I have a TS-H652L which is IDE and a DVD burner... try looking for one of those.

I have good experience with LG. GSA-4165/6/7 or H10 and newer are super multi (dvd+, dvd-, dvd-ram). Also they are very common and cheap.

Plextors were good and expensive, but after certain point in time, they just started selling OEM drives for 3times the price.
I think last true Plextor is PX-760A and PX-755A, you can say by checking for support of their technologies like GigaRec etc.

I have px-708A in one my retro PCs and I have not noticed any problems with reading any disks I have burned with my main PC or any original games I have.

I have had best experience with LG burners, all mine still work while all other brands I have, have turned problematic in some way (CD works, DVD not, the other way and burned discs not working well or at all in other devices, even with slow burn speeds)

I would stay away from the LG Lightscribe drives.
Have two at home where both of these drives' DVD component failed.
I have also come across a couple of older drives where the tray doesn't want to open (gets stuck).
I've read that the drive belt gets worn out over time. Replacing it should help.

jesolo wrote:

I have also come across a couple of older drives where the tray doesn't want to open (gets stuck).
I've read that the drive belt gets worn out over time. Replacing it should help.

It is worse if the drive is left unused for a long time. Mechanical parts get stuck to each other, belt becomes dry and brittle.

I've had one PC DVD drive that wouldn't open the tray. Forcing it open via the emergency hole and spraying some WD40 alleviated the problem. My parents also have a DVD player that was not used for probably 3 years, and when I tried using it last week, it turned out that the belt snapped.

All my old drives have stuck trays, the lubricant on the tray mechanism has gummed up in all of them. Belts have been fine though.

Sounds like you got some severe ejectile dysfunction.

As for BURNING (not reading), the best IDE-drives in my experience are the Pioneer (DVR-112 and) DVR-115.

I was very surprised to see modern writers, even bluray drives, do significantly worse than the DVR-115 with older media... (although they are often better when it comes to reading, in particular the Liteon Bluray drive I have)

https://club.myce.com/t/pioneer-dvr-115-post- … /211382?page=65
(you could of course start on page 1, heh...)

I am actually planning on installing my DVR-115 in a 'modern' computer, to be my DVD archival burner. At least for as long as it lasts (these things get worn out).
I have also tried the Optiarc 7200, but the (used) copies I've found this far, has not proven to be any better than the Pioneer, more like slightly worse.

---> I suggest using 1 drive for burning, and a separate different one/model for reading.

More links:
https://club.myce.com/t/pioneer-112-series-vs … 6-series/229411

https://club.myce.com/t/optiarc-ad-7200a-vs-p … 16d-117d/287843

https://club.myce.com/t/nec-so-good-as-pioneer/226551

https://club.myce.com/t/what-is-a-good-sata-b … r-to-get/227680

I have personally had terrible luck with LG drives. Both LG drives I have had in the past both failed within 6 months. After that I didn't really want to touch them.

If your drive fails within 6 months, consider yourself lucky, since it is most likely covered by warranty and you will get a new one (in some cases a newer model as well). Happened to me a couple of times back when CD/DVD burning was a thing and I was doing a lot of it. 😀