The closest thing I've ever seen in size to an IBM internal is one from Toshiba, but I cannot even imagine the difficulty of setting up the pins to plug into a proprietary IBM IDE plug.  The amount of time and energy you'd put into a project like that would pay for a newer laptop. Now that IBM's laptops have been bought out by that Chinese company Lenovo, that device may be forthcoming. Such a thing is way beyond my skill level, and given that my A21m is from 9/01, I'd love an excuse to buy a new one.  I have two port replicators and a locking docking station for it that fit the T, A, X, and R series.  I have a ton of IBM stuff that fits the T's and A's.  If I buy another one it will be either a Toshiba or a Dell.  Good luck.

-----Original Message-----
From: John Smith <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Fri, 14 Oct 2005 02:51:52 +0000
Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Upgrade to DVDRW


Joseph Marty, Thanks for your response. Your answer indicates you understand
my question. I believe the new double layer DVD/Rw burners will be plug and
play under the XP O/S. The question then is: How to find the right form
factor burner to fit in my drive case. It would seem to me that the
manufacturers have form specifications for the burner internals. (So they
will work in many different companies drive cases) I am hoping to find
someone who can explain the nomenclature to me so I can search for a device
that will fit in my cassette that fits in my ultrabay. By the way, I
already have a Plextor external DVD/RW that works fine plugged into one of
my USB ports. The problem is that I need everything including the burner in
one unit: my notebook, and I am trying to avoid buying a new notebook! Any
help will be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance. John Smith

>From: joseph marty <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: PCBUILD - Personal Computer Hardware discussion List
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: [PCBUILD] Upgrade to DVDRW
>Date: Thu, 13 Oct 2005 11:52:55 -0400
>
>All IBM stuff is proprietary. You'd have to be one heck of an engineer to
>buy a different brand, fit it in an IBM drive case, and make it plug in and
>work on an older IBM T series. I am not even sure a mobo as old as the T23
>would support a dual layer DVD drive/writer. I have an old IBM A21m, which
>uses many of the same components. I think you may be stuck with a CDRW for
>internals, and possibly an extneral CDDVDRW, if your mobo will support it.
>It would be slow because I don't think the T series had USB 2.0.
>
>
>
>
>John Smith <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> >I have an IBM Thinkpad T23 type 2647 notebook computer. It currently has
>a CD/DVD reader in the ultrabay. I would like to upgrade to a combination
>CD/Double Layer DVD/RW. Can anyone tell me where to find one? As far as I
>can tell IBM does not offer one. Can I buy a DVD/RW notebook drive from
>another manufacturer and exchange the internals to fit the drive currently
>in my ultrabay? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
> >
>
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