Monday, May 23, 2011

Lenovo W520 and a Replacement Blu-Ray Drive

Getting a Blu-ray Writer



A Blu-ray drive is not a current option for the Lenovo W520. This deficiency can be alleviated by purchasing a slim drive after market. The Panasonic UJ-240 OEM SATA model is the cheapest one available at the moment. This is the bare drive capable of up to 6x BD-RE write and 8x DVD+/-RW DL. It's available from Amazon (paid link) and Ebay. To swap this with your DVD all you need is a screw driver and paper clip. Two rail guides and a bezel need to be transferred from the original. After that its plug and play.





The original Lenovo drive is a Matshita UJ8A0A which is manufactured by Panasonic so we can be confident of this replacement. Windows 7 automatically detects the new drive and finds the right drivers for it. Once you have replaced the bezels and installed it the only other reminder it's a blu-ray is the dark blue tray.

8 comments:

MR. G said...

Will UJ-135A Blu-ray(Slim Slot) or
UJ-225B Blu-ray (Slim Slot), Work?

I dont need the write option only read

Mike said...

If it's a slim drive I don't see why it shouldn't. The sizes are standard. You just need to transfer the bezel. Seems a waste not to use a writer though.

John said...

Do you think the UJ-240A(Dual layer Blu-ray writer) will work in place of the UJ-240?

Mike said...

John, I think they are the same drive with an updated model number. The size is the same and they're both tray loading.

armyofda12mnkeys said...

Just did this myself. Working great...

PS When you order that $55 Amazon drive, don't be scared that it doesn't come with a front bezel (front black part).

I was annoyed the pic had one but it didnt, until I realized you didn't need one since I could just swap the Lenova DVD drive into it like the Amazon comments said.

Unknown said...

will this uj-240 oem sata work in my lenovo

Mike said...

Robert, the size for a dvd/bd drive is generic on the ultrabay slot. It's just a matter of whether the bezel fits correctly. If you have an existing DVD drive you can remove its bezel and attach it to your new BD drive.

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