Sony Optiarc 24X DVD/CD Rewritable Drive Black SATA (AD-7240S-0B) for $27.99

Sony and NEC have combined their optical expertise in the joint venture, Optiarc. The result is the Optiarc DVD and CD drive series.

With write speeds as high as 24X for DVD+R and DVD-R, they may be the fastest SATA optical drives in the industry. Even at these speeds, there's no need to worry about buffer under-runs, with 2MB of memory buffering your data. Optiarc's technology adjusts itself automatically to the small variations in each drive and each disc as it writes, giving optimum performance time after time. All the features you've come to expect in a modern DVD/CD burner: multiple media formats, inexpensive price, fast operation, and now backed by both Sony and NEC.

It's always your decision, but I wish I had a dead drive right now so I could replace it with one of these.