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CD-ROM and DVD-ROM drives are almost always IDE. You will probably start to see SATA optical drives soon. I usually put two optical drives into my computer. This allows me to have two CD’s or DVD’s mounted.

You will also need to choose if you want to have a burner. CD-ROM burners are generally only $10-$20 higher than non burners. You can also buy a DVD-Burner, that will be able to burn CD’s as well.

For most of my systems I install one DVD-Burner (which also burns CD’s) and a second DVD reader.