Z12: Can DVD be readily replaced (to Blu-Ray)?

Hi guys,

Could someone tell me... is the optical drive in VPC-Z12 (and Z11 and Z13, I would imagine) the "standard" form-factor that most all laptops seem to use?

My Z12 has the DVD+/-RW drive in it, and I'd like to upgrade it to a Blu-Ray drive (in particular, the Sony BC-5500, as they're available quite inexpensively these days). From looking at some of the pictures of the internals of the Z12 here on the forum, the optical drive looks to be the right shape and size... but is missing the metal casing that I normally see on laptop drives. Is it perhaps just a matter of removing the drives from their casing, and they'll work in the Z12?

Thanks,
---Joel

 

It is a standard form factor, per say.
You can search for the relevant threads here (top right), but I recall VPC-Z users who too tried upping from the DVD-RW to the BD-RE drive, coming across proprietory mounts. That is, screw-holes not matching on the drive assembly itself.

And the VPC-Z uses 9.5mm high drives. The BC-5500 is a 12.7mm drive. Though yes they've become cheap these days. In case you've found the BC-5730 as well, that's a 12.7mm drive too, though case-in-point, that's one of the fastest lappie BD-RE drives in existance today.

The drive you are looking for is the UJ242a. EBay can help, but be mindful of what brand laptops they were pulled out of, or what brands they are intended for. Firmware inconsistancies mean the EJECT button on the keyboard of a VPC-Z will NOT work. Though the drive itself will (for burning and reading).

 

I replaced my DVD drive with the UJ242 and it works great including the eject button.

 

I want to downgrade the DVD-drive in my Z12 to a space-saving, chassis-reinforcing, weight-reducing absence of optical drive, ala MacBook Air. =(

(and use an external USB optical drive when I do need to work with optical media, which is never)

 

^Have you removed the optical drive and felt it? It literally weighs next to nothing. Seriously, it's got to be like .5 oz at the most.

 

Thanks for the the information guys; that helps a lot!

I'll start looking for a UJ242...

 

One other question, if anyone knows: What's the difference between the UJ242 and the UJ242A? On eBay both show up, but the "non-A" version is rather cheaper than the "A" version.

---Joel

 

They are the same, minus the casing differences. I recall the 'S' being there to signify shellessness, but I may be wrong there (my drive being one indicator).

 

All UJ242's fit inside the Z (can be fixed only with 1 out of 3 screws, top casing has to be stripped) and fit the original Z's DVD (UJ892) faceplate. They all work fine in the Z, but the Lenovo one is the ONLY one that works with the Z Hardware Eject button. The Dell Uj242 as well as the OEM Panasonic UJ242's do call themselves "BD-RE" instead of the "BD-MLT" drive that Sony's Eject button asks for when sending the eject command to the drive's firmware.

 

Ok, so if I buy a VPC Z1290, Z133, Z137, or Z139 a UJ242 drive will fit in it? I am trying to find a decent Z (I dont understand the numbering system at all) in Sony's outlet store, but can't find any on there with a blu-ray drive under $3000.

 

Yes, it should work.

 

Huh? As far as I can tell, the eject button works with everything, as long as it is the removable drive with the lowest drive letter. If I reassign drive letters, it tries to eject USB keys, virtual CDs, and pretty much anything that identifies as a removable drive.

 

I cannot confirm that. It just ejects the original DVD drive and BD drives named "BD-MLT ..." (also the older UJ232 drive "BD-MLT UJ232A" works) in and outside windows.

 

Hi guys,

I figured I'd follow up here...

I bought a UJ242 drive off of eBay ($160), installed it based on the other posts in this forum, and -- poof! -- it's working fine with PowerDVD playing back Blu-Ray disks.

My eject button no longer works, but given that you guys let me know this would likely happen, I'm not unhappy.

Thanks for all the help,
---Joel

 

Congratulations on your new drive!

 

Hey Joel, thanks for sharing, have a read here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...u-ray-drive-uj-242-result-12.html#post7219010

If it doesnt bother you much, would you mind to test the read/write speed of your drive? I guess you got the BD-RE Firmware version 1.0?
If you want to use your VAIO button for ejecting the drive tray, you can also have a look on my tool here:
http://forum.notebookreview.com/son...c-zs-s-buttons-your-purposes.html#post6949492

Cheers

 

If you can point me to the appropriate software to use for testing, I'd be happy to post the results.

Thanks!

---Joel

 

I'd recommend ImgBurn. This is my favorite burning software and it's for free. Just make sure you don't install the crapware it comes with and you'll be fine. There just put any BD-R in and go in the Menu "Mode" and "Write" or put another bluray in and chose "Read". On the right panel you will find the information about your drive and the media containing the "Media Descriptor Information" at the bottom. It looks like this:

RS/WS specify the maximum read/write speeds you get.

 

OK, here's the data from ImgBurn with a TRK 1-4x BD-R in the drive:

Looks almost identical to yours!

---Joel