Mac mini 2009 compatible internal dvd drive

bass-freq said:

The dvd drive on my 2009 mac mini has been out of commission for a few months now and I've been getting by with the optical drive in my laptop for CD imports and DVD rips. Now my laptop has died and I really want to replace the mini's internal dvd drive.

From searching it looks like there are a few models of drives that folks list as interchangeable but I wanted to see if any people here had experience to tell me whether or not they are actually compatible:

Panansonic UJ-875A
HL GA32N
Sony-NEC OPTIARC DVD RW AD-5670S

The drive I have in my machine now is one of the Optiarcs.

Basically I am looking for the cheapest replacement, provided there is not a certain model known for failing more than others. I'm aware that I could go with an external model, but I'm perfectly comfortable taking the machine apart (already did to upgrade the HDD and RAM) and I'm thinking I will probably sell this machine in the next year and figured this would increase the resale value.

Thanks in advance for any help you can provide

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bass-freq said:

I figured the Sony would work since it is the model I currently have, but I can't find that one for less than $60 online, while the others can be found in the neighborhood of $30. Not a big difference I know but I'm just looking to get the cheapest drive that will work.

Oddly enough, OWC says that their drives work with any 2005-2008 mini. I wonder if that's just a typo and they meant to include 2009 ...

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