I'm looking at SATA for my DVD drive only because the IDE connection on the mobo I want has been described as being in a difficult to reach area. I've heard issues with SATA drives, and am wondering what the story is. FYI, I'd be running Vista 64 and a 150 gig Raptor, which I believe is also SATA

...one of the things I've heard about SATA in particular is that iTunes doesn't recognize it. Any truth in this? Would I just be better off all around getting an IDE drive?

You wont have any issues running a SATA dvd drive.

Also, currently the samsung SH-S203B is the best burner on the market. I have a couple my self and am very pleased with it.

JJBlanche:

I'm also considering replacing my IDE DVD writer with a SATA drive. My reasoning is to eliminate the IDE cable, it interferes with air control. I'm getting an external floppy for those rare moments I might need one, and the DVD writer I'm looking at is the ASUS DRW-2014L1T. It has great reviews. The only problem with you is that it seems to have some problems with Vista according to some. You might read the reviews to see if it affects you.

I really like that samsung SH-S203B, especially because several of the reviewers were running Vista Ultimate 64. I'm pretty sure that's what I'm going to be going with. Thanks for the input.

Its not the best DVD ripper out there (speed wise anyway, theres some firmware issues with css encrypted disks... it will read just about anything you stick in there.. even scratched disks that dont read in other drives).. however the burns it produces are nothing but top quality, even at 20x. also note that the drive isnt jet black, its more of a really really dark grey (almost black).

I don't care so much about ripping. In the past three years I've burned one DVD. I can probably count on one hand how many CDs I've burned in that time. I'm more concerned about reading.

I just got a samsung se-s204 external usb burner. It's burning coasters now, dual layer dvd+r. The burns have no errors during or after the burn process. The burned disks are not being seen by this drive or my old pioneer 107. I've tried 2 versions of nero 7 (one came with this drive), 4 and 8x burn speeds. I tried compilations (just data) and iso image burns. The burns are below the 8.5 gb limit (not an overburn).
The media is WinData 8x speed dvd+r DL disks. They were like 1/2 price compare to verbatium 2.5x speed.

This samsung has no problems burning 8x single layer dvds, with those burned disks being seen by this and other drives.
Any ideas?

My guess would be bad media. Also, what firmware are you running?

I'm not sure which firmware. I just bought it 2 days ago. How can I find out?

I think it's the media because I just bought some memorex disks and the 1st burn was A OK. I burned in 4x just in case.

However, the Nero 7 app had a checkbox that I turned on, under options, expert features. It was to enable all supported recorder formats for the burner. This may actually have been the root cause.

I'm gonna burn another windata dvd with these Nero settings and hopefully all will work.
Those windata disks are cheap, 20 disks for 15 and change. Got em at microcenter (they have a website too).
These memorex were 15 disks for 35 bucks. Freakin blueray disks are around 25 bucks for 1.. OMG!!

I really wanna see if I can burn an ISO image of a game thats 6gb to a dual layer, to be able to install from dvd (saving 6gb of hd space - keep that iso on the disk). Mounting is ok, but takes up space.

Thanks for the reply

It seems it was that Nero setting. The Windata disks burn ok. The iso game I just burned started like an original dvd when played back.
And oh so cheap too, these Windata disks.. 8x speed, 20 disks for less than 16 bucks!