need new ide dvd burner for pc

[ghola]

Several years ago I bought an IBM thinkcentre M50 and added a Liteon dvd burner. Since then I have moved a few times, long story short the burner is not working. I tried to burn a backup dvd using nero and the same blank media which worked fine previously but got "burn process failed" messages and then tried just playing an audio cd and got a windows media player error message. this was at least 6 months ago so I don't remember the exact wording of the errors.
hardware profiles says "device is connected and working properly" so that's no help.
a friend installed the liteon for me as I am computer illiterate but have lurked and posted here for good advice.
here is a link to the burner:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106015

and here is my pc (with maxed out ram) xp sp3:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16883108249

I see fairly cheap dvd burners but they all seem to be sata? my liteon was atapi/e-ide.
I suppose an external usb burner is the easiest solution but have heard of problems with these.
I've seen some ide/sata adapters but know nothing about them- I will probably end up bringing the pc somewhere to have a new burner installed.
the lightscribe function is no longer necessary for me.
any suggestions?
thanks in advance.

[DB83]

I would have thought that new ide/atapi drives/burners are pretty scarce these days.

I did have a ide HDD but needed an adapter card to make that compatable to the SATA connection.

I would, in the first instance try other blank media such as Verbatim (not life series) and a different burning program such as imgburn.

[ozymango]

Well, that's a pretty antique system, Windows XP is just not supported by MS anymore, and putting in a new IDE DVD drive -- at a shop -- will cost you at least double in parts and labor than an external DVD burner will set you back. Basically there are so many things that could go wrong with this system, it's entirely possible the problem isn't even a bad DVD drive but a bad driver, failed update ... I can't recommend putting anything but a bare minimum $$$ into such a system, so along those lines, I'd have to recommend an external DVD burner.

External USB devices have come a *long* way since your PC was made, so I'd have no fears about the reliability of an external drive. I checked the specs on your PC and it does have USB 2.0 ("fast") ports, so you should be able to burn/read disks at decent speed with it. And you can take this drive with you when you upgrade, otherwise you're stuck with a useless IDE drive that nobody wants.

It's just not worth it taking this to a shop for a new DVD drive (especially if it turns out it's not a bad drive but something else, which just means more $$$ out of your pocket), just get an external DVD drive and if it doesn't work, then take whatever money you've got left and start saving for a new PC. You can get an external USB DVD burner for $30, and again worst thing is, if it doesn't work, take it with you and use it on your next machine.

Just go to Newegg and search for "External DVD drive," here's one possibility: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA9T03S16176&cm_re=external_dvd_driv...-278-_-Product

EDIT: Oh, and what DB83 noted above -- it could easily be bad media that's the problem. By "bad" I mean anything from seriously lousy discs to simply incompatible disks. Do a search in the guides/forums here for blank media recommendations; some brands of media are just terrible and some are decent but have issues with certain brands of burners. It'd be a cheap test to buy a few really good DVD blanks and try them with your burner, that'll tell you quick whether it's the burner or bad media.

[El Heggunte]

Here where I live, they stopped producing /selling brand-new IDE optical drives some years ago.

We can't even find PCI-to-IDE&SATA adapters anymore

Now people stuck with really-old machines depend on second-hand DVD burners.

[ghola]

thanks for the replies.
yes, it is an old system, but I really don't do anything cutting edge. it's not even connected to the internet... that's what my laptop is for.
I was curious about a way to connect a newer sata burner to my ide pc, but your advice is sound... I was just wary of getting an external burner if usb 2.0 is too slow (isn't it usb 3 now?)

[ozymango]

I was just wary of getting an external burner if usb 2.0 is too slow (isn't it usb 3 now?)

USB 3.0 is very fast and very lovely, but USB 2.0 is still decent for DVD burning. Frankly your system has so many speed bottlenecks (compared to newer machines) that the USB to DVD connection won't be an issue, it's already slow everyplace else.

But still before springing for a new drive, try:

1) Get some Verbatim DVD blanks from Office Depot or Target or whomever stocks them closest to you. Best Buy? Anyway, get some top quality blanks for testing purposes.

2) Install ImgBurn from one of the links (copy to USB stick from your laptop if your desktop machine doesn't have an internet connection), and try burning that way. ImgBurn can and will succeed where many other programs fail (and I've had Nero fail on me lots of times). There are good guides on ImgBurn and it won't take long to figure it out.

My gut feeling is that you've got some bad/incompatible blanks (or maybe they got overheated or something, who knows). Good luck!

[Kerry56]

You could get this PCI expansion card: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124006&cm_re=pci_sata_control...-006-_-Product

Then get any SATA optical drive you might want. If you'd like to stick with Lite-on, this one should work with this controller: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827106393&cm_re=lite-on-_-27-106-393-_-Product

The controller card shows to be compatible with Windows XP, which is the operating system originally found with your computer, and I assume is still on it.

Another option is to buy a used IDE/PATA optical drive on ebay. There should be a fair number to choose from. I'd look for an Optiarc 7200A, or Pioneer 115 or 116.
If you find one you're interested in, list it here in your thread so that we can check it. Of course, buying used is a gamble, but I've bought drives in the past from ebay with some success.

But I'd follow the earlier suggestions first. It may just be a case of poor media as they indicated and using Verbatim AZO discs might solve the issue.

[ghola]

I have tdk and hp dvds, don't recall which (or maybe both?) I last tried.
I will look into the verbatims.
thanks again for the replies.

[Kerry56]

Good luck. By the way, I forgot to mention that if you go the controller/SATA drive, you'd have to get a SATA data cable and a SATA to Molex power adapter as well. I'm pretty sure those won't be found in your current setup.

Using an external usb drive like this LG would be a lot simpler. http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136267

[ghola]

howabout this lg:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827136261

one negative review mentioned it no longer including the y cable?
I assume the y cable is for external power.

[Kerry56]

The Y cable should allow you to plug the drive into two separate USB ports. This is a make-do solution for powering an external optical drive, since a single USB port does not have sufficient current...at least according to the exact specifications of USB 2. Many people use external optical drives using only a single port with no problems.

I personally would only recommend full size external drives with their own power supply, but I'm probably in the minority in this. USB3 is an exception, since it does have enough power for external drives, but your computer does not come with USB3.

Also, slim drives, like the one you linked, tend to be more prone to failure. They just don't last as well as the full sized drives.

[ghola]

I do like the separate power supply of the model you linked.
B+H photo has a used one for $25... it comes with their full warranty.

[redwudz]

A USB 1 or 2 port supplies about 500ma or about 0.5 Amp @ 5VDC. A USB 3.0 port can supply 900 ma or about 0.9 Amp @ 5VDC.
But even with that, AFAIK, you still also need 12VDC power to a conventional external DVD drive.

[bevills1]

I've used PCI SATA adapters that work well once booted to Windows and booting some CDs. However, to boot to Windows install disk I had to slipstream adapter drivers into the Windows install boot disk using nLite. If you decide to go with external usb drive, you could get a usb 3.0 PCI card to gain the increased speed of usb 3.0.

[usually_quiet]

1) Get some Verbatim DVD blanks from Office Depot or Target or whomever stocks them closest to you. Best Buy? Anyway, get some top quality blanks for testing purposes.

If he does, they will be Verbatim "Life Series" DVDs which are of lesser quality than Verbatim's AZO DVDs. "Life Series" DVDs are just rebranded CMC products like a lot of other cheap, poor quality DVD media. Verbatim AZO media pretty much has to be purchased online.