I have DVD Writer on two of my puters, one full height and one slim/half height, but none on laptops. Bought external USB just in case someday. I also have a small horde/collection of IDE and SATA writers, including a few that are only CD not DVD.
Now to the separate question of whether I actually used any of them in the past couple years.....once or thrice maybe.
Now to the separate question of whether I actually used any of them in the past couple years.....once or thrice maybe.
- Sep 28, 2005
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I have a Bluray DL writter on USB.
Its one of those external 5 1/4 version.
I hate the laptop version writers with prejudice.
Honestly the blueray reader/writer has to be one of the most stupidest optical format i have ever had.
Why?
Because at least on a DVD writter, if you threw in a DVD movie, it would play via media player without anything else required.
No codec, no audio drivers.
Bluray you need a player.
There are hardly any free BR players, all of them you need to purchase a license.
This has me stumped silly, why they would do that, because the software to rip the BR is free which you can play on media player classic.
As much as I do not advise piracy, it feels like BR was setup for it before it even hit retail because of that structure.
Stupid MPAA.
They got stuff backwards when trying to paywall burners.
You paywall the Ripping software.
You freeware the player.
UGH.. seriously...
Its one of those external 5 1/4 version.
I hate the laptop version writers with prejudice.
Honestly the blueray reader/writer has to be one of the most stupidest optical format i have ever had.
Why?
Because at least on a DVD writter, if you threw in a DVD movie, it would play via media player without anything else required.
No codec, no audio drivers.
Bluray you need a player.
There are hardly any free BR players, all of them you need to purchase a license.
This has me stumped silly, why they would do that, because the software to rip the BR is free which you can play on media player classic.
As much as I do not advise piracy, it feels like BR was setup for it before it even hit retail because of that structure.
Stupid MPAA.
They got stuff backwards when trying to paywall burners.
You paywall the Ripping software.
You freeware the player.
UGH.. seriously...
CodeBeholder
Member
- Jan 18, 2023
- 36
- 5
- 16
I voted no, but I do have a ton of 4k Blu-RAY that I watch occasionally on a PS5. So I guess, kinda? I stream far more often though.
I thought the question was limited to data, but if home entertainment and music is on the table, then we have a BD player that we still use every other week on average. I pick up movies at local Redbox machines (2) only 1.4 miles away, usually get two movies per visit. Have a radio/alarm clock that supports CD (but don't use it), plus CD players in the vehicles. Only use the CD player in the vehicle(s) when going on trip because one of them is so old (2005) it does not have any input for external source.
Last edited:
bigboxes
Lifer
- Apr 6, 2002
- 38,931
- 12,005
- 146
Yeah, I just ripped a bunch of DVDs to my home server a few weeks ago. Just about all I use the BluRay drive for these days. I went all digital around 2015. It was a long process of slowly migrating, ripping and building the support and backup required when going that route.
mikeymikec
Lifer
- May 19, 2011
- 17,883
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I'm quite surprised at the poll results so far. My impression of people on this forum led me to believe the result would be 75% no optical drive.
mikeymikec
Lifer
- May 19, 2011
- 17,883
- 9,985
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It's not quite that simple with commercial DVD playback either; I've seen Windows boxes refuse to play a DVD in say WMP, to which the relatively easy response is to install VLC. I do agree that BR playback is relatively speaking far more annoying though. I use the Leawo free player on Windows; the only irritation there is the advert you see when you pause playback, but other than that it works.
Out of curiosity I just read a bit about HD DVD on wiki and apparently it was no better, still the same stupid DRM stuff. I don't imagine there will be enough pushback to ensure a freer successor to BR unless movie streaming went into decline, specifically for "I bought it, I own it" reasons (I guess a massive class action lawsuit resulting from a big streaming provider suddenly deciding that users aren't allowed to access content they've previously 'online purchased'). Even then, industry heavyweights would still need to acknowledge that BR DRM was a failure, which usually makes such people think, "we'll DRM even harder now!".
There is another reason for buying content on disc. It can't suddenly be censored, reworked or revoked based on the morals-of-the-day.
There are some unfortunate examples in that department.
- Sep 28, 2005
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Nah PC enthusiast like me always have something incase of emergency.
Like i have a PATA 200GB drive.
A 3.5 Floppy drive. - Several 3.5 Floppys incase.
A Original IOMega Zip Drive.
A Optical drive - because you never know when a family member brings you a optical disk
I even have a AGP card in a static bag, but i do not know if it still works.
I can't get myself to throw it away, because its a Voodoo 3.
mikeymikec
Lifer
- May 19, 2011
- 17,883
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Your collection out-does mine and I keep mine for work reasons
The reason for my comment is that when I've started topics that reference optical storage (like a backups thread I created, or a 'picking a new case' thread), a common reaction tends to be along the lines of "you still have optical... really?", hence my surprise.
- Sep 28, 2005
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well another main reason i have one is because im getting old, and so are my parents.
That means more nuclear scans, like MRI + CT.
And when you get hard copies, they always come in CD's.
And if you want them to make duplicates, they kill you on the price of that CD.
Also CD's are so slow, you would want to rip the CD onto a USB 3.0 Flash anyhow for faster loadup, but to do that, you need a optical.
lol...
So yeah, until they start putting your scans online for manual download, i think i'll always need that optical.
I would, but I had to get a new case and there just weren't good options with space for it. I need to somehow go through my old CD's and DVD's for backup or destroying at some point.
WelshBloke
Lifer
- Jan 12, 2005
- 30,685
- 8,408
- 136
I have a BD sata drive in my pc but I just realised that it's been unplugged for over a year! So my answer would be no!
Tbh there's optical drives in the house but none are used for anything. Streaming has taken over ( which given my crap internet is quite impressive really).
Tbh there's optical drives in the house but none are used for anything. Streaming has taken over ( which given my crap internet is quite impressive really).
- Sep 28, 2005
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Thought i share this...
My "incase all hell breaks loose and someone brings me the zombie virus antidote on a 3.5 floppy drive"
now if they give me that on a 5.25, well sorry guys, its the end of the world.
My "incase all hell breaks loose and someone brings me the zombie virus antidote on a 3.5 floppy drive"
now if they give me that on a 5.25, well sorry guys, its the end of the world.
WelshBloke
Lifer
- Jan 12, 2005
- 30,685
- 8,408
- 136
WelshBloke
Lifer
- Jan 12, 2005
- 30,685
- 8,408
- 136
- Sep 28, 2005
- 20,865
- 3,222
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Golgatha
Lifer
- Jul 18, 2003
- 12,660
- 1,548
- 126
I have
I have a Dell internal 3.5in laptop drive that has a micro-USB connection on the back of it for external usage. I think the previous sentence falls under "how do you know I'm over 40 without me telling you I'm over 40".
Hans Gruber
Platinum Member
- Dec 23, 2006
- 2,179
- 1,128
- 136
I have a portable DVD USB burner drive that I use for all newer computers. I have a Dell that I bought 4 or 5 years ago on ebay for $73. It has a Sandy Bridge I5 2400 CPU. I added ram. It has 8GB now. I also added my brand new never used Blue Ray burner drive. Do I use it? Yes, sadly I do. It's more reliable/quicker/easier to use than Rufus for me. I just rip .iso images on it for DVD's. I still have towers (100 discs) Dual layer blank DVD media. I think I have close to 300 blank discs that I can still use. That's single layer DVD, dual layer DVD and close to fifty 700MB CD media.
- Sep 28, 2005
- 20,865
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LOL... i guess when i start making no sense, you can probably change that to how do you know im over 80, oh wait.. what were we talking about?
My favorate usb flash software:
Rufus.
Yumi.
WiNToBootic
And other utilities for if you need FAT file structure for legacy devices.
HPUSBDisk utility from HP.
FAT32Formater
DeathReborn
Platinum Member
- Oct 11, 2005
- 2,751
- 746
- 136
Good news, it's easy to get a 5.25" floppy drive onto a USB connection.
Attaching 5.25″ floppies via USB
Floppy disks are a relic of the past these days. You can still see the odd 3.5″ floppy – and there are even still companies making 3.5″ USB drives you can plug into your system to…
mattfife.com
nOOky
Platinum Member
- Aug 17, 2004
- 2,875
- 1,888
- 136
I try to keep an internal sata drive on at least one of my PC's just in case. For example recently my wife's aunt had an old dvd with pictures from a trip to Antarctica on it that she couldn't access because her new laptop didn't have an optical drive. I put them on a usb thumb drive for her.
I also am in the process of ripping all of the cd's I have losslessly to a hdd on my PC, then I'll back them up. CD's will degrade over time, then they are done.
I'll always keep an optical drive in any new build I make, unless they become unavailable.
I also am in the process of ripping all of the cd's I have losslessly to a hdd on my PC, then I'll back them up. CD's will degrade over time, then they are done.
I'll always keep an optical drive in any new build I make, unless they become unavailable.
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