Well, it’s finally here!! Although the 60gb ipod hd was a good addition (yet to install it), the one item I had been waiting for in anticipation is the dual layer DVD burner/RAM drive. Thanks to src_dvd on this forum (.(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)), I got the UJ-832s delivered to my doors in two days from Taiwan. What follows are snapshots of the 1hr installation of the new drive. My old drive is the UJDA755. I have tested this baby and it is working flawlessly. I have yet to backup my hd so didn’t replace the hard drive yet - so no feedback on that yet.
Thanks to all those before me that made this possible including, but not limited to, gr00veyone.
PS. bluetooth is on the way - sometime next week. Now that I know how effortless it is to take the tr apart, I’ll probably attempt to put in the hd and bluetooth by the end of next week.
[quote author=“delhaze”]Can you give us details of how you purchased the 832 drive through ebay, and the pricing please
I got the UJ-832S through src_dvd, who frequents this forum. We corresponded over email and he mentioned that I can either pay him through paypal directly or close a bid on ebay (taiwan). I did the later and paid through paypal. With FedEx shipping it came out to 350USD, cheaper than the 438 (without shipping) sony is charging for a much more inferior product (uj822).
Honestly, I was rather skeptical buying from a foreign ebay site, but it worked out fine. Shipping was super fast (two days). Last I checked there were 17 units left, so plenty to go around:)
[quote author=“Mike”]can someone confirm this HDD is compatible with the T1?
if so does anyone know a site that sells and ships to UK?
oh and how hard is it to disasemble the T1 to reach the HDD?
Thanx
Not T1, but I just put a 60gb ipod toshiba HD (MK6006GAH) into my TR3A without any problems. It took less than 20 min to open the TR3A (my second time doing it) and replace the 40gb hdd that was in there. I turned it on afterwards and I got some nonsensical characters on the screen. I then put in the vaio recovery disc in and things started to get going. The recovery wizard is working as we speak. From the looks of it, it appears that the 60gb ipod hdd is compatible with the sony tr3a.
One thing remains for now .... internal bluetooth:)
Hello, sorry im new to this site. I have a tr1 as i am reading this, this DVD drive cannot be intergrated in to my laptop? is this correct or am i reading it wrong? Many thanks.
[quote author=“chrisking1979”]Hello, sorry im new to this site. I have a tr1 as i am reading this, this DVD drive cannot be intergrated in to my laptop? is this correct or am i reading it wrong? Many thanks.
Not sure what gave you that impression, but from all that I’ve read, the TR series vaios are quite similar in their components. Having said that, there are differences even within a given TR series in terms of HD, DVD drive etc. manufacturers. So, it’s important to check under device manager on your TR to see which HDD/DVD drives you have. Common ones (maybe only ones) for HDD are Hitachi and Toshiba (my TR3A has a toshiba). As far as I know, most DVD drives are made by Panasonic (mine used to be a Matshita UDJA755).
Long and short of it is that AT LEAST the size of this DVD drive I just installed (Panasonic Matshita UJ832S) should be compatible with the TR1. But obviously, you need to check your own laptop before you purchase anything. Hope this was helpful.
Many thanks for the information, i currently have a Matshita UJDA745. So in theory i could upgrade. Ive never taken a laptop apart before. was it a simple install? was it just plug and play? any advice would be much appreciated.
[quote author=“chrisking1979”]Many thanks for the information, i currently have a Matshita UJDA745. So in theory i could upgrade. Ive never taken a laptop apart before. was it a simple install? was it just plug and play? any advice would be much appreciated.
Opening up the tr is quite simple in my opinion (and thanks to the work of grooveyone on this forum and others—look at the stickies for the internal bluetooth and wirless chip upgrades by gr00vey0ne). As far as installing the dvd-ram and HD drives are concerned, it was plug and play. No drivers needed. Obviously, you’d need to back up your stuff prior to the HDD replacement. I chose to do a system recovery with the vaio recovery dvd. I guess there’s also the option of doing a ghost image of you old hard drive and restoring it onto the new HDD.
I picked up a new MK4006GAH for $145 + $7 shipping from http://www.teksale.com - works great. they also carry the mk6006gah for $200, but I didn’t want to spend that much
[quote author=“chrisking1979”]Many thanks for the information, i currently have a Matshita UJDA745. So in theory i could upgrade. Ive never taken a laptop apart before. was it a simple install? was it just plug and play? any advice would be much appreciated.
I did a step-by-step for this at . Admittedly my “here are the screws” artwork wasn’t quite as nice as gr00vy’s. Pay peanuts, get monkeys…
hi there,
i saw in on your desktop pictures of a weather updater which is veryyy cooool. which one is it? can you enlight us?
many tnx
ALso I can not find in ebay any panasonic UJ drives..
The weather and digital clock are Konfabulator widgets. As for the DL DVD drives, I’m not sure what’s available at this time. Try contacting the same guy I was dealing with (src_dvd) (you can search the forum) and see if he may have any left. Definitely a worthwhile investment. Just came back from holidays in London, UK and tooks tons of pics and video and was able to burn and leave dvds of everything for family and friends there.