After doing google searches for hours about this, I found that there is a real lack of information about vista compatible dvd-r and the little there is confusing or out and out misinformation, esp. after reading the user reviews of these products.
Am I asking too much to get one for under $45 that is a quality product? Also any huge advantage getting ide or sata?

Things like CD/DVD players, moniters and the like are whats called plug and play meaning they all work on a basic driver(it has a certain name but I just can't remember it at the mo'). This is compatable with most operating systems. At most you might have to upgrade the 'firmware' and you get that from the manufacturer's web site. If you stick to good quality names you usually can't go far wrong. Normal run of the mill drives usually cost around £20 or $40 with the better ones being a little more. I usually look for one with a decent price, google for a review or two and if it's ok buy it. With stuff like that don't worry about drivers....

SATA is faster than IDE especially SATA2 although your motherboard has to support this. It can be a little more fiddly to install as SATA units need drivers (the driver is for the 'controller' which governs the SATA setup). The good thing is that Vista now supports things like SATA and RAID so you don't have to press F6 during the boot process to install the driver. Vista allows you to either install the driver before a fresh install or after.

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I just don't see "vista compatible" when I check out those brand names . My older tochiba doesn't have an upgraded driver( and doesn't look like they are going to bother trying to do so ) and vista doesn't recognize it when I tried to install vista, which make think I should be careful.
I was hoping that people would give me model numbers of a good basic DVD-R.

How old is the toshiba? If it's not too old then Toshiba may have a firmware update for it. You'll have to check their website and follow the instructions on how to flash the firmware. As I said above getting a normal, modern DVD-R should be ok, they just don't say 'Vista friendly' or whatever. If I had more time I'd recommend something but I've got to go... Good luck.

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Did that.
Why am I nervous, if one looks at the ms site for compatible hardware there are no DVD drives, makes me think twice. When I look at updated for drives, many don't mention vista.

Hi, you can find Vista compatible here(UK site):
Lite-On IT Corporation Europe - DH-52C2P: Features : Features
There are more models but this was the first that came up when I typed 'Vista' in the search utility.
Here's another from a US site:
Pioneer USA - DVD Computer Writers
Hope this proves to be a help.

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Thanx for all the help, and Happy New Year.

Glad to help and the same back at ya..

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