Area-51 R4, Blue Ray upgrade

Hopefully someone with a better answer will post.

Do you want it for ripping Blu-Rays or just playing them?

I don't think these kind of "laptop-ish" drives have a standard. I like 5.25-inch Optical Drives myself. Not sure why these large desktops moved away from using those.

If you must have Blu-Ray, I suggest a 5.25inch one in an external enclosure (especially for ripping). Or, I guess a an pre-made USB external laptop one would work for just playing BD.

Finally, pretty sure Area51-R2 had a blu-ray option. If so, maybe it would fit?

Have an Area 51 R4 and replaced mine with the following Blue Ray Burner purchased from Amazon - Panasonic UJ-267 9.5mm Internal SATA Slot Load Blu-Ray Writer for Unibody MacBook Pro and other Windows Laptops.

It is a form/fit/function replacement for the one shipped with the machine and works with the Dell Software Eject function:

• SATA interface, Slot-in loading, 9.5mm in height.
• Features: lets you read and write to Blu-Ray, DVD and CD formats. The UJ-267 can burn Blu-ray movies and data up to 6X Speeding, the Panasonic UJ-267 Supports BD-R TL XL 100GB
• BD-R :6X CAV ( SL), 4XPCAV (DL) BD-RE :2X CLV ( SL), 2XCLV (DL) BD-R TL 2-4X BD-R QL 2-4X BD-RE TL 2X

The current price is super expensive but was on sale for $74 when I bought 2 months ago.  Other equivalent models are listed but the keywords are 9.5mm super slim SATA.

Yes, just priced at $300 walmart, 190 Amazon, newegg 115 (china) and $80 on ebay from china.

If from china and if not working or does not fit: prohibitive shipping costs back to return.

I know that you want everything inside the Area51 and all pretty.

But the reality is that these laptop-ish optical drives are designed for very low-volume. You can tell ... when they pop-out they are already about ready to bend and/or fall-apart. :Indifferent:

Take it from someone who has ripped and burnt their share of discs over the years ... you want a good-ole 5.25inch burner/ripper from a top-tier vendor. I have an LG-BH10LS30. My guess is the Japanese stuff (like Panasonic) is good also. There are forums, and those guys can tell you what is best now-days.

Also, if you are going to watch actual (encrypted) Blu-Rays on the computer, think twice about buying it bare (without software).  At the very least, you need some way to update it's firmware and update the copy-protection-codes. Also, you need player software. Not even VLC plays real Blu-Rays (or exact burnt copies).

Finally, if you plan to burn disks as a way to archive files, think again. There are much better (faster, more reliable, etc.) ways to archive data now-days.

I will have to agree about the flimsiness of those 7.5mm bluray burners.  The UJ267 stopped working when I assembled it into the case.  I removed it and it works fine.  It seems the combination of vertical mounting and the tight fit of the housing contribute to stop the disk from turning.  I have a USB3 Asus bluray burner and I wanted to read and rip using the internal drive and write to the external and not have to shuffle the disk out and in.  Possibly the drive will work fine if I can lock it into place w/o using that plastic housing.

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@Joseph Stateson wrote:

I will have to agree about the flimsiness of those 7.5mm bluray burners.  The UJ267 stopped working when I assembled it into the case.  I removed it and it works fine.  It seems the combination of vertical mounting and the tight fit of the housing contribute to stop the disk from turning.  I have a USB3 Asus bluray burner and I wanted to read and rip using the internal drive and write to the external and not have to shuffle the disk out and in.  Possibly the drive will work fine if I can lock it into place w/o using that plastic housing.

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Yeah, they are pretty lame. Maybe find-out why it's flexing ... maybe plastic housing needs sandpaper or Dremel?

Hopefully, the Asus USB BD is a conventional 5.25" model. Thing is, BD-ripping can be tricky sometimes too, so I always use my best BD-Burner for both read-and-write. 

I gave up on that UJ267,  going to return it if I can.  However, I did get my original CA40N BluRay "reader" and DVD burner to work.  I ordered it at the same time as my Area-51 R4 but it was a 12.5mm, not the correct size and shipping back to china was slightly more than what I paid for it.  I put together a really cheap mount, I hate to post the pic but anyone who has a 12.5mm device you can look here for ideas.  The 12.5mm is about the size of the

retainer housing and if one uses table top bumper pads to offset it then it fits nicely, and only the back needs to be locked into position.  

A more elegant solution would be to obtain, ($23 USD) a replacement housing  and use a Dremel to cut out the top surface of the bracket leaving only the side with the 2 screw holes that attaches to the mount.

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EDIT]  Unaccountably, my UJ267 does not work with my Area51 but it works fine in horizontal position with an inexpensive external adapter.  By "does not work" I mean that DVDFab's media player and also their Bluray ripper, both lock up and cannot be terminated even with the task manager requiring a reboot of win10 as they will not close.  The same programs and disc work fine on any of  my USB2 or USB3 external optical drive and also the above CA40N in the vertical position in the case.  The adapter has 2 USB2 for power and an external eSata.  Since kit worked fine on Ubuntu, I ordered a cheap case that contains USB3 adapter built in for more versatile use.

Part is made by liteon and is PB60275.  Looks like you are in luck if THIS is actually the part.

My working but really crummy DIY for the CA-40N BlueRay reader but it does work unlike the more expensive UJ267 that had problem with vertical positiob

The inside of the cover (which I am not using)

I could post the cover on ebay but I suspect if there is a warranty problem I need to have all the original parts in the system to return it. That would involve removing my 3rd gtx1070ti and putting the original CD & case back in.

The CA40N works fine with that DIY bracket assembly, no problem with horizontal position, manual or automatic ejection. You might consider getting an external full size blue ray burner like the Asus BW-12D1S-U.  A horizontal tray is really needed for those small CDs.

Laptop optical drives come in two thicknesses - 12.5mm and 9.5mm

There is no standard to determine one over the other.

So you need to find a 9.5 mm blueray drive or get a caddy to mount the 12.5mm disk into.  The 2nd option is more likely to actually work.

https://www.amazon.com/ICY-DOCK-Rugged-Backplane-Mobile/dp/B008RPVA4A/

https://www.amazon.com/Internal-Blu-ray-M-Disc-Blue-ray-Optical/dp/B07BF7MF8K

Hello, thank you so much for replying to my post and helping me out.

This has been greatly appreciated

I have purchased it and should be on it's way soon.