View source for How to build your own Ultrabay drive

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Optical [[UltraBay Devices|UltraBay drives]] like CD-ROM and DVD drives or burners are usually a bit more expensive than their non-IBM counterparts. Additionally more modern technologies are not available for discontinued [[UltraBay]] standards. A solution to this annoyance is to take a standard slim form factor notebook drive and turn it into an UltraBay drive yourself.
{{WARN|No warranty of any kind is given for the correctness of the following instructions. Following them can damage your machine. Proceed at your own risk.}}
{{NOTE|This article is written with UltraBay 2000 drives in mind. But should be appliable for UltraSlimBay and other kinds of UltraBay devices as well.}}
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==The Basics==
The "big secret" about UltraBay drives is that basically they are just standard slim form factor notebook drives equipped with an UltraBay frame. This frame is just a mechanical addition with an integrated connector adapter.

As curious people found, the inner connector of an UltraBay frame is nothing more than a standard interface for such drives. Hence, it is generally possible to disassemble an old UltraBay drive and attach the frame to a newer or better one.

There are, however, some things to consider...

==The Limitations==
Even though these slim form factor drives seem to have a standard form factor at first look, it turns out that there are marginal mechanical differences. This makes it hard if at all possible to know beforehand if the UltraBay frame from your old drive will perfectly fit onto the new one. The fact is that different UltraBay drives even for the same UltraBay standard have frames with different mechanical characteristics. Small differences can sometimes be adjusted by modifying parts of the frame, but this is of course not the nicest solution.

The most varying part is the Blending, which is usually not compatible even among drives of the same manufacturer. The positions of the eject button, the drive LED, the emergency eject hole and the way the blending is attached to the drive all vary a lot. Do precise research before you buy anything. One solution here is to keep the original blending of the drive, since the UltraBay blending is independent from the rest of the frame. The disadvantage is an optical one: the standard blendings are usually flat whereas the UltraBay blendings usually are a bit thicker at the top and thinner at the bottom. Also, for some UltraBay standards you would have to cut out the lower right edge of the blending, since the standard drive blendings are usually rectangle shaped.

==UltraBay 2000==
The UltraBay 2000 frame consists of four parts: Front bezel, left wing, right wing and the back plate containing the connector interface.

The left and right parts are attached with little screws in holes which are at standardised positions and should usually fit among all drives. However, the actual drives show tiny variations in width, which are leveraged by the left and right parts. Hence these can be a bit thicker or thinner (fractions of 1mm). Putting a somewhat wide frame part onto a somewhat wide drive might result in an UltraBay drive that doesn't fit into the bay at all because it's just a tiny little bit too wide. This can be dealt with e.g. by sanding one of the side frame parts, but it's better if all components fit correctly in the first place. Also, the side frames have hatches fitting into the holes in the back part. Among frames these hatches vary in thickness and length and hence, again, might not fit easily. Again, they can be adjusted by cutting them a bit.

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|+ UltraBay 2000 drives and compatible alternative drives
|-
! UltraBay drive !! IBM Part-Nr. !! actual drive !! compatible drive !! needed steps to make fitting
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| [[UltraBay 2000 CD-ROM Drive]] || ... || TEAC CD-224E || ... || ...
|-
| [[UltraBay 2000 8x-3x DVD-ROM Drive]] || 27L3447 || Matsushita SR-8175-M || ... || ...
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| [[UltraBay 2000 Ultralight 8x DVD-ROM Drive]] || 08K9648 || Matsushita SR-8176-M || ... || ...
|-
| UltraBay 2000 8x DVD drive || ... || Hitachi GD-S200 || 8x DVD+-RW NEC ND-6650A || [http://markoff.biz/pivot/entry.php?id=856 Commented photo manual]
|-
| UltraBay 2000 6x DVD drive || ... || Toshiba DVD-ROM SD-C2302 || [http://www.liteonamericas.com/us/DVDRW_SOSW833S.htm LiteonIT Slimtype SOSW-833S DVD+-RW] || Judging by the pictures, this Liteon IT drive looks a lot like the NEC one in Markoff's guide above. Notes: 

1) It seems it's ''not'' necessary to cut away the lower-right corner of the front bezel, at least on a T23. It'll take a bit more determination than normally to close the drive, but it doesn't look like the bezel is suffering from the bent ([http://www.thinkwiki.org/wiki/Image:Ultrabay2k_replacement_drive_bezel_bend.jpg photo]). Also, it was a bit tricky to get the new drive to actually stay locked in the bay, but once you get it to fit (and don't need to swap drives), it'll stay. 

2) Burning DVD-Rs at "maximum speed" produces valid DVD's but with a scary, unstable sound, and the net speed fluctuates between 1 and 2x (also on a T23). Choosing 2x keeps the burn process stable (and noiseless!)
 
|-
| UltraBay 2000 DVD/CD-RW Combo drive || ... || ... || LG GWA-4040N || [http://www.thinkpad-portal.com/modules/cpg1.2.1_standalone/thumbnails.php?album=45&page=1 Photo documentary]
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| [[UltraBay 2000 DVD Multi-Burner]] || 22P7015 || Panasonic UJ-840 || NEC 8X SLIM DVD ND-6650 || Eschewing the Ultrabay 2000 bezel, a small section needs to be cut out of the lower right corner of the original front bezel. This can be removed from the drive for this purpose; the other Ultrabay parts screw directly into the drive which fits without further modifications.
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==Links==
* [http://markoff.biz/pivot/entry.php?id=856 Commented photo manual about upgrading an UltraBay 2000 drive] <tt>(DVD-ROM Hitachi GD-S200 -> DVD+-RW NEC ND-6650A in IBM ThinkPad T21)</tt>