Whats the difference between sata/ide for DVD?

[Steven P. Administrators]

Surely there is no difference between having the same model DVD-RW drive in IDE or SATA because the ports are already quicker than the speed of the drive right?

Or am I missing something.

I ask because I'm building a new PC and am considering using a spare IDE DVD-RW drive that I have for it (same model as a SATA drive in another PC).

[Coldgunner]

I didn't think it really mattered when it comes to optical drives, mainly because of the low speeds not stressing the parrallel bus too much. Only thing I can think of is SATA doesn't have a master and slave setup like IDE needed. I guess you can get more devices on the SATA bus, though I'm not sure about that.

I think you should be ok using your old drive.

[Mul.]

Really there isn't that much of a difference. I just find SATA cables much easier to manage inside the case. Though I've built a few rigs, who's motherboards wouldn't play ball with IDE equipment out of the box but I couldn't say that that's likely to be an issue.

If you've got a spare DVD-RW doing nothing, I'd just try it anyway. Can always add a SATA one to the spec if the old one isn't working properly.

[hjf288]

Better/cleaner cable management..

[TEX4S]

exactly right -

there is no performance difference,

but smaller cables and no need to worry about master/slave anymore are good reasons to get SATA

But also it might depend on the # of SATA slots you have - I have 6 on my mobo and currently 5 are being used w/ 2 HDD and 2 SATA optical drives, and 1 SATA slot is used for the e-SATA slot on my front case panel...

but ya gotta like the small cables

[Argote]

Better/cleaner cable management..

That and the better airflow inside the case (due to the thinner cables) are about the only advantages I can see since CDs/DVDs are slower than either bus and I don't believe NCQ can be used for CDs/DVDs.

[+PeterUK MVC]

IDE drives don't work to well on newer boards that try to give you legacy IDE support by Jmicron.

[Steven P. Administrators]

Thanks for the responses.. I'm not too worried about airflow since the IDE port is located on the far right of the boards edge, and I can easily flatten the cable up along the side of the case.

[Brave (V)ido]

i think IDE is better than SATA in DVD , in fact there is no performence difference, but if u use Herin's boot CD too much , u should prefer using ur IDE one . or u have to use a new version of H.boot which makes some troubles in Norton Ghost .

I think ur HDD will be SATA so u already won't have any problems with Master and Slave

[+shift. MVC]

i think IDE is better than SATA in DVD , in fact there is no performence difference, but if u use Herin's boot CD too much , u should prefer using ur IDE one . or u have to use a new version of H.boot which makes some troubles in Norton Ghost .

I think ur HDD will be SATA so u already won't have any problems with Master and Slave

Not quite sure what you mean by that. Maybe you should clarify your post :)

In every situation that I can think of SATA is preferable over IDE in terms of max speed as well as maximizing airflow / aesthetics.

[highonsnow]

SATA is the replacement for IDE, it's just a case of newer equipment complying with the de facto standard. It's often you'll find motherboards with S-ATA but no IDE interfaces, so it would not make sense to produce further batches of IDE interfaced drives (be they Magnetic or Optical).

[nomis_nehc]

Someone will need to verify this, but I read once that SATA DVD drives will not cause your system to "hang" momentarily when you insert a disk in. It's such a minor annoyance, but if I were to choose between the two, that's enough to make me go SATA.

[lars77]

If you have a spare DVD-RW drive with an IDE interface, just use that. Performance won't be any different. (this is, assuming you have an IDE port on your motherboard)

OTOH, if you were buying a new one I'd say go for an SATA DVD-RW. Current motherboards barely have any IDE ports as it is, SATA is where the future is at. eg: My computer built 2 years ago has like 6-8 SATA ports but only 1 IDE port..incidently connected to a old DVD-RW drive, heh.

[Zanaffer]

IDE DVD-RW drives are preferable in the builds that I do. Most of the time, it makes no difference, aside from which cable you're using, however I've had issues with motherboards with NVIDIA chipsets and SATA DVD drives. In short, it's like this: NVIDIA MediaShield storage driver + Windows (XP or Vista) + SATA DVD Drive = Random BSOD crashes.

I'm not sure if NVIDIA has fixed their driver properly yet, and I don't feel like testing it on builds I do, so if there's a NVIDIA motherboard involved, an IDE DVD burner is mandatory for my builds. However, if it's an Intel chipset board, then I haven't had any problems with the SATA DVD drives, so I will use either as the customer prefers.

[lars77]

NVIDIA MediaShield storage driver + Windows (XP or Vista) + SATA DVD Drive = Random BSOD crashes

Technically you don't have to install MediaShield, right? In the NVidia installer you can uncheck that so it doesn't get installed, & just install the bare storage drivers. (though that won't stop the user from accidently installing them later on!)

Either way, that's a good point. Reminds me of all the BSODs I used to get back when I accidently installed NVidia's firewall with the nForce ethernet drivers..good times. :/

[Shadrack]

Better/cleaner cable management..

Exactly my thought. My MoBo came with 8 internal SATA ports, so there are plenty for the interface. Also, the interface is cheaper to manufacturer. Most motherboards can detect SATA devices faster than IDE. My motherboard allows me to disable the IDE channels all together, which is another boot-up time saver.

I would also feel more confident in my burns working out ok even when my computer is under a high load. Although, with modern computers these days it seems like that just shouldn't ever happen and if it does it is the drive or burner software's fault.

I dunno if there are some clear cut reasons why. But I'd choose an SATA drive over an IDE one anyway.

[jwjw1]

Technically you don't have to install MediaShield, right? In the NVidia installer you can uncheck that so it doesn't get installed, & just install the bare storage drivers. (though that won't stop the user from accidently installing them later on!)

Either way, that's a good point. Reminds me of all the BSODs I used to get back when I accidently installed NVidia's firewall with the nForce ethernet drivers..good times. :/

I'm not a real fan of Nvidia SATA/IDE Controller drivers either...I prefer using Vista's Default drivers for my SATA HDD's.

[Denis W. Veteran]

Better/cleaner cable management..

This. I hate having a thick cable travel up 3/4s of the case just to reach an optical drive located at the top of the case.

[Shadrack]

Someone will need to verify this, but I read once that SATA DVD drives will not cause your system to "hang" momentarily when you insert a disk in. It's such a minor annoyance, but if I were to choose between the two, that's enough to make me go SATA.

Not the case on my system with an asus dvdrw.

[Andrew Lyle Global Moderator]

I think it is for cable management, and the fact IDE might be history soon. So everything is going to smaller connectors, aka Sata.

[shakey_snake]

Someone will need to verify this, but I read once that SATA DVD drives will not cause your system to "hang" momentarily when you insert a disk in. It's such a minor annoyance, but if I were to choose between the two, that's enough to make me go SATA.

How is a SATA interface supposed to make the disc spin up to speed instantly?

That doesn't seem logical.

All Optical disc drives need start spinning the discs before reading or writing.