Are there any situations where a USB DVD/optical drive won't work vs. an internal drive?

[Bleedingyamato]

I'm planning a computer build I'm going to do for a friend that needs to be relatively compact to save space and not scare them away from desktop computer by trying to give them a huge desktop tower.

 

So I'm considering a micro ATX build in a small size computer case that may not have a mount spot for an internal optical drive /DVD drive (sorry I'm not sure which most people would call it) which would mean my friend would have to use an external USB DVD or Blu-Ray drive for anything on a disc.  

 

My question is: are there any situations where trying to do something with a USB external DVD drive wouldn't work?  

 

Like the computer wouldn't allow you to do something with a disc in an external disc drive because of a situation where USB devices wouldn't be detected or would be disabled.  Something like that.

 

I just would hate for my friend to run into a situation where something important couldn't be done all because I didn't make sure the case I choose can fit an internal disc drive.

[HPWebcamAble]

Windows MIGHT not let you install it while running on an external DVD drive, but you can just use a USB stick w/ windows on it instead.

 

Honestly, I have an internal optical drive and I haven't used it once in 6 months (only used it to install windows, which I could have done with a USB drive)

[Manage My Cables]

5 minutes ago, Bleedingyamato said:

I'm planning a computer build I'm going to do for a friend that needs to be relatively compact to save space and not scare them away from desktop computer by trying to give them a huge desktop tower.

 

So I'm considering a micro ATX build in a small size computer case that may not have a mount spot for an internal optical drive /DVD drive (sorry I'm not sure which most people would call it) which would mean my friend would have to use an external USB DVD or Blu-Ray drive for anything on a disc.  

 

My question is: are there any situations where trying to do something with a USB external DVD drive wouldn't work?  

 

Like the computer wouldn't allow you to do something with a disc in an external disc drive because of a situation where USB devices wouldn't be detected or would be disabled.  Something like that.

 

I just would hate for my friend to run into a situation where something important couldn't be done all because I didn't make sure the case I choose can fit an internal disc drive.

The external drives are perfectly capable. The only difference is the sata data/power interface is swapped with usb.   

[Dark_Fuzzy]

21 minutes ago, HPWebcamAble said:

snip

It just detects it as a usb drive if i'm not mistaken.

[Enderman]

there is no reason why an external DVD or USB drive will not work

even in bios they will work, doesnt need to have windows installed

[Lehti]

The only case where you may run into issues is your USB ports are of the 1.1 variety, in which case they may not be able to supply enough power to the drive. For this reason, USB optical drives usually come shipped with a Y USB cable. The first USB plug is used for data + power and the second delivers only power in case only the first isn't enough. The only downside I can think of is a greater cable clutter on your desk. Not a big deal if you ask me.

[Bleedingyamato]

Thank you everyone for the informative and helpful responses.  It's greatly appreciated.  My friend actually has an external Blu-Ray drive which is currently being used with an HP ultrabook (I think that's what a laptop without an optical drive is called right?) that I forgot to mention in my initial post.  So they wouldn't need to buy a new one if sharing between the two computers wouldn't be an issue.  I just wanted to be sure there wouldn't be any problems from using an external optical drive since personally I've only used computers with internal ones.

 

Now I just need to decide on either a rather compact case for either ATX or micro ATX depending on how small ATX cases can get.  Easier said than done from what I've looked at so far.  Most of the cases I've looked at so far are some combination of too big, ugly, cheap crap, or too small.  

Edited May 23, 2016 by Bleedingyamato