SATA Optical Drives

moosey

Golden Member
Apr 18, 2001
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I've been looking for a good SATA optical drive (mostly a DVD burner). I see at Newegg they have the Lite-On and Plextor ones. The Plextors are way overpriced for me and I don't know how good the Lite-On is going to be. Anyone know where else I can look? I'm having a hard time trying to find them. I read Samsung released one but I haven't seen it yet.
 

imported_stev

Senior member
Oct 27, 2005
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The NEC 3540 and 3550 were very well-liked, but they seem harder to find nowadays. No other drives seem to have near as much Newegg buzz as these did.

EDIT: Oh, SATA Optical...sorry!
 

Auric

Diamond Member
Oct 11, 1999
9,591
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If you want good get a Toshiba-Samsung or Hitachi-LG. The SH-S183 is also available at Best Buy but it's currently o'erpriced almost as much as Plextor. May just wanna wait a bit for 'em to become more widely available or get an $8 adapter for the burner of your choice.
 
Mar 10, 2005
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hmm i looked a little while ago before buying the plextor

YMMV, but i never got the adaptor to work, and my ide drive died shortly after....
 

Don66

Platinum Member
Jan 5, 2000
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Just ordered the Lite-on SATA dvd recorder.
It's cheap, but Lite-on seems to get the job done.
Never had any problems with them.
 

QuantumPion

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2005
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I used to love lite-on but my last two drives just died spontaneously after about 6 and 8 months. I just said screw it and bought the samsung 183 at best buy. It seems pretty nice so far although I haven't burned much to test it yet.
 

ShellGuy

Golden Member
Mar 1, 2004
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The quick info i read on newegg no but those are dvd rom and cd rom read speeds.


Will G.
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
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Originally posted by: Seekermeister
Does SATA optical drives perform significantly better than IDE optical drives?
Does any SATA drive perform better than any IDE drive? There's no hard and fast rule, but simply changing the interface doesn't affect anything.
 

emilyek

Senior member
Mar 1, 2005
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Also if you are concerned about airflow, and you don't want bulky IDE cables everywhere-- or at all.
 

Seekermeister

Golden Member
Oct 3, 2006
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Originally posted by: emilyek
Also if you are concerned about airflow, and you don't want bulky IDE cables everywhere-- or at all.
Since there are round IDE cables now, they wouldn't interfere with airflow any more than SATA cables...well, they are slightly larger in diameter, but I don't think that would make even a degree of difference.
 

QuantumPion

Diamond Member
Jun 27, 2005
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In my experience round IDE cables are far worse then ribbons. There is no way to fold them or tuck them under components and they like to push other stuff around due to their tension. With ribbons you can squish them up any way you like.
 

Seekermeister

Golden Member
Oct 3, 2006
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I know that some people fold their ribbons lengthwise to reduce obstruction to airflow, does that folding interfere with data transmission in any way?
 

SexyK

Golden Member
Jul 30, 2001
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Originally posted by: Seekermeister
Then I guess the only reason to buy a SATA optical drive, would be if you ran out of IDE slots...yes?

There are more and more motherboards shipping with no IDE connectors at all, so SATA optical drives are a prerequisite in many cases nowadays.
 

Seekermeister

Golden Member
Oct 3, 2006
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Originally posted by: SexyK
Originally posted by: Seekermeister
Then I guess the only reason to buy a SATA optical drive, would be if you ran out of IDE slots...yes?

There are more and more motherboards shipping with no IDE connectors at all, so SATA optical drives are a prerequisite in many cases nowadays.

I guess so, but I'll never buy one. I'm still using AGP and floppy.

 

SexyK

Golden Member
Jul 30, 2001
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Originally posted by: Seekermeister
Originally posted by: SexyK
Originally posted by: Seekermeister
Then I guess the only reason to buy a SATA optical drive, would be if you ran out of IDE slots...yes?

There are more and more motherboards shipping with no IDE connectors at all, so SATA optical drives are a prerequisite in many cases nowadays.

I guess so, but I'll never buy one. I'm still using AGP and floppy.

You'll never buy one? I somehow doubt that. Sooner or later you'll be forced to switch, like it or not. That being said... I'm curious why you're not still using a 386DX??
 

Seekermeister

Golden Member
Oct 3, 2006
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You'll never buy one? I somehow doubt that. Sooner or later you'll be forced to switch, like it or not. That being said... I'm curious why you're not still using a 386DX??
You are free to believe what ever you wish, but that changes nothing. I make my own choices about what I want and what I do not. The only thing that causes me to choose otherwise, is if the price of what I want goes too high...like a high end AGP video card. But, that doesn't mean that I will ever go to PCIe, unless they make a motherboard that I want with it. Judging by the current trend, that is never going to happen.
 

bamacre

Lifer
Jul 1, 2004
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Dell is using, almost exclusively, SATA optical drives in their systems. E520, E521, 9200, xps 410, almost all new models of desktops (with the only exception being the Precision WS's) are using all SATA optical drives. This should dramatically help lower the cost of consumer after-market optical drives.
 

n7

Elite Member
Jan 4, 2004
21,281
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SATA runs each device on its own individual channel, not to mention the nice slim cables.

That's huge for people with many HDDs or multiple DVD burners!