Buying DVD RW

Hi I need a bit of advice please. I'd like to know what is a good DVD RW drive to get, Im guessing I want a multi format one DVD -/+ RW. But I dont know What SATA and IDE means on them. I have a SATA hard drive so should I match it up to the DVD Drive?

I need one to burn video and data too. I don't want to spend much, I saw this one on ebay It seems ok (I like Sony lol) and about my price range. Is It any good or could I do better?
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Sony-DRU-190s-...d=p3286.c0.m14

My System is a Dell D5000 P4, 3mhz, 1500MBRam

Thanks

I have one just like that except it was a 22x, and yes it burns video and data. I'm going to warn you that mine didn't come with a SATA cable though.

If your old optical disk drive uses a SATA cable then you could plug that right in to your new one, but if it doesn't then you could just go buy one of those inexpensive, plastic-bagged ones for a dollar or two. Don't go to Best Buy though, they'll be $5-$15 there...

i dun have any experience wit sony drives
but sony medium r complete crap (im talkin bout teh cd-rs)
they have a huge failure rate

so if u do decide to go wit a sony drive
i wouldnt follow suit wit buyin sony dvd-rw's

Lite-on drives are rated the best. If you have room for sata then buy that, else ide should be just as good. It doesn't have to match you hard drive, it does have to match what you have room for.

I've had bad luck with Sony OEM drives, but paying $20 for a burner there isn't much you can expect. The current one I use is Sony and hasn't had any problems for a few years now.

Not sure what version that drive is. DRU-8xx is their newest I think, so 190 is old or oem. I'm pretty sure you can grab a good Lite-on for a little more, with better reliability.

If you look at our buyers' guide, you'll see that we recommend the same optical drive regardless of system - Samsung SH-S223F

Not that there's anything wonderful about that particular drive, it's just that high quality DVD writers are a dime a dozen. You only really need shop around if you're looking for a BluRay burner.

Thanks for the info, that Samsung looks good.

I'm not familiar with that particular Dell, but I will say that, before you buy a new burner you may need to find out a few things, like:
- does the motherboard have an SATA connector.
- is there room for another optical drive in the case, or will you be replacing the one that's there?
- would it be simpler to install the same type (SATA or IDE) that was there, or just go SATA (SATA is preferable.)

Edit - it shouldn't matter to Windows (XP or Vista) which one you chose. I had problems trying to use older software with an SATA burner, but it should come with. (And it may have been partially a BIOS thing anyway.)