Replacing DVD +/- RW Drive

[barlowc]

My 7.5 year old Dell XPS desktop has a Philips DVD8801 DVD +/- RW drive in it that seems to have failed. It's an older ATA drive that is connected via a ribbon-style data cable.

It there any reason not to replace it with an SATA drive?

I have 3 available SATA connectors on the motherboard and an unused power connector of the appropriate type. I can get an ASUS DRW-24F1ST from Newegg for $16 shipped and it seems to get good reviews.

 

[Towncivilian]

Go for it, no reason to stick with a PATA drive. Make sure the drive has the latest firmware from the manufacturer's website once you've installed it and you should be good to go.

 

[lugNutz]

PATA!? I didn't know those still existed...You can probably find some if you go garbage picking. lol

SATA is better overall, and cheap. Go for it!