Help picking computer parts

[Mr. Elmo]

yea, but he's planning on a dual layer burner, so if he pick up some dual layer dvds, that problem will be solved.

[accat13]

Ok...
As VB has already pointed out, most DVD burning will require compression software...hence a trip to the HDD at some point, not a direct transfer from one device to the other.
In most installations, the top bay slot is the most easily accessable- so we put the cheap(er) drive there so it will be used the most.
Why do you think the "optimal" place is the upper "master" slot?
As long as only one drive is in use at a time what difference would it make?

Sorry for the delay in responding.After some research I've come to the conclusion that it may not matter as much as I thought.It just seems that when ever I hear of someone with dvd burner problems the first suggestion is to set it to master on the secondary..I'll quote you a response I got from another forum "Putting it on master is a matter of convenice and usually alleviates any problems with other drives that might interfere if it was set in slave."

[clocker]

OK.
That advice assumes that there is a problem with the drives. Typically we don't see any, but I suppose if we did we would try a different config.
This week alone I have assembled four PCs (thank the Lord for last minute Christmas shoppers!) with a CD-ROM as master and a DVD+/-RW slave without any issues at all.
Beginner's luck perhaps.

[Mr. Elmo]

yea...i dont see what the big fuss about master/slave. i did the same thign as you, no problem, and then i had a dvd burner as master on ide2 and a hdd as master on ide1 with no problem.