To SATA or to IDE

mikeny

Distinguished
Aug 6, 2006
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Is there a difference between a SATA DVD burner and a IDE DVD burner. I noticed that the prices have plummeted on SATA DVD burners. I have a 20x Dual-Layered Lite-On w/ Light Scribe DVD-RW and was going to save it when I build my new i7 gaming system. I'm not looking to save money on this (the burners) but was just wondering if there is any noticeable difference. My Lite-On DVD-RW was $20 (w/ mail-in-rebate) and hasnt given me any trouble. I see a SATA DVD burner for the same price.
 

Zorg

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May 31, 2004
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No performance difference, but you keep the IDE (PATA) free for old drives. Also the newer southbridges don't include a PATA port so you will be running off the Jmicron etc. controller. Sometimes that can be problematic.

If you have the PATA already, then use it. But if you are buying one, buy a SATA.
 

Devastator_uk

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Jan 11, 2009
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SATA doen't offer any performance benefit or anything like that for optical drives, the main advantage is the cable is better for airflow and cable-management. If you already have a decent IDE one then I'd just stick with that and replace it in the future when Blu-ray is worthwhile.