Best "SATA" DVD- recorder - Recommendations please?

[devilking]

All I really care about right now is the ability to read & write protected CD/DVD, and also at least recognize & read scratched/smudged/older CD/DVD. Speed isn't priority, but it must be SATA. My new motherboard has no IDE ports, and there aren't many reviews for SATA drives out there. Thanks guys in advance.

[kush]

The only SATA drive that I know of in retail now is one by Plextor.. Too expensive IMO, however the other players should *finally* be releasing their SATA models very soon.. Thanks to the major chipset makers phasing out the IDE interface, ie: most new motherboards only having 1xIDE hookup now.

[Enygma]

I know of two reasons why you don't see many SATA optical drives.

It would seem that not all SATA interfaces are created equal and there have been incompatibility problems with SATA optical drives. Some people have bought Plextors SATA drive which won't work with their particular SATA controller.

Plus, SATA may be a faster interface but IDE has adequate bandwidth for optical drives.

[devilking]

I have a Plextor SATA drive right now. It's the PX-755SA. It stinks though. Many of my burns have been bad, even at the lowest speed and using Verbatim media. It's also a very slow reader, regardless of what any tests may show otherwise. It has a lot of difficulty reading protected discs and won't even recognize a scratched CD/DVD that most writers would. This is not Plextor quality at all. Any other ideas at all?

[redwudz]

That's an unusual MB to have no IDE ports, but you have two options, a PATA to SATA adapter or a PCI PATA controller card.

If you are short on PCI slots, the adapter would be better. Here's a few: http://www.cooldrives.com/sata-adapters.html Since optical drives are ATA 33/66 devices, there should be no problems with transfer speeds to the SATA 150/300 bus.

If you opt for a PCI PATA controller, make sure it will work with the slower ATA 33/66 devices. Many ATA 133 only controllers won't.

[TBoneit]

I went to put in a DVD burner in a new Dell that had no IDE interface. What were they thinking? Cheap!

Anyway, the computer wouldn't boot with an IDE card installed in the PCI slot. Something in the bios is my guess.

I suspect that the SATA to PATA might be more compatible.

Or use an external USB2 burner, then it is also portable.

[TBoneit]

All I really care about right now is the ability to read & write protected CD/DVD, and also at least recognize & read scratched/smudged/older CD/DVD. Speed isn't priority, but it must be SATA. My new motherboard has no IDE ports, and there aren't many reviews for SATA drives out there. Thanks guys in advance.

BTW, the LiteOn you have isn't one of their better efforts either. I have their Newer Super ALlWrite 165 and it runs rings around the 1633s. To be honest I have seen a couple of discs that it wouldn't read but neither would a DVD Rom drive or a Pioneer 109. I just returned them and got a new disc as a replacement.

I have burned some (20+) older Ritek manufactured Memorex 2.4 DLs with the new Liteon 16X drives the 165 and a 160 and they both burn the DL flawlessly as Data discs and as a DVD Decrypter Read ISO/Write ISo for backups. The Pioneer 109 never liked to burn the Riteks fwiw.

So bottom line why not just replace your older burner?

[FulciLives]

I can't believe someone bought a computer without IDE connectors. How stupid can you be especially since everyone is pointing out that there exists but one SATA DVD burner on the market LOL

Damn think before you buy!!!

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[devilking]

FulciLives,

I didn't have much of a choice. I got my computer through work. They have a corporate account with Dell, and we all got a free computer of our choice under a grand. Nice Xmas bonus, huh? Well any high-end computer they have comes with a stupid non-IDE port motherboard. If I wanted anything with any IDE ports at all, I had to go down to a Pentium 4. I know I said speed wasn't an issue, but damn. That's just way too underpowered. I tried a SATA to IDE conversion kit, but it doesn't work. The bios recognizes it, but when windows boots, it hangs. And it's weird because it hangs at the black screen with the windows logo and the horizontal progress bar moving back and forth. The SATA drive was from Plextor, so I assumed top notch quality anyways. I can't believe this is such shite. I know more SATA drives will be out soon, but there are other drives available now. Just do a search on the net. The problem is that I can't find any reviews or opinions on them. That's why I figured this would be a better place to get some feedback.

[jagabo]

Dell... any high-end computer they have comes with a stupid non-IDE port motherboard

Because the latest Intel chipsets and motherboards no longer support PATA.

[FulciLives]

Well perhaps an external USB 2.0 DVD burner is the way to go then ... for now.

- John "FulciLives" Coleman

[redwudz]

I think TBoneit might have hit on the easy solution: Use an external burner. For now look into a USB 2.0 external burner. They aren't nearly as convenient as an internal drive, but may be a lot easier to set up and cheaper than a SATA DVD drive solution.

A FireWire external case with a PATA burner is another option, if you have that interface available on your computer, or if you have the room in your PCI slots to add a FireWire card. FireWire seems to have less conflicts than USB 2.0, but if you don't have any other USB external devices, USB usually works well enough.

If you are looking for an external drive, the best may be to get a empty case and install a burner yourself. A site that has a few USB external boxes: http://www.xpcgear.com/enclosures.html They also have combo USB/FireWire enclosures if you want to have more options. There are many other sources for external boxes.

I'm afraid mainline SATA optical drives are a ways off at present.

[budz]

Newegg.com has a LITEON 16X SATA dvd burner.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827106047

[obs]

I have a Plextor SATA drive right now. It's the PX-755SA. It stinks though. Many of my burns have been bad, even at the lowest speed and using Verbatim media.

Hmm, mine works fine. Using Verbatim 16x +Rs (MCC004 - made by Prodisc), I'm getting 3.14 average PIE and 0.06 average PIFs (BenQ 822/Nero CD Speed to scan), burned at 6x.

Fuji TY +Rs (T02), 1.51 PIE; 0.02 PIF, burned at 6x (yeah, I like CLV).

Memorex CMC E01 +Rs, 25.52 PIE; 0.34 PIF -- higher error rate, but it's not like this is quality media.

RICOH R02 +Rs, 5.99 PIE; 0.07 PIF.

All burns are comparable when burned on a Pioneer 111 at the same 6x speed, with the exception of the Verbatim, which I haven't tried on the 111.