Panasonic Dvd-Rw Cd-Rw Drive IDE UJ-820B

Hello,
In my CF-51 toughbook (MK1 LL) i have the standard dvd-r/cd-rw.

Can i upgrade it to the following ? ... Panasonic Dvd-Rw Cd-Rw Drive IDE UJ-820B

As i would like to burn to dvd ram. Does anyone have instructions on how to do so ?

Kindest Regards,
John

 

As long as they are both pata yes.
You may have to change it from slave to master in order to get it to be bootable. Some drives can be changed via software. I prefer to solder pins 45 and 47 together on the drive itself.

Solder pins to force master

 

Hello,
Do you know of any freely available software to do this ?

i cant seem to identify the pins to solder and i dont think that my soldering skills are good enough or even if the tip is fine enough for it.

Can someone draw where i should be soldering if i dare give it ago ?



Kindest Regards,
John

 

As it is a Panasonic Optical drive I think that you will find that is already boots as Master by default. All of the Panasonics I have tried have done so and not required any changes.

I use a Panasonic UJ-825B 4x Slim DVD Super MULTI Drive – Slot Type (OEM Model) in my CF-29 and it writes to all formats (CD-RW, DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM) and was set from the factory as Master.

 

Hello,
Oh right i see that's very interesting indeed. I think i'll give it a try first before i think about being clever.

I know that if i take the drive apart i can solder pins 45 & 47 internally to force master. But i was thinking about doing the mod to the flexible ribbon rather than taking the drive apart. (i think it's easier to take the drive apart though myself !) .

But as you say if its a panasonic drive it may well be set to master by default.

Kindest Regards,
John

 

I have seen Panasonic drives both ways. Master and cable select.
It depends on what brand of machine it came from not the fact Panasonic made it.Drives from an Apple are never set as master.
Try it first is your best bet.
The software is just a factory firmware that is master. Some companies have both versions posted. Or you may get lucky and someone uploaded the master version that they backed up from their drive.
I open the case and solder the internal pins.


image

 

Hello,

Just an update really...

I installed a Panasonic UJ-850 DVD-RW drive into the my CF-51 it wouldn't boot etc etc...

I was gonna do it with a UJ-820B but the UJ-850 was newer so i done it with that instead...

So i opened it up and soldered pins 45 &47 inside the drive... Put it back into the caddy and into the laptop and bingo ! - It's recognized and working a treat...

I was a little apprehensive at first in doing the mod but I'm chuffed to beans now that i have done it.

I note though that when you click on my computer or look within device manger for example etc it shows up as a DVD-RAM UJ-841S

Is that normal / correct ?

Kindest Regards,
John