CF-27, CF-28, CF-29 CD to DVD Swap Tutorial-Lots of Pictures!

That was me in this thread. I got mine from TD as well, same cheap caddy. It will only work with a drive that is already a master. The way I "fixed it" was by getting a proper Panasonic factory drive and modding that to work with a CD/DVD burner w/ lightscribe.

Be very careful, that purchase started something and now I have 3 Toughbooks!

 

Fresh meat or not this site is great.

 

I'm new to all the mods so this may be a dumb question but I don't know the answer so I must ask. What is the purpose of soldering the R2 points together? Will a swap to a dvd rw work without it?

 

Short version:

Panasonic optical drives used in these families of ToughBook are hardwired internally as Master; they require this configuration to boot from the optical drive for OS install.

Most optical drives sold as parts are set as CSEL. Jumpering R2 on the caddy allows ANY GENERIC optical drive to be set as Master; thus providing boot functionality on an upgraded drive from another manufacturer.

mnem
#4217...

 

I thought I explained this in the first post.... The one with all the pictures.

 

Nope it wasn't

 

Good enough for me..thanks for the info

 

Well, actually... the part about needing the mod to be able to boot from the optical drive for OS install isn't very clearly stated in your tutorial.

That part IS clarified about 4217 times in the following discussion, but you know today's kids; all the attention span of a ferret on half a bottle of NoDoz... :wink:

mnem
Ferrets are crunchewy.

 

Gunny Hartman, thanks for Outstanding insight on the Toughbooks!!

 

it seems pretty easy. i do have one question. i open my cf-29 and my "pc cards" look nothing like yours. there are very generic looking. where could i get a direct replacement one that looks like yours? i dont know what theyre called. any help would be much appreciated.

 

Which one are you talking about ??

 

the 2 boards that are in the picture, one of them has the R2 box. i was just informed by my brother that my connection on the back of the old drive is a Beta. i dont know what that means, but it doesnt fit the sony optiarc that i want to put in that has a SATA connection. can a buy a whole new connection(the 2 boards and the ribbion cable)?

 

If you have no R2 (if that what u mean) you have a after market one that does not need the mod done

 

I believe you will need an IDE drive to fit in the CF-29 caddy. You aren't going to find a sata cable.
CAP

 

correction, the connetion i have on the old cd drive is called Peta. the problem im haveing is finding a slim cd/dvd burner with a "Peta" connetion on the back. or i need a the whole unit(2 boards and ribbion cable with connections to cd/dvd burner and to the computer) connetion thats between the cd/dvd burner and the computer thats SATA like the one in the pictures. in picture #8, thats what i need, the whole thing. can anybody give me a link or what that part is called?

 

If you are only looking for the cable and board it would be cheaper just to buy an other media bay. The only place to get the part you need is Heartland Services and there shipping and handling are very high......$25.00-$35.00 + the price of the parts. I picked up my last media bay on fleabay for $55.00

 

i was looking at their site. no products page or nothing, but i live about 20 min. from their elgin location. maybe i could pick it up. do you know what that part is called in the picture in your post? and about getting a whole new/used cd rom box, my brother said that since my comp. is using a PETA connection, that switching everything out to SATA might not work because he says they work on diffrent frequencies. if thats wrong please correct me as i dont know s@*! about computers and just learned how to e mail earlirer this month. sorry for being such a noob.

 

Actually, that's "PATA" (Parallel AT Attachment); formerly ATAPI (ATA Packet Interface).

"PETA" is "People Eating Tasty Animals."

 

thank you for the correction. sadly i cant stuff any venison in my computer as im saving my latest kill for new years and my closely followed birthday. on a more relative note can someone post a link to exactly what i need. i cant find any complete cd-rom cases. im willing to spend up $75 or so. and if i cant use this sony optiarc cd burner/player/dvd burner/player i might as well sell it.

 

And I will say again, at the risk of repeating myself, Panasonic did not make SATA CD/DVD caddies for the CF-27,28. or 29 so you are not going to find a SATA cable and boards to fit into the IDE/PATA caddy(IDE and PATA are the same thing). You can ask again, but the answer is going to be the same. As I said in post #164, the Sony drive is not going to work in a CF-29.
CAP

 

If you live that close you got it made......I would stop in and see them. Here is one I found on fleabay Panasonic Toughbook CF-27 CF-28 CF-29 CD-ROM Drive - eBay (item 350424271542 end time Jan-18-11 21:25:46 PST)

 

i dont mean any disrespect to anyone on this board. im just trying to get a clear view of what im trying to accomplish. as ive stated before, im 23, dont know anything about computers, a cd looks the same as anything else one would stick in a computer and i bearly know what my space is. so, instead of beatin' around the bush what do i need to be able to burn/play cd's and at least watch dvd's on my cf-29? (i.e. what would i type in google or say to someone on the phone that i need?)

 

If you don't want to fuss around with finding a caddy ,and a compatable dvd cdrw drive and modding

CF-VDR282U DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive CF28 CF29 Toughbook

http://cgi.ebay.com/PANASONIC-CF-VD...C_Drives_Storage_Internal&hash=item1c1810407f

 

so, if PATA and IDE are the same, would this work? Amazon.com: Sony Optiarc AD-7590A-01 8X DVD+/-RW Slim Drive: Electronics my computer came with a cd-rom(the one i can only listien to music cd's) so all i'd have to do is swap them out, right?

 

Correct + mod the caddy as described in this thread

 

Perfect for his needs; and a decent price, too.

madeinusa1776: I suggest you grab one of these soon, as they tend to disappear quite rapidly, seeing as how so many retired/used Toughbooks are showing up on eBay w/o optical drives, and the new owners want to upgrade thei purchases with CD or DVD drives.

 

Just in case you didn't read the Buyers' Reviews:

" Seller should've indicated USED as the condition of the drive
I was very happy to receive my drive two days ago until I opened the box and found that the drive had signs of wear. Not only that, the body of the drive was dented towards the rear where the connection port it. Booo! Not good business. Had the description of the item indicated that it was used and pulled from another machine, I definitely wouldn't have bought it..."

Caveat emptor!

 

This would be a review of the drive, not the seller, the review is 10 months old! The Geeks are almost certainly not selling used pulls as new.
CAP