is CD-ROM necessary

[spoma]

I have a DVD-ROM and a CD-RW. Do I stilll need a CD-ROM? Will it hurt the other two to use them as a CD-ROM also. I wasn't sure if the excessive use would burn them out quick.

 

[Oyeve]

I myself have 3 drive: 1 CDROM, 1 DVD and one burner. I do this because I feel each type of drive should perform its own funtion. DVD for dvd, cdr for burning cdrom for music and SW. i feel that it save wear and tear on the other more exspensive drives. Why would I heavely use my burner for regular cdroms? The burner costs more than a cdrom drive so I would like to prolong its life by not using it unless I am burning.

 

[idcandy]

I've actually never thought about it, but I guess I've always split the tasks up between my DVD and CD-RW drives. I play audio CDs in the CD-RW and use the DVD for data CDs. Personally, I think I'm not going to wear it down any more significantly than if I were to get a third drive. I'm happy with the two.

Plus, on my old computer, I used my CD-RW for everything becasue it read data faster than my 16x CD-ROM drive. That CD-RW is still running, I just installed it in my girlfriend's computer

- idcandy

 

[spoma]

Oyeve
I was doing things the way that you do in that I own all three. But I was trying to balance IDE ports and with two you always end up with devices that copy to eachother on the same IDE. What is your way of getting around this.

 

[DN]

I have a DVD and CDRW.. There's absolutely no reason to have a CDROM.. I use my DVD for audio and data CD's and only use my CDRW for burning.. I have them on the same IDE channel (secondary) and have never had problems copying DIRECTLY (on the fly) from DVD to CDRW..

 

[Oyeve]

<< I was doing things the way that you do in that I own all three. But I was trying to balance IDE ports and with two you always end up with devices that copy to eachother on the same IDE. What is your way of getting around this. >>



SCSI. I'm all SCSI.

 

[Richard98]

I have SCSI DVD, CD-ROM & CDRW. I added the CD-ROM cause my DVD drive would only read 10X & the CDRW will write at 16X.

 

[McCarthy]

Well, you know, I think about it like this....

Playing a cd in a computer is a pretty easy task. Be it in the burner drive, DVD drive or plain old CDrom. The player in your car, now it has a hard life. 140 degree heat sitting in the parking lot all summer, 0 degree days in the winter, vibrations, dust, and it's expected to work day after day without "wearing out".

And most do.

At the same time, all electronics suffer this "it just died for no reason" fate. Now, is this more likely if it's used constantly? Probably. But what's wearing out on a CD drive (genericly speaking), the drive rails? Some Ricoh units had a lubrication problem - one where constant use was probably no worse than letting it sit a lot because of the lube drying. The platter motor? Yeah, it can happen, but not very likely - think back to the car. The laser? True, it can burn out, but more likely it'll quit working because of dust in a little recess you can't get clean than anything.

I gave up on the 'saving the burner' idea years ago after one I babied died anyway. And it's replacement died in a week. The most recent one I use for burning and reading daily and works like new. Guess you have my vote.

--Mc

 

[glenn1]

Jeez... for a minute, i thought you were asking if a CD-ROM was necessary, as if you weren't going to have any optical drives at all... i don't know if i could step back in time to when removable storage = floppy :Q

 

[Oyeve]

Well, if you can afford it and have the room why not? It cant hurt, unless your cooling sux. CD/DVD drives, whether SCSI or ATAPI, do cause some heat. So good cooling is neccessary.

 

[Jen]

depending on if the dvdrom can read all types of cds . if it can then i say you dont need a cdrom. that has been a problem with some brands of dvdroms that they couldnt read all types of cds.....

for myself i have two cdroms..........one cdr.........one dvdrom.......one dvdram.


all scsi........


Jen

 

[Boonesmi]

i agree with some of those above 🙂 if you have a dvd drive there is no need for a cdrom

i can understand not wanting to use a cdrw for your cdrom to hopefully keep it from wearing out.

 

[jlee]

I use my DVD for DVDs/audio, because I didn't run an audio cable from my CD-RW to my sound card. I typically use my CD-RW for data, because it seems to be slightly faster (24x10x40 Lite-On) than my DVD (12x/40x Lite-On).

I might try to get a Kenwood 72x..but then I'd have to start sharing IDEs. As of now, each device (2 HDDs, CD-RW, DVD) has its own channel 🙂