ok, maybe I can explain - need a new cd/dvd drive. almost everything available to purchase now is sata, my old cd drive is IDE, but my hard drive is sata so I know my motheboard is capable of sata. Can I put one of these sata cd drive in my computer (hope that is plain enough) thanks

If you have an open SATA port you can add the SATA optical drive.

But, if you are using it to burn audio CD's at a low speed (e.g. my standard is 8X) you will need another PATA (IDE) drive.  SATA drives will only go down to 16X and that can be a problem with many older Audio CD players (I have a 5 disc JVC CD player in my stereo system rack and it will skip or not play audio CD's burned at 16X).  

I found one at Tiger Direct (also owns CompUSA).  
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/searchtools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=7198698&csid=

If you go with another PATA drive, make sure you set the device type the same as the old one.  Most commercial PC's use "Cable Select" rather than Master or Slave.

Check your computer manual. Might have two SATA ports (4 units allowed) but have to change a jumper on the motherboard because you can not use both the IDE and SATA at the same time if already having another one (which you do with the harddrive) on the motherboard (??). Unless your harddisk is alone and you make the DVD a slave drive on the already harddisk cable SATA. Well, I think I have both in my computer (older) but not sure unless I take a look at it. Perhaps nothing has to be changed also on the motherboard but checking in the computer manual to see should always be done.

Usually, there is no distinction between hard drives and optical drives in SATA ports on the motherboard.  You don't daisychain SATA devices like you do PATA (IDE) devices with more than one device on a data cable.  Each SATA device has its own separate data cable between the device and a SATA port on the motherboard.

I have an older Dell Dimension E510 desktop with two SATA ports and a PATA port.  As it came from the factory, the Optical Drives were setup on the PATA port and the hard drive was connected to one SATA port with a second unused SATA port that was intended for a second hard drive, but I've used that port for a SATA optical drive without problems.  My DAW system uses an Intel motherboard and the SATA ports on it can be used for either hard drives or optical drives.  It has a PATA port on the motherboard that I used initially but I have since relocated the PATA optical drives to external USB enclosures and now have two SATA optical drives installed internally.

fireberd


...
But, if you are using it to burn audio CD's at a low speed (e.g. my standard is 8X) you will need another PATA (IDE) drive.  SATA drives will only go down to 16X and that can be a problem with many older Audio CD players (I have a 5 disc JVC CD player in my stereo system rack and it will skip or not play audio CD's burned at 16X).  

...
 

It might be difficult to check the specs of some of these drives, but this LG GH24NS70 has a spec sheet on LG's website that shows CD writing at 4x, 8x, 16x CLV, 24x, 32x, 40x PCAV, 48x CAV.

The lower burn speeds for that drive are only for DVD, not CD.  It actually states CD-R 48X but that is the maximum speed.

I've been all over the web, spent hours searching for optical drive specs and I can't find a SATA drive that will burn CD's lower than 16X.

I have a bank of 5 USB connected PATA drives (each drive in a separate USB enclosure) and they will all burn audio CD's at 8X.  They are all TSST (Samsung) CD/DVD burner drives.  With them each connected via USB, I can burn up to 5 audio CD's at a time (I use Nero). 

fireberd


The lower burn speeds for that drive are only for DVD, not CD.  It actually states CD-R 48X but that is the maximum speed.

I've been all over the web, spent hours searching for optical drive specs and I can't find a SATA drive that will burn CD's lower than 16X.

I have a bank of 5 USB connected PATA drives (each drive in a separate USB enclosure) and they will all burn audio CD's at 8X.  They are all TSST (Samsung) CD/DVD burner drives.  With them each connected via USB, I can burn up to 5 audio CD's at a time (I use Nero). 

If by "that drive" you mean the LG drive I posted just above, I copied the info for my post from the LG spec sheet for CD-R writing for that drive.

I went to the LG site and there was nothing there about CD-R other than the maximum 48X.  I didn't see any spec sheet.  If this is the case, it's great as I've been all over the internet and could not find anything other than 16X.  Same on the Dell users forum, we have not found any drives posted on that forum that would burn below 16X.

This appears to be a new drive as the brochure shows "April 2011" for a print date.

The link I posted is the spec sheet from the LG website, accessed by the literature and downloads link from the product description for that drive. On the first page, it looks like a glossy brochure that shows the various maximum performances, but the 2nd page has the specs, c.f. TRANSFER RATES - WRITE --- CD-R 4x, 8x, 16x CLV, 24x, 32x, 40x PCAV, 48x CAV. Yes, printed April 2011. Looks like it has been on Newegg for a while.

Here's something interesting: If I go to www.lg.com, I don't see any current internal drives. But under www.lgsolutions.com, which is where newegg points, it's easy to find that drive and the spec sheet.