hi all, is it better to buy a sata burner or IDE?  the only bad thing i can see about a sata burner is that it takes up a sata port, leaving you with one less HDD.   is that the only draw back?

Get the SATA version.  Faster transfer and burning of data.  Most of your newer MB have 6 SATA ports on them and only 2 IDE ports, NOT 4 like the older ones.

mine has 4.  i have the asus A8n32-sli
 

Depends on what drives you plan to fit. As you have two IDE channels you may be better to use PATA, unless you plan to use more than 2 PATA HDs. Many of the latest INTEL motherbiords only have one IDE channel, or even none!
 
     Mike.

Very Good call.
 
The advantages of SATA drives are (1) Cables - Better air flow Big Advantage, and (2) Better performanance for simutaneous  (two optical drives) operation.
 
For a single Optical drive there is NO performance advantage 16X-20X is 16 to 20X ifor SATA, or PATA.
 
I have two sata ODDs, but my system only has 1 IDE channel, I use that for a removable.
 
I believe your system has 4 Sata chanels on the Nvidia southbridge, and 2 Sata ports on the Silicon Image 3132 Chip set.
 
I would tend to go with the SATA ODD for the cabling, with ONE Big CAVAT- pick a drive, then read reviews (at new egg), also go to club.cdfreaks and check that drive against your motherboard.
 
I've read problems with Nvidia / SiImage (also jmicron) drivers. Small percentage, But enought to recommend further verification on compatability.

If you go with IDE at least make sure to use round cables as ribbon cables can kill the airflow.

You can actually look at my system through the window and see every component because there arent any IDE cables in there.  That's a good thing.

Something to be aware of; SATA and IDE drives don't mix well. I have a A8N32-SLI Deluxe and had two IDE drives. I replaced one of them with a SATA drive and the computer wouldn't boot up. I had to disconnect the remaining IDE drive to get it to work. So far, I haven't found a way around this problem, though the cure might be out there someplace.

 
On the other hand, I ran a system with an IDE DVDRW and a SATA Combo drive for 2 years with no problems.  And contrary to popular opinion, not that many motherboards have 6 or more SATA ports.  That was a key feature for me- I bought a GA-P35-DS3R with 8 SATA ports.  But the majority of boards I looked at had 4, a few had 5.  Only maybe 10% had 6 or more.  Maybe there are more 6+ port boards once you start spending $200+ but I didn't want to do that.

As common, there can be two sides of many things. It could be that our hardware is made by different companies and in my case, its the different companies that don't get along, not the SATA verses IDE. So we have a split tie, one person has troubles, another doesn't. So its a potential problem to be aware of. Of course, for the person who only uses one drive, there is no problem.

I haven't had any problems with running IDE and SATA drives before, and to the OP get SATA.

Sata drives are wonderul.
 
Easier to install, no messing with jumper settings, easier cable managment.. etc etc.
 
Currently the most talked about SATA drive on the market is the samsung SH-S203B. I bought one my self, and couldnt be happier.

What RetiredChief said.
 
I've never had a problem with a SATA optical drive; have used three brands.  Spend an extra $6-$8 for the Retail (vs. OEM) version, in order to get all the software (including DVD decoder).