs and DVDs?

Thanks,
Steve

#7 Post by **schen** » Thu Oct 25, 2007 11:36 am

seaweedsl wrote: Yes, thanks. A confimation that T60 drives also fit. And you say you tried some things to change drives- what happened?

I saw a rail kit they sell for adapting a drive to ultrabay and they include an adapter for the connector in back from universal to Ultrabay Enhanced. Has to be soldered on. Hmmm. I wonder how tricky that is.

Know anything about that? Or other pitfalls in swapping in optical drives?

It sounds like you gave up on adapting alternative drives and are using the OEM panasonic/M a t s u s h i t a UJ-xxxx?

I keep seeing bad stuff about these panasonics and that they are locked in a certain way with DVDs as well. I don't want to pay a premium to get a finicky drive that is limited.

So, besides hoping to hear about any pitfalls and experiences adapting opticals drives to MBay E, I also like to know- what's your experience with the Thinkpad multiburners ? Do they consistantly read/burn both CDs and DVDs?

Thanks,
Steve

I haven't tried adapting one of the drives involving soldering the new connector on the back. I can tell you that I've used several non-IBM ThinkPad drives with UB2K mounts and they've worked great. The ones I've had the most experience with are the NEC ND6550 and 6500 which have booth been excellent DVD burners that have given me no problems in our machine. I've had an IBM ThinkPad branded Panasonic Multi-Burner, but didn't have it long enough to comment on it one way or the other. It seemed fine when I was using it, but I only burned 2 disks on it the year that I owned it.

seaweedsl · #8 Post by **seaweedsl** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 12:10 am

schen wrote:I haven't tried adapting one of the drives involving soldering the new connector on the back. I can tell you that I've used several non-IBM ThinkPad drives with UB2K mounts and they've worked great. The ones I've had the most experience with are the NEC ND6550 and 6500 which have booth been excellent DVD burners that have given me no problems in our machine. I've had an IBM ThinkPad branded Panasonic Multi-Burner, but didn't have it long enough to comment on it one way or the other. It seemed fine when I was using it, but I only burned 2 disks on it the year that I owned it.

Very good. It appears that UB2K was easier. I see a lot of UB2K drives on Ebay. Cheap. Not many UBE.

I'd love to hear from somebody who has adapted to Ultrabay Enhanced.

I also understand that there is an adapter to allow an R50 series to handle UB2K. Anyone know about that?

Steve

seaweedsl · #9 Post by **seaweedsl** » Fri Oct 26, 2007 1:04 am

Finally, I found this at the thinkwiki. It was not easy, as I had looked before.

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

punchline:

ATTENTION!
UltraBay Enhanced (and possibly UltraBay Slim) formfactor uses a proprietary connector which is soldered to the board. No standard drive can be modified to be used in UltraBay Enhanced (Slim?) equiped Thinkpads.

It looks like Ultrabay enhanced or slim will require soldering....or else have to stick with (what seem to be) the problematic multiburners.

That's disappointing.

Steve

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