Best SATA drive?

[shyamt]

Hi,

I'm having a new computer built for me soon and looking for 2 DVD writers to buy..

I wanted them to be pretty silent, last a good few years, and if they have lightscribe it would be great. Want to buy from www.ebuyer.co.uk (that's important as where I'm getting the rest of my stuff from). Oh and have to be black..

Current I was looking at buying 2 x Liteon LH-20A1H-487C which would have been fine, but now I'm being told it's best to get a SATA drive.. I'm not building it, so if the only advantage is better cabling then it's not really going to make a difference, but if they are more quieter and better drives in general then itw ould be worth it.

What would you recommend?

Thanks.

[classfour]

Go to www.newegg.com and read the reviews; go to amazon.com and read the reviews. Look to the left side of this page, go to DVD Writers, and read the reviews.

That's what I do each and every time that I purchase a drive.

If you ask it openly in the forum: You will get an interesting mix of answers. Some have had problems with specific drives and have given up on them. Some have purchased and installed allegedly problematic drives and are either too proud to admit a mistake in their purchase - or the drives have performed flawlessly; and will suggest a drive that may or may not work for you. Everyone is trying to help, but you will receive many answers this way.

Me, I like Plextor drives. Are they trouble free? No, I had trouble with the first one that I bought. After I installed updated firmware that worked (two or so firmwares prior to this DID NOT), which required four months of very patient ownership - the drive is still going after three years (a feat that many drives cannot accomplish). It is only 8X on -R media, it did cost a ton compared to other drives when new; but has been quiet and reliable (as have NEC and Panasonic drives that I've owned).

I am testing an 18X Sony (NEC???) AD7170S alongside a Plextor 712SA in my primary Dell machine since May without problems, and am running a LiteOn SHM165H6S in my backup machine.

I've never lost a DVD burner - had one or two CD drives fail; but only burn at half the drive's rated speed - or the media's rated speed, whichever is less.

Your mileage may vary, Good Luck

[gadgetguy]

There is no advantage of a SATA DVD Writer over a EIDE DVD Writer. The main hardware of the drives are identical and either interface will provide the data at a fast enough rate for accurate burning. Having said that, there may be specific computer builds that would require using SATA over EIDE. It depends on the motherboard and what other devices are also installed. As for which brand/model to buy, classfour has offered sound advice.

(@classfour, every time I see your sig. I think, "Damn, I miss my CJ5")

[budz]

I'd suggest the following SATA DVD BURNERS the PIONEER 212 or the new SAMSUNG S203B. Newegg.com just got the SAMSUNG drive in the other day. If you look at their website there's a typo with the model number, it reads S202B but it is the S203B that's been confirmed at CdFreaks.com. Check out their thread on the drive.

I have the PIONEER 212 drive which is great. The only con I have for it is it doesn't enable bitsetting to dvdrom for DVD+R media.

[Rich86]

I have and run a Liteon16A7S sata dvd burner in my tower and it has performed just fine.
I believe Lite-On offers a 20x sata dvd burner now which I expect would perform just fine also.
Make sure your motherboard properly supports sata optical drives, as there have been some issues.
As someone else mentioned, burn speeds are related to the drive - not particularly the interface.
But I find reading/ripping speeds on the sata drive to be much faster than comparable ide optical devices.

[OneSickPup]

Looks like www.ebuyer.co.uk carries very few SATA models. Based on models in stock I would go with the Samsung SH-S203B and take your best guess on the other drive. Having two different models gives you better odds at meeting all your needs.

Good luck!

[redwudz]

I've been using a pair of SONY/NEC AWG170S-B2 SATA DVD/RW drives for about a week and they seem to work fine. About the only advantage over PATA drives is the smaller cables. One item I appreciate is that the face plates and trays are all black. The 'DVD' logos aren't in glaring white letters like some other drives.

[Krispy Kritter]

DVD drives have now reached a level or maturity where all of the name brand drives perform fairly equally. You won't find a clear cut "this drive is best". One drive may burn RW discs better, another may read DVDROMs faster, etc., etc., but overall they are all about the same. It comes down to brand loyalty and/or price.