How do you live without an optical drive?

[Hip]

Hey guys,

 

I would like to know how your overall impression from using a pc case with no optical drive is.

For example with the NZXT S340 or the Corsair 400C.

 

Hope to get your pro & cons.

 

[Enderman]

I never watch DVDs so it makes no difference to me.

Windows installs from a USB drive.

Drivers get automatically downloaded and installed, no need to use outdated driver disks.

GPU drivers can be downloaded form online.

Literally no reason to need an optical drive.

[iRileyx]

Never had to use one in the last 5 months or so, so i live quite easily without one.

Though i did keep one from an old system for some weird event that might need me to use one.

[SCHISCHKA]

i live quite comfortably without a optical drive. havnt used one since halflife 2 was released. Iv been buying off steam ever since

[Paytend01]

I have 0 reason for an optical drive as the shady minecraft character above me has said... 

If i ever desperately needed one you can buy usb ones

[SteinerW]

I have a usb optical drive that I can pull out in the rare case that I would actually need one.

[Hip]

I am always wondering if old games are played by you with no optical drive. Because most old games are not on steam or origin. So you can not just install it with a disc.

[martward]

Last time I received a CD is probably over a year ago, and that was just some drivers in case you didn't have internet connection.

2 minutes ago, Hip said:

I am always wondering if old games are played by you with no optical drive. Because most old games are not on steam or origin. So you can not just install it with a disc.

Probably not going to work for all games, but you can usually find a torrent for a game and then activate it with the key that you got with your disc. 

[Sauron]

I use an external drive so I don't really care if the case has bays for an internal one anymore. All the internal drives I have around are very old and IDE, so installing them in a modern system might be a problem too.

[Hip]

1 minute ago, martward said:

Last time I received a CD is probably over a year ago, and that was just some drivers in case you didn't have internet connection.

Probably not going to work for all games, but you can usually find a torrent for a game and then activate it with the key that you got with your disc. 

Well good to know. I was curious because I mostly play games for years and do not buy often a new game.

Some old games are definately a huge point for me.

[GigabitXe]

I do use an optical drive because I am cheap and watch movies that I check out from the library. For me it is essential because I deal with a lot of discs. I could very well use and external one but then I would have to buy one.

[Daniel644]

as of late I've barely touched them, but I have a USB DVD drive for when I need to install older software so a drive today is pretty much only needed to rip NEW CD's that I buy, because I don't care for the bitrates available on downloads and prefer to rip my own (or due to the indie level of the artist the music is simply not available as a download) and Rip my DVD/Bluray collection, once I get enough storage to handle that much more data.

 

it's definitely not a necessity like it once was, heck you could even just yank off a side panel and plug in an internal one to use just for when you NEED it then unplug it when done and put the side panel back on, or do some kind of mod to add one poking out the side of the case or something.

[STRMfrmXMN]

I use them to rip music from my mom's collection of stuff so I can get it lossless. That's about it, although I've needed it for a driver install once when I didn't have drivers for my wireless card.

[Hip]

37 minutes ago, Daniel644 said:

 you could even just yank off a side panel and plug in an internal one to use just for when you NEED it then unplug it when done and put the side panel back on, or do some kind of mod to add one poking out the side of the case or something.

 That's a good point. I was storing a lot of music on my computer in the past too, because I collected CD's from my faveorite bands.

But nowadays I mostly listen music on spotify and watch movies on Sky.

 

[NumLock21]

I still use a optical drive from time to time, like installing games, windows, and other stuffs. Have both a internal for my desktop and external one that runs on USB for my netbook. Having one saves time and will make your life a lot easier.

 

 

[Daniel644]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

I still use a optical drive from time to time, like installing games, windows, and other stuffs. Have both a internal for my desktop and external one that runs on USB for my netbook. Having one saves time and will make your life a lot easier.

 

 

I moved away from Windows installs from optical drives, it goes MUCH MUCH faster using a USB drive, like first boot to Windows installed and desktop loaded in 10-15 minutes as opposed to the 20-30 minutes it takes via disc.

[NumLock21]

36 minutes ago, Daniel644 said:

I moved away from Windows installs from optical drives, it goes MUCH MUCH faster using a USB drive, like first boot to Windows installed and desktop loaded in 10-15 minutes as opposed to the 20-30 minutes it takes via disc.

Need a windows disc first in order to make it into a USB. How can you grab windows when there is no windows install in the first place?

[Hip]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

Need a windows disc first in order to make it into a USB. How can you grab windows when there is no windows install in the first place?

You can download the MediaCreationTool from Microsoft and then download a Windows.ISO.

I think you can activate it with your key then.

[Daniel644]

3 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Need a windows disc first in order to make it into a USB. How can you grab windows when there is no windows install in the first place?

DOWNLOAD IT!!!!! thats what I did, the Windows Media Creation Tool (or other software if you need older versions not found there) will download the iso and make the USB drive a bootable windows installer, you simply add your License key along the way during install (or after install).

[NumLock21]

1 minute ago, Hip said:

You can download the MediaCreationTool from Microsoft and then download a Windows.ISO.

I think you can activate it with your key then.

That requires windows. Can't run that on a empty SSD

[Hip]

1 minute ago, NumLock21 said:

That requires windows. Can't run that on a empty SSD

Can't you just put the Windows.ISO file on the USB Stick and then put it into a USB Hub?

I think this should run or not?

[Daniel644]

3 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

That requires windows. Can't run that on a empty SSD

So you make one on another computer the same way you burn the DVD on another computer, it's 2016, it's not like you can't gain access to someones computer for an hour to make the Flash drive.

 

edit: clearly you have access to a computer right now, get a 5 dollar 8GB USB 3.0 flash drive, create the installer with your current computer and just keep it around for when you need the installer the same way you keep a DVD around now.

[Guest]

Just now, Hip said:

Can't you just put the Windows.ISO file on the USB Stick and then put it into a USB Hub?

I think this should run or not?

should. i dont see why not

[Hip]

4 minutes ago, deXxterlab97 said:

should. i dont see why not

Does the USB Stick has to be empty before you put the Windows.ISO in it? I mean is the only file that should be on the USB Stick the Windows.ISO?

[Guest]

Just now, Hip said:

Does the USB Stick has to be empty before you put the Windows.ISO in it? I mean is the only file that should be on the USB Stick the Windows.ISO?

No. Don't put Windows.iso in there. You need to use a program to make it bootable. Simple copy pasting won't work

Check RUFUS

Also by default the program will format everything thta is inside