SATA or PATA CD/DVD burner?

[Whoaru99]

I think my Plextor 716A (PATA) is slowly dying. It seems to be flakey on reading CD RW and I can't seem to get it to write CD RW or DVD RW - although it stll seems to write CD R or DVD R.

Should I get a new SATA drive, or stick with PATA?

If I get a SATA drive, will the CD ROM support mode from a Win98 startup/boot floppy still work?

BTW, mobo is Gigabyte 965P-S3 (ver 1, I think). I'm using the Jmicron controller for Raid 0 array of two SATA HDD, and have one more HDD connected to the Intel SATA controller - if any of that matters to answer the question.

 

[Peter]

If you want legacy mode from your SATA channel, then you need to set it so in your BIOS setup pages. With that done, yes, the SATA channel will look exactly like legacy IDE to all software, and work exactly like that.

 

[NoelS]

99,

I have 2 SATA DVD burners in one of my rigs and just bought 2 more. Cabling is thinner and performance so far has been quite good. At this point I'd say you can go either way with confidence.

Noel

 

[Sheninat0r]

It doesn't really matter either way, but I'd go SATA for the thinner cables.

 

[potato28]

PATA for less DRM problems if you play games. Plus I'm an old fashioned guy .

 

[corkyg]

I really don't see much difference because I would go EXTERNAL. The external case could be either. The link would be USB or FW.

 

[LOUISSSSS]

SATA for smaller cables and easier connectivity. IDE is last century's technology...

 

[corkyg]

Actually - SATA is also IDE. You mean PATA is yesterday's news. Best external is eSATA.

 

[nerp]

I plan on sticking with PATA for a while considering I don't want to give up my SATA ports for optical media. I'm liking my hard drives connected instead. I still have some round IDE cables that do the job well enough.

 

[MyLeftNut]

Originally posted by: corkyg
Actually - SATA is also IDE. You mean PATA is yesterday's news. Best external is eSATA.

Speaking of which, I've been looking for an external eSATA enclosure for a DVDRW drive. Know of any?

 

[corkyg]

For DVD/CD the pickings are pretty lean. Using Google I only found one eSATA DVD case - and it was out of stock. For DVD/CD I would by the complete external drive because of the audio connections involved. A related question was asked on Tom's Hardware:

eSATA

 

[NoelS]

MyLeftNut,

I did a Google search for eSATA DVD-RW external enclosure and came up short - one foreign dealer had something for $36... but not something I would recommend. But give Google a try, you might find something...

Noel

 

[Excelsior]

I just replaced my NEC PATA DVD burner with the Samsung 203B SATA burner because the NEC was having issues with my new Vista machine. So far I really like it. As the others said, its simply nice to use the tinner sata cables.

 

[MyLeftNut]

Originally posted by: NoelS
MyLeftNut,

I did a Google search for eSATA DVD-RW external enclosure and came up short - one foreign dealer had something for $36... but not something I would recommend. But give Google a try, you might find something...

Noel

Thanks, but yeah, I saw that one on ebay before. I was hoping for other options from other brands that usually do those external hd enclosures.

 

[radioouman]

I like the thinner SATA cables, but I couldn't boot off of my SATA Sony DVD burner. I had to installed an old PATA DVD-ROM to install my OS.

 

[sutahz]

It really doesnt matter which way you go. If your worried about how the inside of your case looks, sata of course. The price difference between pata and sata dvd burners on newegg is nill ($1 or $2).
Go w/ your gut.