PS3 optical drive durability

[Dorkenstein]

I heard somewhere that when PS3 optical drives fail, it is most often in relation to running ps2 games a lot. I do play quite a bit of ps2 games on my ps3, is there any truth to what I heard? Thanks, sorry if it's a silly question.

 

[SneakyStuff]

My roommate owns a 60GB PS3 and his optical drive failed playing only PS3 games, it can happen no matter what type of game you're playing. The good news is that Sony stood behind their product and replaced the PS3 with a matching 60GB model. Bottom line is don't worry about it, if something goes wrong you're covered!

 

[sswingle]

Its just like the old rumors that playing PS1 games causes the PS2 to fail. Blah blah blah

 

[Blayze]

My friends PS3 died after a little over a year of use (60GB model). It was all PS3 use, and movies (DVD and Blu-ray). He does use his PS3 a lot everyday, so I'm not sure if that had anything to do with the drive going out that soon or not. Sony repaired it for $150 since it was out of warranty. He actually got the same 60GB PS3 back with all his game saves still on the hard drive.

 

[destrekor]

I'm going to recon that this is really just a matter of typical hardware failure rates. Optical drives die. Some last longer than others, some die within months of purchase. It happens in the PC world too.
But I've actually had great luck with consoles. Other than my very first PS2 being DOA (christmas morning, thing wouldn't turn on), the next day I was able to receive another launch PS2 from the store in exchange, and that PS2, while I don't use it anymore, has never failed me. I think I had one Disc Read Error during my entire time of ownership, and yet people were complaining about the launch PS2's optical drive forever.
My PS3, also a launch 60gb unit, has yet to give me one hiccup. Software has crashed it, but that's the software issue. Not yet has the drive given me problems. I use it for Blu-ray, DVD, and PS3 games.

There have been people with PS3s dying. But there will never be a console manufactured that doesn't fail for someone. It's the nature of electronics, especially when moving parts are involved.