PATA DVD writers are now available for as little as $80. How much do
SCSI DVD writers cost? I have looked and I have not found any for
less than $350.
Rather than going the SATA or SCSI route, why not just get a new case
that gives you 5-1/4" bays closer to the motherboard? The Enlight
EN-8950 gives you 5-1/4" bays the whole height of the front, while their
less expensive EN-7280 gives you three 5-1/4" bays at the bottom in
addition to the ones at the top. The GMC "Noblesse" or "Noblesse SE"
gives you one 5-1/4" bay at the bottom and it's small enough that the
ones at the top are also accessible--the downside is that the GMC cases
limit you to 3/4-length PCI and AGP boards--not usually a problem but
something to be aware of.
If that doesn't work for you, you can get SATA-PATA converters that let
you attach PATA devices to an SATA host adapter--the trouble is that
they don't all work for ATAPI devices and most SATA host adapters don't
support ATAPI devices anyway--you need both a converter and a host
adapter based on the Silicon Image chips to have a chance of this
working, and even so no guarantees. The Abit Serillel2 is probably the
most readily available Silicon Image based converter. I can only find
one Silicon Image based host adapter that the vendor claims supports
ATAPI devices and that's a brand I've never heard of, "BAFO", and it's
only 2-port--I have no idea if it works or how well.
