Can I replace an ide dvd burner with a sata?

The only real advantage you gain for a SATA DVD drive is air flow. The shift from the big, bulky IDE ribbon cable to the slim and round edged SATA cable is that it allows much more air to freely circulate in your system.

If you want a cheap way to go SATA without replacing the whole DVD drive, you can buy one these IDE to SATA converters.

Since (as far as I know) I have no problem with airflow, it guess it is easiest just to upgrade to a new burner which is dual layer..., and excuse my ignorance but a dvd burner has no data stored on it right? I loose nothing in the transference. It is not a strorage harddrive. AND is it just a straight plug for plug swapout? Thanks for your help.

Correct on all accounts.


And DVD burners are being very cheap. You can pick up a real good one for less than $30.

The advantage I see to recommending sata over IDE is all about the next system. If you were to build a new system, you'll be looking at all sata and then can eliminate the IDE all together. Optical drives can live forever, and you're starting to see mobos come out with the FDD missing. IDE will have the same fate, though it still has a little while before it vanishes to the tech antiquities museum.

Of course, your MoBo must be new enough that it has SATA connectors.

Keep in mind that if installing older OS's (i.e. XP), you need to install the SATA driver by hitting F6 during the install process and grabbing the driver off a floppy or whatever.

Thanks. That is true. I send to build new systems when I go for a new one. Therefor, this one, when I am through with it, will be put into service doing something totally different than it is used now for....like running my home theatre of something. BUT you are right. When I build my new system in about a year, it will be an all new singing and dancing SATA system. Who knows, by then it may be a ZATA system! Thanks.

Thanks, see reply above. The new one will be a completely new system in the months ahead. Thanks