Dvd writers will usually be IDE or Sata. Most are IDE and only a few brands like plextor makes Sata Drives. All depends on what kind of pc you have: IDE-ATA/SATA/SCSI- also known as scuzzy.I don't know much about sata and scsi.
OEM when it comes to dvd drives on sale at places like newegg.com usually means it's drive only. No software/cables/manuals/and no original box. No biggie though. That's how I got my benq 1640 for $37 including fedex. Lower price-oem vs the same model with higher price drive with extra goodies with it.
Got any leads on any brand names and model#s. There can be big variations between brand names of burner drives.There's some excellent drives,and some total pcs of crap out there. Stick with the big dawgs:
Plextor
BenQ
Lite-on
Pioneer
LG
NEC
Sony
Beware of most of the other brands not mentioned.Lower stand alone compatability/firmware updates are slower/and reliability.
I suggest a quality drive. You can get some of those drives I listed for well under $50 at newegg.com
Ok. I don't backup games,but pretty close to the same as dvd movies.
Some of those burners have the bitsetting capability to booktype the plus format to dvd-rom. This helps the compatability rate of your backups to have a greater chance of recognizing your backups.It actually fools those players/game consoles into thinking they are actual dvd-rom. Not all burners can do it. Some may need special hacked fw-like NEC/Pioneer,some will need a utility to booktype them,benq-Lite-on-Plextor-LG-a few sony drives, some can be set to booktype using software like nero6 and DVD Decrypter.
I am currently looking to replace one of my benq 1620s. The things I look for:
1) Booktyping capability with a quality brand name
2) Price, Lots of drives out there are rebadges.
3) Over speed burn protection-which the 1640 will do using q-suite 2.0,but the 1620 can't.
4) Backup compatability onto stand alone players/game consoles,and pc drives.
Take the benq 1640. Bare drive only cost me $37. Now Plextor has a budget drive called the 740A. This drive is a benq 1640.$50-$70 for that plexy. The sony dru 810A is also a rebadged benq 1640. Philips is also using rebadged benq 1640 drives.
