Internal DVD/CD drive

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ADKM

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#204222 22-Sep-2016 10:51

Are any good ones (like Plextors) still available anywhere? Most now seem to made with

rubber bands and you're lucky if the door opens/closes properly! (or was I just unlucky?)

Usage is DAE via SATA port . Reader or burner OK. Thanks for any info.

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#1638771 22-Sep-2016 14:19

I can honestly say I've used an optical drive maybe half a dozen times in as many years, but my old $30 generic asus sata ones have worked fine those few times I have needed them.

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ADKM

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#1638775 22-Sep-2016 14:33

I bought 2 Asus ones in April. One is OK, the other rubbish. I conclude this because I can put the same disk in both and compare results.

richms

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#1638793 22-Sep-2016 15:02

I have not put one in a PC for a very long time now. For the odd occasions I need to read one I have a crappy old dell laptop with one in it, that also means I can scan the disc from china for malware and other nasties with all the stuff without risking my main computer, and then move the stuff to a USB stick.

I used to borrow and rip CDs but everything I want almost is up on what with a 100% log in flac so no point self-ripping.

Richard rich.ms

Behodar

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#1638812 22-Sep-2016 15:29

I still use my eight year old LG Blu-ray writer and it still works. I believe it's still a current model (GGW-H20L) but I'm not sure whether anywhere local still stocks it!

darylblake

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#1638816 22-Sep-2016 15:41

Get one out of an old laptop that you dont use anymore, and go buy a bootable USB enclosure for it. Job Done.

I got a couple of old laptops with DVD+-RW's. No blu rays though.

1101

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#1639243 23-Sep-2016 10:09

I dont see how it will be possible to put a laptop DVD into a USB enclosure.....without extensive modding
laptop dvd's arent even all the same shape size connector ??

DVD's are all just el-cheapo now. Why would anyone be importing expensive high quality drives , they are becoming obselete .
Just buy a brand you recognise & take the change. If it fails, chuck it & buy another $30? unit
Chances are an expensive 'quality' DVD brand would now be just a generic re-badged :-)

ADKM

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#1639297 23-Sep-2016 11:23

Exactly, 1101. My last 'Plextor' wasn't even recognised by Plextools.

Its a shame all right, but all you can buy is rubbish. Even how rubbishy, isn't consistent. A good sign if the door opens, and closes. Of course not by itself!

Technology doesn't always advance, that's for sure. Telephone audio is a good example.

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richms

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#1639359 23-Sep-2016 12:43

1101:

I dont see how it will be possible to put a laptop DVD into a USB enclosure.....without extensive modding
laptop dvd's arent even all the same shape size connector ??

All the ones I have pulled out when putting a HDD in the optical bay have had the same size connector? It is a standard. Its the tray front that varies a lot, with many being oversized and sculpted to the shape of the chassis - but I pulled that off and attached it to the face of the HDD caddy so that it didnt look too stupid. I did put one of the normal fronted ones into a USB case that was about $7 from memory, and it worked as expeced for a crap optical drive that came in a dirt cheap several year old laptop.

Richard rich.ms

BTR

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#1639443 23-Sep-2016 14:45

ADKM:

Technology doesn't always advance, that's for sure. Telephone audio is a good example.

Rubber bands are cheap to produce so why would manufacturers want to research an alternative when the whole unit is only worth $50 new. BTW telephone audio especially with mobiles has improved with most new mobile phones being able to support HD audio.

I install Asus drives in machines I build at work and have never had an issue although we don't use optical discs often, if you are using them daily you probably need to start thinking about moving toward solid state.

ADKM

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#1639479 23-Sep-2016 15:21

Don't want to get into a huge debate, but I've never heard such crap telephone audio since VOIP. Compressed to buggery is putting it mildly.

HD Audio ? 20-20K ?

I don't use mobile phones (LOL can't understand what they're saying).

I've never heard of an optical solid state drive. You could get decent CD/DVD drives 10-15 years ago. the point is it's all cheap and nasty these

days but we don't have to like it. I asked here just in case there was something better.

1101

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#1640554 26-Sep-2016 11:36

richms:

All the ones I have pulled out when putting a HDD in the optical bay have had the same size connector? It is a standard. Its the tray front that varies a lot,

I didnt believe it, so I looked on a win7 Tosh & HP: yep both pretty much the exactly the same . Same shape, same connector.
Its the older laptop DVDs that are all completely different, I assumed that was still the case.

BTR

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#1640733 26-Sep-2016 14:16

ADKM:

Don't want to get into a huge debate, but I've never heard such crap telephone audio since VOIP. Compressed to buggery is putting it mildly.

HD Audio ? 20-20K ?

I don't use mobile phones (LOL can't understand what they're saying).

I've never heard of an optical solid state drive. You could get decent CD/DVD drives 10-15 years ago. the point is it's all cheap and nasty these

days but we don't have to like it. I asked here just in case there was something better.

I was suggesting you move away from optical disk's all together, they are old technology and are becoming less and less supported. Id say within 5 years you won't be able to buy a PC case with 5.25" bays

richms

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#1640817 26-Sep-2016 16:38

BTR:

I was suggesting you move away from optical disk's all together, they are old technology and are becoming less and less supported. Id say within 5 years you won't be able to buy a PC case with 5.25" bays

Already I get ones without them. Im hoping the absurd stack of 3.5" bays at the front making the case 150mm or so deeper for no reason it the next to go. I want a full ATX board, but not all that wasted space for storage that is best handled by a pair of SSDs stuck somewhere.

Richard rich.ms

Lias

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#1640829 26-Sep-2016 17:13

richms:

BTR:

I was suggesting you move away from optical disk's all together, they are old technology and are becoming less and less supported. Id say within 5 years you won't be able to buy a PC case with 5.25" bays

Already I get ones without them. Im hoping the absurd stack of 3.5" bays at the front making the case 150mm or so deeper for no reason it the next to go. I want a full ATX board, but not all that wasted space for storage that is best handled by a pair of SSDs stuck somewhere.

I have the opposite problem, I can't find a case with enough 3.5" bays.. I want ~18ish.

richms

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#1640833 26-Sep-2016 17:19

Lias:

I have the opposite problem, I can't find a case with enough 3.5" bays.. I want ~18ish.

Yeah, but spinning disks are so slow that there is little reason to have them sitting on my desktop making noise, I have them in a sas expander connected to a windows server machine in the shed where they dont bother me with their mechanical clacking and whirring.

Richard rich.ms

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