Buying a DVD burner - Hopefully Narrowed Down

[Deathstrike]

I've read this topic (https://forum.videohelp.com/topic348024.html) and it seems that nobody could argue against getting these drives:
IDE- Pioneer 115D - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827129018
SATA- Samsung S203B - http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151153

I currently have 200+ Taiyo Yuden TY02 8x -R and it has been burning crappy with my LG drive that only seems to like +R media. I know that they are not valueline because I paid for the premium ones at a respectable site. I've seen the consensus about the 115D, but I do not have any extra IDE slot to hook up an IDE drive. I could probably buy a cable so I can attach more than 2 IDE components if it is better than any SATA drive. I'm leaning towards a SATA drive since I have so many unused ports right now, but if the IDE drive is better, I would consider it. Also for the SATA drive, I've noticed that there were newer versions of the drive, an S203N version (http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827151154) which also has an IDE version.

I'm very lost about which drive I should get to make use of my Taiyo Yuden media that has been sitting there for quite a long time. Thank you for your time.

[budz]

If you want a SATA DVD BURNER then get the PIONEER 215 which is now available at Newegg.com for $30.99. From what I've read at Cdfreaks.com the PIONEER 215 drive is a great burner. The SAMSUNG S203B drive is also a good drive. I own 2 of them and I like using hacked firmware that's provided by C0deKing and using MEDIA CODE SPEED EDIT.

FYI for SATA dvd burners if you have a motherboard that has the VIA sata controller chipset the drive will not work correctly as well as Jmicron chipsets. You'll then have to get a PCI SATA CONTROLLER card that has the SILICON 3112/3114/3512 chipset in order for a SATA dvd burner work correctly.

Motherboards with the INTEL ICH7/8/9 chipset controllers will work fine. NVIDIA chipset controllers will only work correctly as long as you use the latest driver from their website, not the drivers that came from the motherboard cd disc.

You'll also have to disable RAID in the motherboard bios. Set SATA to IDE in the motherboard bios as well.

[Captain Satellite]

The guys here directed me to the IDE- Pioneer 115D and I couldn't be happier. Easy swap, about five minutes total and it burns the TY02 media I've been using.

budz has the knowledge and I'm pretty sure he chimed in to help me in my selection. At 30.00, I must admit I didn't fret over the choice too much.

[Deathstrike]

http://www.asus.com/products.aspx?l1=3&l2=11&l3=307&l4=0&model=1179&modelmenu=1

This is my motherboard. Right now I have two hard drives in Raid 0 using the Intel P965 chipset. When you say that I have to disable RAID, does that mean that I cannot install any SATA burners because my RAID is on?

[redwudz]

You usually can't have RAID enabled and use SATA optical drives on the same motherboard. But you could install a PCI SATA controller card.

[Deathstrike]

So that's the case. Can I use the JMicron controller then?

It says that it provides another two Serial ATA connectors for RAID 0, 1, and JBOD functions. I'm hoping that this controller does not only do storage.

[budz]

So that's the case. Can I use the JMicron controller then?

It says that it provides another two Serial ATA connectors for RAID 0, 1, and JBOD functions. I'm hoping that this controller does not only do storage.

Nope you can't use the JMicron controller because a SATA dvd burner will not work correctly. I did mention this in my first post. As redwudz & I mentioned you'll have to use a PCI SATA CONTROLLER. It will have be one that uses the SILICON 3112/3114/3512 chipset. This is a well documented subject at CDFreaks.com regarding SATA DVD BURNERS especially when the SAMSUNG SATA S203B was released.

[Deathstrike]

Sorry about that. I was not getting the terminology.

So for the Intel ICH8R chipset controller on my board, I have to get rid of the RAID 0 Hard Drives before I can use it for a SATA burner is what you're saying? The JMicron chipset controller is useless in this case because it only deals with RAID Hard Drives exclusively?

If so, could you recommend me a PCI SATA CONTROLLER card that will do they job?

Sorry for the trouble.

[budz]

Sorry about that. I was not getting the terminology.

So for the Intel ICH8R chipset controller on my board, I have to get rid of the RAID 0 Hard Drives before I can use it for a SATA burner is what you're saying? The JMicron chipset controller is useless in this case because it only deals with RAID Hard Drives exclusively?

If so, could you recommend me a PCI SATA CONTROLLER card that will do they job?

Sorry for the trouble.

Yes you would have to get rid of the RAID before you can use it with a SATA DVD BURNER. The INTEL ICH8 is fine to use with a SATA DVD BURNER.

The JMicron chipset is not compatible with SATA DVD BURNERS and yes it is only used for hard drives for RAID.

Here's a SATA PCI CONTROLLER CARD w/SILICON IMAGE 3114 CHIPSET, $17.99:

http://www.geeks.com/details.asp?invtid=SY-SA3114-4R&cat=CCD