SATA burners compatible with AHCI

[LoneWolf]

Well, I didn't plan on upgrading...but it became necessary. Long story, will try not to digress too much.

I have some family overseas whom I built a system for, with harsh climates and limited support in mind. Despite that, the Intel Badaxe mainboard in it is failing (likely due to problems with their electrical power, which has been remedied). Since it's running in a RAID-1 array and I need to use a similar controller, my BadAxe 2 mainboard will be shipped out to them. I've ordered a Gigabyte GA-EP45-UD3P to replace mine.

I don't know that I want to use the JMicron IDE controller on the board, and I'll probably save the JMicron SATA ports for working with eSATA, so that leaves putting new optical drives (if I get them) on the Intel ICH10R ports, which will be running either in RAID, or AHCI mode. The last time I did this, I had tons of fun with Pioneer's drives before giving up, selling them, and going back to IDE drives.

I know it's been awhile since then, and I'd like to see what results people have had with newer SATA burners. Has anyone found models that work reliably with AHCI mode on? Or, does it make better sense that I connect them to the JMicron SATA ports and run eSATA from the Intel ports?

Thanks!

[Ian]

I couldn't tell you. I have it disabled on the one computer at home that supports it and we run the Dells at work in "legacy" mode due to issues with Ghost.

[LoneWolf]

Maybe I'll just have to use the JMicron controller for them. What's your current preference on SATA burners? I've not been looking for awhile, Samsung was the last good choice I heard of, but I'm sure Pioneer and Optiarc have released new stuff since then.

[Ian]

If you're looking for a 20x DVD writer then Pioneer, Samsung and Optiarc are all good choices. I haven't really looked at the 22x DVD writers from Samsung and Optiarc so I really can't comment on them yet.

[LoneWolf]

I've had good luck with NEC prior to them merging with Sony's optical division to become Optiarc. I hear Pioneer's newest 20x is pretty loud at top speed, so I'll probably look at Optiarc, or Samsung. Thanks, Ian.

[Ian]

They're all pretty loud at top speed.

[LoneWolf]

Well, I just took a look. The 20x Samsung and Optiarc drives that got so many rave reviews have been discontinued. Their 22x replacements are quite different, and so far there's not a lot of enthusiasm. Apparently the 20x Optiarc was an NEC design, and the 22x is a LiteOn design. As for Samsung, the new model is supposedly having C2 errors when burning some CD's.

I'm hoping to latch on to a couple of OptiArc 7200's or 7201's, but few are carrying them anymore. I'll have to wait and see.

EDIT: Just found that mWave still has some AD-7200A's, for a great price ($21.90 each plus shipping) and ordered two. Probably the best price I'll find on a decent burner. Would have liked LightScribe, but it's not a deal-breaker.

2nd EDIT: Just found out (bonk) that those 7200A's are the IDE version. Fortunately, Google Checkout lets one cancel an order within 10min of placing it. Guess I'm still on the search.

[Ian]

Apparently the 20x Optiarc was an NEC design, and the 22x is a LiteOn design.

Sigh.. I was afraid that was going to happen with Sony taking full control of Optiarc.

[LoneWolf]

Yeah...so far it appears both Samsung and Optiarc's 22x burners are inferior compared to their 20x ones. Which leaves Pioneer, who I'm leery about after the issues I had last time.

*sigh*

[LoneWolf]

I found two 7200S drives on Ebay from the same seller, new system pulls, for a good price with free shipping. Figured it'll be awhile before the 22x drives have their issues sorted out. In the meantime, I've always been partial to NEC-designed drives.

Interesting that it's still pretty easy to find the 7200A IDE drives from resellers, but the SATA drives have all but disappeared (the few retailers that have them want exorbitant prices, assuming they have stock).

[Dartman]

I used to really like the true NEC made drives, very slow firmware updates but they always just worked excellent right out of the box.
My favorite I still have was the original 2500 that got a hack to include Dual layer burning before any other drive had it.
I also liked the 3500 quite a bit and dabbled with the 4500 then quit using them what with my BenQ's and Pioneers.
Sounds like the 7200 might be their last gasp before LiteOn takes over the world of working, cheap, but inferior drives.

[LoneWolf]

Well, I received the first 7200S, folllowed by a message that the seller had pulled the second drive from what appeared to be an identical system, and it turned out to be IDE.

I ordered an ASUS SATA DVD-ROM as my other drive (I really don't need two writers, though I generally liked NEC's mechanisms). I'll install both once the rom arrives. This will officially remove IDE from my system; the only legacy stuff left will be PS/2 and one floppy (helps for RAID drivers, BIOS updates, and fixing other people's b0rked boxes).

[Slyfox1]

I am using a Samsung 223F SATA drive with my Gigabyte GA X48 DS5 in AHCI Mode and no problems, I am not using the purple JMicron ports but I have 8 other Yellow ports and I only use 2 hdds ( Veloscipraptors) The Samsung is probably the fast ripper I ever owned, I use my BenQ drives to burn.

[vio_man]

I'm using Pioneer DVR-216 and Optiarc 7203S under AHCI (ICH10), no problems so far.

[SithTracy]

I had no problems with a Pioneer DVR-212 and Samsung SH-203B under AHCI on both an Intel P965 (ICH8) and AMD 790FX based system.

[LoneWolf]

Well, the NEC works great (actually, under RAID mode) with the ICH10R, and so does the ASUS `ROM.

I had the 212D's, Sith, and had all sorts of difficulties when hooked to a 975X (ICH7R) rig.