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IBM Thinkpad Ultrabay Compatibility

L

Laxer

Member
I currently have an IBM Thinkpad T21 with an Ultrabay DVD-ROM drive. After realizing that having a cd-rw drive would be very useful in the future, I have a few options for getting cd-rw drives.
1) I could find an ultrabay cd-rw
2) I could buy an external cd-rw (firewire or USB)

- With the Ultrabay cd-rw, I've looked on egay and the prices seem to go for about $300 for the IBM drives. What I'm wondering about is the fact that there seem to be other brands of removable cd-rw drives that "look" like they would fit my ultrabay. Does anyone know what brands or types of drives are compatible with the IBM ultrabay?

- Would it be better in terms of performance/convenience to purchase an external drive instead.. and if so, is it worth getting a PCMCIA card for a firewire cd-rw drive or just go with the convenience of a USB cd-rw drive?

Thanks for your input!

(Sorry for double-posting in Tech Support, but it's probably not a tech support issue yet heh)
 
I have the T21 as well and an Ultra Bay 2000. The Ultra Bay 2000 can house either my Sony CDR/W CRX700E or the Toshiba DVD. You can connect the Bay via PCMCIA card or use the USB port. I noticed that if I put the CDRW on the bay (either connection) I have to slow down my burn speed to 4x instead of the Max 8X to have a better success ratio on creating CD's. The best configuration I found is that the Ultra Bay houses the DVD and the thinkpad has the CDRW on its internal drive bay. I seldom use the floppy so it is in a protective pouch in my carrying case.

I was getting the impression from your post that the Ultra bay you have has a DVD drive that is not removable.
 
Flipside- Thanks for replying. Actually, my Ultrabay 2000 is internal and I can swap out my DVD drive that came with the laptop any time I want to. My package came with the DVD drive and the floppy which are both Ultrabay-compatible.

What I was hoping to do was find a more inexpensive alternative to purchasing IBM's CD-RW for the Ultrabay. May I ask how you knew the Sony CD-RW would be compatible with the Ultrabay system? I see alternatives online for sale that "look" like they would fit in the Ultrabay, but I can't be positive until I try it out. Also, I see that they've come out with an Ultrabay Plus.. of which I have no clue about.

I wonder if it would just be cheaper and faster to get an external burner to connect via USB or Firewire/PCMCIA card.
 
Hey Flipside,

Let me get this straight, the Sony CDR/W CRX700E will fit into the T21 UltraBay 2000? That is the INTERNAL UltraBay 2000 without any modifications? How about the T21's BIOS and the setup; was it difficult or it is plug and play.

I think I've found a place that has somewhat of a hot deal for one of these badboys considering IBM wants over $300.00 for a similar unit!!

I too am looking for this exact solution for my T21...

Link:

Sony CDR/W CRX 700E
 
Wow.. this price looks good. Just need a confirmation to make sure it really works! From the sound of it though, it seems like he has the external ultrabay.. so shouldn't it act the same?
 
Take a gander at this

That particular drive works with an IBM T23. Kinda pricey though. I hear that This Compaq drive is a Toshiba Drive. Same as the one in the Thinkpad Combo Drive

Here's a link to an auction featuring a drive that was physically (soldering), modified to fit a T23. You only save $100. Might as well buy an external or something🙁 Please don't buy a Matsushita Drive yet though, not until after the 2nd🙂, or just don't bit on an auction featuring SGroove. They go for about $180, and I'm currently winning with a $195. Check out the history, they go for $180🙂 You just have to solder a matsushita drive to become a Master Drive, since by default it's set to Slave.

Paul
 
Sgroove- Doh.. sorry to see that you didn't win that auction. That fejordan fellow who was selling the drive looks familiar though.. I guess I've been searching around the same places as you... and I recall seeing fejordan purchasing those Matsushita drives from some wholeseller on egay for about 50-60 bucks a pop. At any rate, I'm not quite sure what the diff a master/slave drive would make for this removable drive... mind explaining?

An external drive might be good since I could bring it around as necessary, but it probably wouldn't fit into my laptop bag which would be a nuisance....
 


<< Sgroove- Doh.. sorry to see that you didn't win that auction. That fejordan fellow who was selling the drive looks familiar though.. I guess I've been searching around the same places as you... and I recall seeing fejordan purchasing those Matsushita drives from some wholeseller on egay for about 50-60 bucks a pop. At any rate, I'm not quite sure what the diff a master/slave drive would make for this removable drive... mind explaining?

An external drive might be good since I could bring it around as necessary, but it probably wouldn't fit into my laptop bag which would be a nuisance.... >>



Well I just talked to a buddy of mine who talked about the significance, rather insignificance of having the drive set as slave. He says that most laptops don't have the space for multiple IDE channels like desktop computers. So successful burning depends on the drive being a slave drive. Of course then I guess that the significance of having the drive set as Master, is only so in the case of PowerBooks as they have two IDE channels. So bid away, just don't bid on my auction😉 One funky thing about the drive is that the one I am getting is blue! I don't know if I'll fiddle with the face plate though.

I know what you mean about the external drive. This is why I think it's worth spending a few more bucks on an internal drive. My laptop weighs veyr little, and I purchased it because it was lightweight. Getting an external drive or another internal drive would just the bag 1-2lbs more heavier, and that's two lbs I don't want. If I wanted those extra two pounds, I would have purchased a Dell Inspiron 8100!

Which thinkpad do you have? PM me if ya wanna chat🙂
 
actually the sony CDRW has IBM printed all over it. It shows as a Sony CRX700E in properties. Sony must have built this for IBM.

Laxter, in the long run it may be cheaper to get USB/Firewire (is firewire already available for the laptops). You can use this in other machines as well. Or if you have a desktop, just network the laptop to your desktop and buy the desktop a real good burner.

HeinikenMan, the Sony fit in the internal drive bay or to the external Ultra Bay. For the ultra bay, all you need is to load the drivers from the floppy that came with the ultra bay. Did not even have to go to the IBM bios. They are identified as removable devices and is hot swappable.
 
Flipside-
Thanks for the heads-up. What makes me want to get the cd burner for my laptop is the fact that I DO have a router hooked up to my desktop, but for some reason, I get horrendous transfer rates when I copy files from my laptop to my desktop. Transferring files from my desktop to my laptop are pretty speedy, but I have no clue why I get this problem for one-way traffic only. Due to my increasing use of my laptop to download files, I've been finding myself waiting long periods of time to copy files over to my desktop to burn....
 
Laxter, I have the same set up at home. I have a router/switch. I used to burn CDRW to transfer from the laptop to my desktop. But since I setup the network I just transfer files over the network to my desktop and mainly use the desktop burner. It faster than my laptop burner.

I think that there is too much security on your desktop that slows down the file transfer. It's that or a virus protection software may be causing this as well. Check it out, you might really just want transfer files over the network than paying for an expensive CDRW for the Laptop. Hell, I did not care much on mine as this is a company laptop.
 
I have an A21p (2629-6VU) with an ultrabay 2000. So let me clarify this one more time. I can install this $99 sony cdrw in my internal ultrabay drive, and it will work. And I won't have to pay $300 for the ibm drive. And I'll only have to pay $99.

Sorry I'm having a hard time believing this, it's almost too good to be true. I want a burner in my laptop but could never justify paying $300 for one.

If this is for real, holy crap I am buying one.
 
I just ordered one from netcomdirect this morning; I'll let you know if this thing works if/when I get it! Never heard of netcomdirect before but since they use Yahoo! for hosting services I kind of trust them (I've ordered from many vendors that use Yahoo! for order hosting and have never had an issue).

All of the research that I've done shows this Sony OEM drive to be the exact same thing that IBM sells for over 300.00. However, you only get a bare drive, no s/w (not sure what IBM supplies). I'm hoping that WinOnCD and Diskjuggler will work with this drive (they're both supposed supported as is Nero, Feurio, and Easy CD Creator).
 
HeinekinMan, I would be interested to know. Just poped the Sony from the drive bay. It reads at the bottom SONY CD-R/RW Drive Unit. Model no. CRX700E. Serial No. 218710. Version BC.

The top has the standard IBM Sticker for CD/DVD Drives. It has the phrase " Manufactured for IBM Corporation"

I am not sure if the interface plug is standard. I always thought that they are proprietary to the manufacturer. It will be interesting to know if the OEM version will actually fit on the thinkpad. I know that this will not fit on a thinkpad 600. Unless they are selling adapters depending on which brand your laptop is.

BTW. I have used Nero, WinOnCD PE (3.8 and 5.0) and CDRWIN 4.0 Beta on this.
 
Flipside- I can't believe I fixed that annoying problem of horrible one-sided transfer rates over my network. The solution? I just got a new NIC for my desktop.. I suppose the other one was either really old and/or really cheap.

Before--
Desktop -> Laptop : ~1000 kb/sec
Laptop -> Desktop: ~50 kb/sec <-----accccckkkkk!!!!

Now--
Desktop -> Laptop
and : 6000 kb/sec =) =) =) =)
Laptop -> Desktop

Haha.. ok so I'm tickled about that. I also received these 24x10x40 lite-on cd-rw drives from Newegg.com and so once i put that in my desktop, I should be burning about 6 times faster than before.. I suppose I can wait on getting a burner for my laptop.

That being said, I believe Sgroove has one of those Matsushita cd-rw/dvd combos on the way, so I'm waiting to see how it goes with his computer.
 
Laxer, glad that the transfer is now working.

Very interested if HeinekinMan and SGroove are successful. I still feel that IBM is taking us to the cleaners on hardware attachments for laptops.
 
OK. I got the drive in today from netcomdirect ($9.00 for UPS second day) and it works! But there's a couple of things that I had to do to get it to FIT my Thinkpad T21's internal UltraBay; being that the drive is OEM it is bare. There are no side rails included and the rear IDE connector does not fit the inside of the T21 (never thought about this!!). What I did, for now, was to remove the plastic side rails from my existing Hitachi DVD drive along with the rear IDE connector (very simple, 6 small phillips screws) and use them on the Sony CDRW drive. The rear IDE connector is actually an adapter attached to a piece of plastic, held in place by two screws. Everything fit onto the Sony CDRW perfectly and the unit slides into and out of my T21 just fine.

The physical mod that I need to do now is to the front bezel assembly; a small section of the front lower righthand side of the bezel needs to be removed/trimmed off. Otherwise it's kind of difficult to push the CDRW unit all the way into the UltraBay due to binding between the bezel and the swing-out lock lever mechanism that is used to remove the DVD/CDRW unit from the bay. I removed the bezel temporarily until I decide if I want to use a Dremel tool to remove the excess area or try and get ahold of a different bezel; the DVD drive bezel won't work because of the type of eject button that is used. I also thought about the floppy drive but the rails and the rear connector are not the same...Anyone know where I can get ahold of a used or broken DVD drive that fits into the UltraBay 2000?!

But needless to say the Sony CDRW works: Win2K Pro recognized it, WinOnCD recognizes it, and I was able to burn several audio tracks onto a CD-R at 8x without a problem! Haven't done any real testing yet but I have no doubt that it will work just fine for data and audio.

Now I need to figure out a way to attach the DVD drive (aside from using a dock) so I can burn on-the-fly between the DVD drive and the CDRW drive!!

This is still way better than spending over $300.00 for virtually the same drive but I guess that's how IBM makes it's money...
 
Muadib,

Here are the pics of the OEM Sony CRX700E fitted to my Thinkpad T21:

Pic 1

Pic 2

Pic 3

Pic 4

Pic 5

The first and last shots show what the rear connector looks like and the plastic sides moved from the Hitachi DVD drive over to the Sony (does anyone know if the Thinkpad 600 bay is similar to the Thinkpad T21 UltraBay 2000? If so, there's a place in So. Cal that sells a Sanyo CDROM drive for the Thinkpad 600 for $15.00. If I could use the side rails and rear connector from it, then I could attach them to my Hitachi DVD drive

In the two side shots, you can see where I had to use the Dremel tool to cut away the excess lower RH corner of the bezel assy in order for the locking lever to clear (first time using a Dremel and man, THAT tool is awesome!!! It cut and sanded at the same time so it worked perfectly for me).

Any other questions, let me know. This thing is working great so far and netcomdirect is the place to buy this drive...
 
off topic -- in order to see the pics, you will have to copy and paste the links into a separate internet browser.. then you can see the pics on GeoCities..

cheers,
--jb
 
Great Job, Heinkeken Man!

The only thing I'm worried about doing is dremeling. How do I check to see if the drive works before dremeling? Also...how much did you pay for your dremel? I may need to purchase my father an Early Present🙂

Can't wait for my combo drive!
 
Jaybittle,

Thanks! I've been trying to figure out how to view the pics; I've uploaded them using Yahoo's file manager and can't seem to figure out how to link them correctly...I'll give your advice a try...
 
SuperGroove,

I used the Dremel tool at work; not sure what they cost but my guess would be between 50 and 100 bucks or so. I've been planning to buy one and definitely will be getting one soon, I can see a lot of use for one. Never used one before but it wasn't too difficult to figure out. The soft plastic of the bezel was so easy to cut and sand. I actually made the initial trimming and then had to retrim because I didn't take enough off and the lever was still binding. You could practice on some other objects prior to trimming the bezel. I first removed the bezel and tested the drive out before deciding to keep the drive and cut the bezel. Now let me see if I can get these damn pics to post right!
 
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