How obsolete are optical discs? Do you still use them?

[BroHamBone]

Although you can have drivers on thumb drives etc, those CD/DVD's that come with the motherboard can be a life saver if you dont have internet...seeing how you need to install the motherboard LAN drivers.

And not everyone has access to a second system to transfer those driver files from.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Those might have been special deals at the time, all the ones I seen are like $50 for a small spindle of maybe 30 discs. In in Canada too so we get royally screwed on tech prices here.

Well, you have a blank media tax in Canuckistan.

Here's a current sale on BD-R, 50-spindle for $16.99 FS @ Newegg

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?p=37363167#post37363167

 

[Magic Carpet]

Glad, that you are still able to buy games on optical media.

 

[mikeymikec]

Glad, that you are still able to buy games on optical media.

Imagine having to do disk swapping during gameplay like the days of floppies

 

[Dave2150]

Optical drive's are now the clear sign of a 'noob' or generally silly person, IMO.

Literally no use for one, unless you don't have internet, or have extremely slow internet.

These days everything is available for download online, plus USB flash memory has far greater capacities/speed than any blu ray disc out there.

Also, backing up data onto optical media is simply a waste of time at this stage, it's so last decade! All the effort of labeling, storing, handling, inserting disc after disc, when you could simply backup to a cheap large hard drive, on your server/Nas/cloud.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Optical drive bays are now the clear sign of a 'noob' or generally silly person, IMO.

Literally no use for one, unless you don't have internet, or have extremely slow internet.

:biggrin::thumbsup:

Good one. What makes you think 5.25" bays are -only- used for optical drives...?

 

[Dave2150]

:biggrin::thumbsup:

Good one. What makes you think 5.25" bays are -only- used for optical drives...?

Obviously a typo, though I guess you never make them huh buddy? ()

 

[MongGrel]

I still have them in all my computers just because I usually buy windows on optical usually in case I get in trouble, like I used to for floppies long ago I guess.

I use USB for almost everything transfer related.

Still have a large hardware HDD RAID array on the main I use for storage.

 

[boed]

I rip all my Blu-Ray discs to my disk array. When I stream the quality is SIGNIFICANTLY better than that highly compressed Netflix crap. Furthermore there are tons of movies Netflix doesn't stream only available on DVD. Optical discs are not obsolete.

 

[Dave2150]

I still have them in all my computers just because I usually buy windows on optical usually in case I get in trouble, like I used to for floppies long ago I guess.

I use USB for almost everything transfer related.

Still have a large hardware HDD RAID array on the main I use for storage.

You can download an ISO of windows directly from Microsoft, then use the product key from your windows purchase to activate it. Installing windows via USB3 is incredibly fast, compared to an installation from an optical disc.

 

[ArisVer]

Optical drive's are now the clear sign of a 'noob' or generally silly person, IMO.

Literally no use for one, unless you don't have internet, or have extremely slow internet.

Not everything is on the internet. Backing up everything you have typed so far in your life should easily fit on a DVD or at least a few of them.


And I also like to have my operating systems on DVD for backup and installation. Maybe 5 minutes more for installing, not a big deal at all.

 

[MongGrel]

You can download an ISO of windows directly from Microsoft, then use the product key from your windows purchase to activate it. Installing windows via USB3 is incredibly fast, compared to an installation from an optical disc.

Yeah, but I rarely have trouble, so I just don't bother yet these days I guess.

I might change my old fashioned ways

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Obviously a typo, though I guess you never make them huh buddy? ()

No, this wasn't about a silly grammatical error. I was being literal.

You have obviously never seen quick-change HDD bays etc... :whiste:

 

[WilliamM2]

You can download an ISO of windows directly from Microsoft, then use the product key from your windows purchase to activate it. Installing windows via USB3 is incredibly fast, compared to an installation from an optical disc.

I created my usb install sticks from the DVD's. Saves all that time downloading, of course it required an optical drive.

If someone needs you to retrieve data off an old disk, do you just tell them you can't do it? To me, that would be embarrassing. I'd feel like a noob...

 

[VirtualLarry]

Optical drive's are now the clear sign of a 'noob' or generally silly person, IMO.

Literally no use for one, unless you don't have internet, or have extremely slow internet.

These days everything is available for download online, plus USB flash memory has far greater capacities/speed than any blu ray disc out there.

Also, backing up data onto optical media is simply a waste of time at this stage, it's so last decade! All the effort of labeling, storing, handling, inserting disc after disc, when you could simply backup to a cheap large hard drive, on your server/Nas/cloud.

Prejudiced attitude much?

USB flash drives are subject to "BadUSB" contamination, and the cheap TLC flash that they use, is very suspect for long-term powered-off data-retention.

And storing your data on a server's HDDs, leaves open the possibility of someone modifying your files on you without your knowledge if they have physical access.

Once burned to an optical write-once disc, they cannot be modified.

Plus, optical discs are still far cheaper per GB than even HDDs. And generally, more tolerable of vibration or dropping.

Your post is the clear sign of a noob knee-jerk response, for not considering all of the issues that might motivate someone to use optical media.

 

[OrionMaster]

Optical discs? Real computers have floppy disks

 

[Dave2150]

Prejudiced attitude much?

USB flash drives are subject to "BadUSB" contamination, and the cheap TLC flash that they use, is very suspect for long-term powered-off data-retention.

And storing your data on a server's HDDs, leaves open the possibility of someone modifying your files on you without your knowledge if they have physical access.

Once burned to an optical write-once disc, they cannot be modified.

Plus, optical discs are still far cheaper per GB than even HDDs. And generally, more tolerable of vibration or dropping.

Your post is the clear sign of a noob knee-jerk response, for not considering all of the issues that might motivate someone to use optical media.

Storing data on multiple hard drives is quite inexpensive these days and far more convenient. Tell me, how might one steal your data from a hard drive when you don't have internet access on the server storing your data? hmm?

Optical media also has it's disadvantages. It can be easily broken, scratched, snapped, damaged in sunlight, easily stolen.

At the end of the way, if you want to spend your time handling loads of optical discs, labelling them all neatly, inserting/ejecting them every single time you want to access them, then have at it buddy. Knock yourself out.

Meanwhile, the majority will simply archive personal/sensitive data to multiple hard drives, with a simply click of a button.

 

[StinkyPinky]

I still burn discs a few times a year. Usually because my father wants me to convert his movie maker crap to DVD format for him. I have a blu ray reader/dvd writer combo drive.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

Storing data on multiple hard drives is quite inexpensive these days and far more convenient. Tell me, how might one steal your data from a hard drive when you don't have internet access on the server storing your data? hmm?

Optical media also has it's disadvantages. It can be easily broken, scratched, snapped, damaged in sunlight, easily stolen.

At the end of the way, if you want to spend your time handling loads of optical discs, labelling them all neatly, inserting/ejecting them every single time you want to access them, then have at it buddy. Knock yourself out.

Meanwhile, the majority will simply archive personal/sensitive data to multiple hard drives, with a simply click of a button.

Ah, now you're making the common fallacy; "if it works for me, then it works for everyone else". Things don't work that way, there's a reason different storage technologies exist...

HDDs are also subject to things like bit-rot, silent data corruption, unrecoverable ecc errors, firmware bugs etc. Coincidently this is why ZFS has been developed. If you're serious about using HDDs for long-term storage, I'd recommend giving it a look.

BTW, agree completely with VirtualLarry. Any form of removable flash-based media (USB, SD cards etc.) should be treated with suspicion for long-term archiving.

 

[mikeymikec]

@ Dave2150

Pretty much every argument/point you've put forward had already been covered / countered in this thread. Furthermore, a number of your arguments against optical discs also apply to some the methods of storage you recommend (cloud / flash / HDD).

So instead of making such arguments and sporting a condescending attitude towards others, try reading the whole thread first and (hopefully) come to the conclusion that if optical discs literally had no advantages over other methods of storage, then a) no-one would be using them any more and therefore b) they wouldn't still be on sale.

Tell me, how might one steal your data from a hard drive when you don't have internet access on the server storing your data? hmm?

You're advocating running an inexpensive server with no Internet access as a cheaper method of data storage than optical discs? Or is this you shifting the goalposts when you first advocated cloud storage then wanted to avoid VirtualLarry's argument about someone else potentially accessing your data?

Optical media also has it's disadvantages. It can be easily broken, scratched, snapped, damaged in sunlight, easily stolen.

No-one is claiming otherwise, nor has anyone said that optical media is the best method of data storage or anything like that. Every method of data storage has advantages and disadvantages, and a good few of those have already been mentioned in this thread.

At the end of the way, if you want to spend your time handling loads of optical discs, labelling them all neatly, inserting/ejecting them every single time you want to access them, then have at it buddy. Knock yourself out.

Most people here have talked about using optical discs as a method of backup (rather than a method of storing commonly-accessed data). If you have enough data, then you have to log/label backups (or 'live' data storage systems). I have a spreadsheet that includes logging info for my HDD, local server and optical disc storage. You also recommended flash storage, which would be quite difficult to label unless you want to start attaching tags.

Meanwhile, the majority will simply archive personal/sensitive data to multiple hard drives, with a simply click of a button.

Which majority is that? I check with every one of my customers to make sure they have a method of backup, let alone multiple.

 

[maddie]

Having read most of the posts, it appears that there are two main user groups.
1)
Those who value long term secure storage and 2) those who value convenience.
These can be combined in many ways for different data.
I want a very secure storage system for certain books, documents and photos and convenience for movie/music collections. The electrical/magnetic only crowd [USB, hard drive, etc] believe that their way is only way. I found out about M-Disc and am using it for my long term secure storage of essential stuff. Surprised that none here have mentioned it so far.

 

[rchunter]

Last year for like a solid 6 months I spent ripping iso's onto my media server. I basicly got rid of a complete wall of cd's & dvd's. I just couldn't deal with it any more. I'm very happy to get my space back, and i'm pretty much done with burning disks.

I have a main media server but then I also keep backups on more bare internal hard drives, those are kept offline and unplugged and in a fireproof vault room.

 

[Insert_Nickname]

The electrical/magnetic only crowd [USB, hard drive, etc] believe that their way is only way.

Some just can't seem to understand the level of thought gone into why some of us are using optical discs. At least for my part, it has been thoroughly thought trough... :hmm:

I found out about M-Disc and am using it for my long term secure storage of essential stuff. Surprised that none here have mentioned it so far.

I've heard about those M-Discs. They don't seem that important if you're using blu-ray already, since standard blu-rays already have an inorganic (phase-change) dye layer. For DVD-writers they seem like a good idea however.

Just avoid blu-ray LTH, those do have an organic dye layer, and would likely be more susceptible to dye layer decomposition then DVDs, because of the much higher information density.

I have a main media server but then I also keep backups on more bare internal hard drives, those are kept offline and unplugged and in a fireproof vault room.

So long as one understands "fire-proof" is a relative term. Ideally you want (a copy of) your backups at another location entirely.

 

[rchunter]

So long as one understands "fire-proof" is a relative term. Ideally you want (a copy of) your backups at another location entirely.

Yeah, I know but it's just a home media collection. If I lose it I lose it. It's not going to be the end of the world. The room is completely brick and steel and has a real vault door on it. I'm not too worried.

 

[BSim500]

Optical drive's are now the clear sign of a 'noob' or generally silly person, IMO. Literally no use for one, unless you don't have internet, or have extremely slow internet.

So if you need to mail a video of a family wedding you filmed to an elderly non-computer literate relative who was unable to attend, are you going to:-

A: Mail a 3TB HDD with USB caddy with the video on it (assuming they have a computer or you'll be mailing one of them too to give them something to plug it into, complete with instructions on how to use it)? Or

B: Burn a standard DVD-Video, mail it in an envelope, they put it in their idiot-proof DVD player, press play (and have a copy they can keep).

ODD's have their use. Aside from the obvious read only use of ripping / playing CD's / DVD's / Blu-Ray's in HTPC's (how do you think "all that stuff online" got there in the first place?), people use them all the time for DVD-Video discs for home recordings, etc. As for "yeah but I can stream everything", as someone said, first of all only a fraction of total DVD/BR catalog is available from streaming providers online, and secondly 3MB/s is not 30MB/s 1080p, no matter how much some salesmen hype it as the "wonder replacement" for Blu-Ray's. For those with little "critical" data, burning to a DVD-RW still makes sense as a dirt cheap tertiary backup, even if you use 2x HDD's as primary & secondary.

Speaking of "generally silly people", that reminds me of a friend who built a HTPC living room PC without an optical drive. "I don't need one - I rip all my stuff to my media server then stream it across the house". So what happened when a few friends came round with a Blu-Ray he didn't already have and wasn't available on his streaming service (local or Internet)? "Hang on, first I'll rip it to disc on my media server upstairs, and then when that's done, I'll add it to the library and stream it back to the TV over the LAN. It'll only take 20-30mins" was greeted with "Don't worry, I literally only live down the road. I'll walk home and get my Blu-Ray player. It'll be 3x quicker than sitting here like nerds waiting for you to 'setup' a simple film..." from one of the girls. The next time she came round, she brought her standalone Blu-Ray player along "just in case he hadn't yet bought himself a Blu-Ray drive for his 'Home Theater' PC" (which he spent 10mins the first time around openly boasting the lack of to exaggerate the "importance" of local streaming and the amount of body energy you can save not having to "press open, put disc in, press play"). It was one of those "dork vs normal person" moments you could've written a 'The Big Bang Theory' style sketch out of...