Optical drive survey

[ryanspeck]

I actually have several computers, some with and some without drives. My last two computers have had no optical drives, but I keep the computer before that running, with an optical drive, for music ripping, mp3 storage, using software and hardware that doesn't work after Windows 7, and media transcoding. Also, I have a media PC with a Blu-Ray drive that never got much use, but is still there and will play the occasional DVD for my daughter. Plus, an old laptop with a DVD drive that pops out every time I lean it on its end up against my nightstand.

[AdKeyz]

1 hour ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

I would make an ISO of the disk and run it, using a virtual ODD (Optical Disc Drive) such as Virtual Clone Drive, instead of bothering with a burned disc (actually, that is exactly what I do with all my CDs, DVDs, and BDs). I would also make backups in case the ISO goes bad or gets accidentally deleted (actually, I do do that). Burned discs won't last forever unless burned on archival discs, which are expensive. I've even had a few stamped CDs and DVDs go bad on me after I had them for a while.

Yeah I mean I play them on physical consoles (Saturn, Dreamcast, SegaCD, 3DO, CDi, Xbox, PS1, etc) not an emulator so they need to be burned onto a disc.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

1 minute ago, AdKeyz said:

Yeah I mean I play them on physical consoles (Saturn, Dreamcast, SegaCD, 3DO, CDi, Xbox, PS1, etc) not an emulator so they need to be burned onto a disc.

Got it. 

[Egg-Roll]

39 minutes ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

I miss the noise and the loading times about the same as I miss a throbbing toothache. 

I never had the disc drive near a ear always 2+- feet away so the noise was ok, it got irritating when it got caught on a bad sector or misread and all you hear is a grinding noise for 45 seconds nonstop. It's the only thing I really miss of the cd loading games. Tho those no cd patches where a blessing when it was only used for verification...

[Lady Fitzgerald]

1 minute ago, Egg-Roll said:

I never had the disc drive near a ear always 2+- feet away so the noise was ok, it got irritating when it got caught on a bad sector or misread and all you hear is a grinding noise for 45 seconds nonstop. It's the only thing I really miss of the cd loading games. Tho those no cd patches where a blessing when it was only used for verification...

I'm probably just touchier than you are.

[captain_aggravated]

3 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

I do miss the grinding of the drive in the good old days but the loading times where sometimes horrid.

There was this Myst-like game called Riddle of the Sphinx.  Played exactly like Myst, static pre-rendered backgrounds with occasional interactive objects for inventory object puzzles.  It would stop to load new images from disc every few steps.  Click, drive whine, audio would stutter because it's streaming redbook audio of course, and back for 800x600 256 color static images.  "The good old days."

[poochyena]

I only use mine in case the internet goes out so I can then watch movies on DVDs. So, basically, once a year.

[thehardwarehacker]

i keep/ use my blu-ray drive a few times a month for backing up/ archiving my movie/ tv show collection.

[Shreyas1]

The thing is, my case can’t support external drives, but I still find myself using cds occasionally. What I do is that I open my side panel, unplug a Hdd, and plug in my optical drive.

[PX4XKkRWMM]

4 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

I miss the noise and the loading times about the same as I miss a throbbing toothache. 

For me the noise was most of the time just fine.

However, one time I got a promotional "tiny" CD (not sure if there is an official name for those smaller CD's) which was glued to a bigger thing in the shape of a soccer jersey, and it made the most horrible and loud noise I ever heard from my optical drive. That thing most probably did not have it's centre of mass in the middle, or maybe it was just due too the shape and air resistance.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

1 hour ago, PX4XKkRWMM said:

For me the noise was most of the time just fine.

However, one time I got a promotional "tiny" CD (not sure if there is an official name for those smaller CD's) which was glued to a bigger thing in the shape of a soccer jersey, and it made the most horrible and loud noise I ever heard from my optical drive. That thing most probably did not have it's centre of mass in the middle, or maybe it was just due too the shape and air resistance.

Those abominations were called mini CDs (I have better names for them but Mama told me not to use those words). Since many ODDs had a big hole in the center of the tray, those stuoid things woiuld just fall through. Ths rare times I got one of those stupid things, I had to use an external ODD that didn't have the big hole in the tray.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

6 hours ago, Egg-Roll said:

I'm more shocked at how many don't know what lightscribe is than anything else.

One of the reasons Light Scribe never really caught on was not many people knew about it. Most of those who did quit using it because of the cost of compatible discs, their monochromatic colors, and how long it took to write to one.

[Albi368]

Use my computer as an entertainment centre - got a TV USB stick and play DVD/Blu it so use a drive on a daily basis.

 

Used to have a Lightscribe drive but hardly used the feature. Just a gimmick as it took too long to do.

[Lady Fitzgerald]

36 minutes ago, Albi368 said:

Used to have a Lightscribe drive but hardly used the feature. Just a gimmick as it took too long to do.

It was a nice gimmick I really liked but, as you said, it took too long.

[iKarith]

On 12/9/2018 at 3:37 PM, AdvancedMicroDisapointment said:

Ok question 2 was supposed to have an option that said, "Like Linus in season 5 of scrapyard wars I will fight to keep it in my computer." not sure what happened to it so I guess like this reply or hit agree if you feel that way about it (I certainly do)

I picked up a BD/DVD because I occasionally have desire to watch or rip BD stuff, which is still better quality than anything you can download legitimately, and because I need to access or create CD/DVD content occasionally. I don't think it needs to be internal anymore on new machines, but the one I have happens to be because I haven't got a bigass rad or anything taking up the spot it goes. It's not something I'd want to give up, though…

[Apocalypsse]

On 1/5/2019 at 1:29 PM, TheGeek2448 said:

There still are SOME cases that have 5.25" bays. That's one of the reasons I got my Corsair Carbide Air 540

Yes there are, but I was looking for a compact ATX case with good airflow so it ruled out the 5.25" bay. Ended up with a Fractal Design Meshify C.

[LukaH]

my optical drive didn't have lightscribe but it had labelflash used it once.

[Iron Doc]

I have an external USB one for playing old games, Riping CD's and playing DVD's

Times that I've used it:

-I use linux and it was handy for setting up a winXP VM

-alot of old games that don't work on windows 10 work well in wine, but still need a CD to play and the DRM seems to be able to pickup mounted drives

-playing old DVD's

[awesomes8wc3]

I've always wanted to use lightscribe, but I've never been able to find anyone selling the media. Pioneer has their own alternative called LabelFlash which works on ANY disk, where it burns to specific points on the data layer to create an image, which is awesome, but in practice it's useless. It takes far too long and it's barely legible, and if the disk is used up more than 80% or so you can't do it as it burns the label into the unused portions of the data layer around the outer edge of the disk.

[TechyBen]

On 1/6/2019 at 12:20 AM, Lady Fitzgerald said:

Those abominations were called mini CDs (I have better names for them but Mama told me not to use those words). Since many ODDs had a big hole in the center of the tray, those stuoid things woiuld just fall through. Ths rare times I got one of those stupid things, I had to use an external ODD that didn't have the big hole in the tray.

I still have a few CD minis (can use them in my external and laptop, not in slot loaded PC though). If the foil has not expired, I could always run up a few. XD

Love them, but yeah, little use for them over "business card" style operations. People can USB/Dropbox it now, so no need.

 

I have a couple of actual business card CDs too (charts single or Coca Cola advertisement IIRC)

But to really impress in an interview, get one of these out:

 

 

[Egg-Roll]

19 hours ago, captain_aggravated said:

There was this Myst-like game called Riddle of the Sphinx.  Played exactly like Myst, static pre-rendered backgrounds with occasional interactive objects for inventory object puzzles.  It would stop to load new images from disc every few steps.  Click, drive whine, audio would stutter because it's streaming redbook audio of course, and back for 800x600 256 color static images.  "The good old days."

I think the only game I have ever owned that needed to do this was C&C

 

16 hours ago, Lady Fitzgerald said:

One of the reasons Light Scribe never really caught on was not many people knew about it. Most of those who did quit using it because of the cost of compatible discs, their monochromatic colors, and how long it took to write to one.

I couldn't use the feature because finding them in Canada at the time (esp where I lived) was near impossible, and to buy elsewhere was expensive and I think coming from the states.

[TechyBen]

I just found my Lightscribe free sample disk. XD

 

I think I threw out the spare lightscribe laptop drive though, when the laptop died (or recently when I cleared out the cupboard). So, no chance to test it.

[Kochiha Ichihara]

I've got upcoming projects that involves burning a bunch of blu-rays, so I went ahead and invested in an internal one. Other than that, it's nice to be able to pop BDs into my computer and just watch 'em from there, since my desk is a comfy place. I also burn a lot of CDs still, because I'm a loser who likes them, and because they're still a good way to send vocal/music samples to people/companies that request them and want more than I can just squeeze through a file sharing service without paying some idiot too much money for something I wouldn't use enough.

[Calidus]

All my desktop computers have optical drives of some sort, usually DVD burners. My main rig/gaming pc has one Pioneer DVD burner mostly for dual layer dvds (bluray drive has issues with it) and ripping music cds as I do still buy those, it also has a LG Bluray burner/HD Dvd player combo, just shows you how long ago I bought that bad boy.

 

I also have a external dvd writer incase my laptop needs one or any other pc I may look at which doesn't come with one. (ie other peoples PC's).

 

My older LG DVD drive did Lightscribe and I used it for my linux distros, but it died and my Pioneer doesn't support it.

[YourNewPalAlex]

Hey, im gonna tell you something but dont tell anyone.

 

 

They did surgery on an optical drive.