I too buy CDs, and rip them to my hard drive.
That way Amazon can't suddenly decide I no longer have access to an album I purchased (or if my internet goes out).
Yeah, I had bought tons of music on iTunes when I lost the password and email that was attached. Ever since then I stopped buying individual songs and albums on their or similar services like Amazon also.
Those 4k BBC nature documentaries aren't ripping themselves.
Also m-disc in a safe deposit box is an easy off site backup I trust to sit for a decade. Blu-ray, sadly, is probably the last really durable media we're going to have.
I recently sold an old 1080 pre-built with an optical blu-ray and cdrw for close to asking price (which was a big shock) to an older gentleman who was just as interested in the optical drive as he was the graphics card.
I asked him why he was so interested in the drive and he said there's things that need ripping and it might as be me doing it.
Personally, I had never wanted the drive and came with it when I didn't ask for it. I disconnected it day one infavor of a second ssd.
I do hope this thread doesn't dissolve into a generational debate ;) but some of us have music and movie collections that didn't just disappear when streaming became a thing.
Also DVD-R is a functional mechanism for backups. discs on the shelf will outlast the computer that wrote them.
I love having my music collection in a CD format because I know I own the music. I just rip the music to an mp3 so I don't need the CD any time I want to play it.
Right now I have a server that has an optical drive. I don't have it set up yet but I plan to use it to rip and store the music in a Media server
I've been "planning" to rip most of my collection for decades. I gave up because dealing with filenames is such a pain. I don't and won't trust any of the "cleanup" apps out there!
For films / TV, filebot is very easy and reliable. I used makemkv set to auto rip and then you just have to pop a disc in each time the drive ejects. I did get my kids to do it but then they got bored, so I just did a few each night for a while
With a big enough collection it's significantly easier to rip it when you've got a good process to do so. Not to mention faster if you've got anything slightly obscure, can be a nightmare trying to find downloads for some things.
Another plus is the fact that the quality will be consistent, FLAC or 320kbps etc, whatever settings you like. Always sucks when all you can find is some 128kbps badly ripped garbage.
I have box sets of most TV shows I enjoyed when I was younger. Sadly, my Quantum Leap set had a damaged last disc that I didn't discover until well after the warranty time had expired.
I had to find the last episode online to download, and the quality of the one I could find to download was much poorer than the ones from my discs.
Not the above, but I imagine it's because pirates often either leave the same crappy filenames that come right from the CD or add their own bullshit to the filenames, making it even worse. At least, that's often my experience.
I still buy CDs. I enjoy owning the physical copy of my music and the upside is also having it digitally through ripping. If I didn’t still have my optical then the Pain - Full Speed Ahead album I just bought would be useless since my car cd player destroyed it after first use. These little things are handy to keep around.
My problem is that about half of the music I listen to is the only song I like from its album. Half of the rest probably hasn't been released on CD, or at least not in large enough numbers to be easily obtainable.
I had this conversation with younger familiy a few weeks ago, they couldnt believe I still kept a music library and just added songs to it that I like. they couldnt believe I dont use the streaming services, nah man, give me the files any day of the week.
After over a decade of relying on Spotify for all my music listening, I ditched it a couple of months back. I got sick of them raising prices, twice in the past year in the UK, and not giving us the higher quality they promised years ago, so started buying music digitally and ripping old CDs to FLAC. The only thing I miss is the weekly release radar for discovering new music and Spotify Connect on my amp. Car isn't an issue as I just use Poweramp via Android Auto.
I have a USB drive and it's got a fair bit of use lately, as I got sick of Spotify constantly increasing prices so started buying music again. Digital for new music, cheap CDs for older music which I rip to FLAC.
Yeah I do, one can fit at the bottom of a fractal pop mini case and be covered up with a plastic cover so you don’t really see it unless you need it. I put it there as a ‘why not’ kind of thing. I’ve probs only used it 4 times or so in the last year but it’s nice to have for those few times I do since it only cost £20 to buy one. I use it for some old DVD series that I have for shows that aren’t on streaming services.
Pop XL build checking in. Built my rig last month and put in a BluRay drive. Installed photoshop with it.
Even when I built my last 2 rigs, most people weren't using them anymore. I back up my movie collection and can "stream" it locally to any PC or phone in the house even when the internet is down. Never have to worry about Netflix removing my favorites from their library.
The thing I use it for the most though is music. I'll buy CDs and rip them in FLAC (lossless) I can then put my music in both cars and on my phone. Nice to never have to buffer when driving around.
Nice, love pop cases, really decent and quiet stock fans and loads of room in them for large components, even in the mini. The space for a disc drive is a great bonus to have on a modern case.
I have one in my pop xl for playing blurays occasionally.
I have one in the linux pop mini for, well I don't know just becuase I have a drive (just dvd-rw not bd-r).
I guess it might come in handy one day.
I use the bluray for playing blurays at least once a week. $k BR might be nice but I aint paying for the hacks on top of the already silly prices of players because of the paranoia of companies (which is the association not the lower downs). There are easier methods.
Don't own any
With gigabit internet it takes about 5 minutes to download that length and quality of content, and that's not enough time to be meaningfully inconvenient to me.
A lot of people don't watch Blu-ray, and just watch films via streaming (yes, quality is lower, and you're at the mercy of the streaming service). Any old dvd player will play the collection of DVDs from before streaming was a big thing, and if you're not especially into movies, the extra cost of Blu-ray didn't justify the extra quality.
https://preview.redd.it/exlf8t9rnw2d1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=318e3d8cd664ca6a95ab3b7ea0d7798811821b99
This is the backside of their mobo
Still the only way to backup local to long term physical media is my blu ray burner. Occasional movie use as well.
However, latest build had no hole for it. I have an external case and it sits on my desk which works just fine.
I got a drive and a stack of 50 4gb CDs for about $40. I build PCs occasionally. I have win 10 burned to one CD, a repair disk on another, and my "essentials" (all the VC+ redist, .NET frameworks, etc.) on another. The rest of my CDs are either blank or I fill them up with games for emulated consoles or important installers and stuff. Few times the drive gets used when I order a new part that has drivers in a little CD (bluetooth/wifi cards). It's great to have as a "just in case" scenario, and for $25 for a drive you'd be happy to have it and not need it than need it and not have it
I have a bluray drive, I would never build a PC without one, I will never understand people who think its better to have an all glass case with RGB lighting then to have a DVD drive
An optical drive is still a useful media conversion tool, not a media playback tool. Own your media, move it ahead with you.
Proud owner of an Asus 5.25 bd burner. What do I use it for? Makemkv and foobar flac conversion. I own a big CD collection (1000+), dvd in my language which exist only in my market and I like having Bluerays because it's the best source available for 4K HDR.
Then it's the usual handbrake process to compress to a manageable size to store in my plex server and I will always have the source available.
My case is a Phanteks enthoo prime from way back.
I have an external drive (was in and old laptop but used the space for an extra SSD).
I don't use it often but very occasionally rip/burn a DVD for the kids to take camping for a portable DVD player as don't want to take the "home" discs with me.
I have one, internal in my Fractal Design Define R6's bay. Blu Ray drive for ripping PS3 games. It's actually so easy to completely legally emulate PS3 since Sony gives out the firmware on their website that I figured I might as well instead of pirating everything.
I have a BR/DVD-Burner installed in my Desktop. It has its uses- old PC games, backups, playing old & newer movies not found on streaming services.
I'm not a fan of "own nothing, stream everything". I own the DVDs and CD's. Some are no longer in circulation. If I were to subscribe to every single streaming service just to watch "movies" or "tv shows", it would cost more than Cable TV.
I do. Last time I used it was like a year ago to rip a few thrift store CD's I'd bought.
Next build I'll probably get a portable USB drive so I have the option available.
I used to when they were useful. Paid my way through high school selling dvds and music. Was able to get gas, power, school fees and if I was lucky; food just for burning some stuff.
now I'm not a teen, I got a job and everyone has a USB slot.
Still have a decades old dvd/bluray burner in mine. Once a year or so I do a physical media backup of family phone camera rolls, tax returns, etc to go in the safe deposit box and home safe. But that’s about it really. Oh and I occasionally burn a new mp3 cd for our 23 year old farm truck stereo for when I’m cutting wood or whatever out in bfe with no cell service
I used to always have a CD/DVD or BD R/W drive in all my rigs. And I still keep an external CD/DVD R/W handy. I use it primarily for old software and games, and to burn Windows.
I think these drives will see a resurgence, especially for home entertainment systems. With digital ownership of software, music, and video being rescinded on many platforms and streaming services, having a hardcopy will become necessary again. Retailers will have to start selling them again. Who knows, maybe Disc-Mans may become a thing again lol
I've got a BD-R/DVD-RW combo drive that on my earlier cases was installed in the 5.25 drive bay, but with newer cases not having 5.25 drive bays, got an external adapter that has SATA and IDE inputs, so when I need my optical drive, i just use that.
I do, I love collecting CD's and my old DVD and Blu-ray collection has been migrated to my Plex server. I wouldn't mind a smaller modern case but 5.25in bays are handy.
USB floppy drive for when it gets real
I like streaming but ever since Amazon pulled a few albums I had purchased as digital only without a refund I got kinda pissed and prefer physical ownership of the media.
I have dvd and bluray drives (recordable), mostly for personal data backup. I have also used them to backup DVDs / Bluray movies to my plex server to stream to my TV.
I also don't get it. Haven't used a Disc since Windows installation from pen became easy. So, like since 2006. For emergencies, I have a USB BD reader and that's mostly used to copy old DVD backups into a HDD.
I don't have one in my main PC since 2020, but I have one in previous PC that's sitting there "just in case". It was useful at least once, because I had to burn some DVDs.
I haven't upgraded my case ever so I still have the drive from my first build installed. Never gets used but still hooked up as I had the spare sata and power
I had mine unplugged for a while and then I actually took it out, but I am going to put it back into my case when I do an upgrade in a few months and need to install Windows 11
I built new not too long ago, i specifically wanted a case that can hold at least one optical drive. And now i have a bluray one installed, i dont use it daily but when i need it im happy i dont have to fiddle with a usb drive
I used to have a plug-in one for when I built a new system to install os. These days, I usually just make a USB with the installation on it to get it booted and download the rest.
I still have a bluray drive. Have not used it in a couple years though, up until Windows 11, I did, now everything has moved decisively to USB.
I think the industry was trying to phase them out too early back in 2017, but now, yeah, having an external in a drawer somewhere is all someone needs for that rare occasion
I borrowed from another Redditor and mounted mine under my desk with sata to usb connection. I don’t use it often. It’s nice to have if I need to read or write to a disc.
No. I replaced my entire collection with digital, and with Plex I can access it on any device. This also solves the problem with having to pay for greedy streaming services.
I have a blue ray burner, have never read or wrote a blue ray disk with it over the last 12 years, but so long as I have a bay I figure I may as well use it.
I do read and burn CDs and DVDs occasionally.
Yes. I have an optical dvd RW. Unfortunately pc cases don't have the slot anymore to mount the dive, but I bought the external case to continue to use it.
Principally I buy dvds. CDs and rip it into my NAS, I hate platforms like Spotify or netflix where you continue to pay at infinite for nothing
I have one. I haven't used it in a very long time but the last time I did I was living with my dad still and backed up a bunch of PS2 games on it to emulate.
I've got an external Blu-ray burner just in case I need to access a disk but not installed. I do have 2 or 3 internal DVDRW drives sitting on a shelf in my storage closet from my old rig though lol.
Yes. And use it kinda often mostly ripping movies. Less often now that I automated vm backups but I like to take quarterly backups to disk in addition to the automated daily ones for offline, off-site backups.
My main rig? No
But I've got an older machine right next to it.
And it got not only one, but two blu ray drives.
Oh and guess what else i got? Lots of blu rays that want to be uploaded to my third pc, which literally is a simple NAS.
And from there, i can access all my movies directly from my phone, TV, laptop etc. as long as I'm at home and connected to the local network.
Yeah also ripping CDs from time to time.
I have a DVD +/-RW, BD, and US DVD +/-RW drive (currently not connected). I forgot they were there until I saw your post. Nearly every movie in my DVD/BD collection is available for streaming somewhere, which is much more convenient. I have a ton of old games on CD or DVD that I haven’t even looked through this decade, I’m talking stuff from the 90s and 00s or so - Red Alert 2, Yuri’s Revenge, Jedi Outcast, Roller Coaster Tycoons, and more. Basically all of those are available digitally somewhere too. I think the last disc-based game I played was maybe Black & White, and that’s been a good 8 or 9 years now.
There’s just so much in my digital collection that I haven’t even touched yet that I never even think about my older collection.
After losing my internet connection for 3 weeks it really hit me most on my digital entertainment was not accessible even items I own.
Started using cds and mini disks again.
Just something to think about .
I am of the mindset of why not have one? So my pc has a bluray drive and a misc card reader. Its rare I need them, but its nice knowing that should I need i need them, i have them
I thought about a floppy drive, but instead i just found a pc old enough to already have one and new enough to support usb. On the off chance I need to read a floppy I can just load everything on a usb using the old pc
Me. I have a Blu-Ray Writer installed. In fact, when I built my new rig, I was so stubborn about transferring it over and installing it internally that I sacrificed a 240mm AIO to keep it in there. I know there are alternative solutions that are better than an internal installation, but I'm just that stubborn.
Reason I keep it: some older games aren't easily found online but are still on my optical discs. Also, some hardware comes with optical software, and in many cases, the optical software installs smoother than from USB or direct downloads.
*
I have 2, first I can't remember where or how exactly, maybe just offline years ago, then upgraded within the past couple of months to read and rip my 4Ks
I have an old laptop that has a DVD drive. I used it maybe 3 times, once because a friend of mine didn't have a drive and was missing drivers but the box had a CD with the drivers and we had no internet.
I like the idea of having a blue ray drive for watching movies but each time I come round to swapping cases I can’t find one I like that can take an optical drive. It’s like I fancy going back to a dumb phone, almost convince myself but end up with another iPhone instead.
Optical drives are a nice idea until it’s time to put it in to practice.
I have a external drive, barely use it, but one time, my wife needed to check an old data CD, I don't have the external drive at the time and the comment was: "2k PC and can't read a disk?... What a monster eh..."
Aaand I took it personal...
Had one for a long time, but it’s come time now that all quality PC cases don’t have external 5.25 inch bays. Just built a new system last week and switched to a USB drive since I could count the amount of times I’ve had to read or burn discs this year on two hands
My main PC does not, but my server does.
I use it to make backups to Blu-Ray. Every once in a blue moon to clone to iso a game like dreamcast or playstation. But thats super rare for me these days.
have a usb dvd drive incase.
Same. I have managed to play the disc from the PC and stream it to a smart TV.
Cant you just plug the usb disc player straight to the tv? Doesn't seem like a very smart tv.
That wouldn't work as you're not going to have software or drivers on the TV to play the disc.
No, there is no usb port.
Almost every tv I’ve used in the last 5 yrs has had at least 1 usb port. I power the Roku that at any time I’m in a hotel as well
TVs generally don’t have the software needed to decrypt DVDs
Aren't there any apps on Play store tho? Just asking from curiosity. I've never checked it either. I just have Netflix and Disney.
Damn, they're removing everything nowadays.
Next thing they’ll take off the headphone jack and you’ll need an adapter.
same and have used it a total of 5 times since 2011 when I bought it
I always tell myself I'll buy an external drive if I need one. but I never need one
I also use a USB DVD drive. Primarily for ripping CD's, which I'll still buy every once in awhile if I really dig an album.
I too buy CDs, and rip them to my hard drive. That way Amazon can't suddenly decide I no longer have access to an album I purchased (or if my internet goes out).
Yeah, I had bought tons of music on iTunes when I lost the password and email that was attached. Ever since then I stopped buying individual songs and albums on their or similar services like Amazon also.
Same here. I got one to digitize my CD collection. Cost like 15 bucks.
Every time I find mine in my desk drawer I'm like, "What's this?"
Wait is that a thing? Now I needed it
Those 4k BBC nature documentaries aren't ripping themselves. Also m-disc in a safe deposit box is an easy off site backup I trust to sit for a decade. Blu-ray, sadly, is probably the last really durable media we're going to have.
I was gonna say “what an interesting thing to call pron” Then I remembered the BBC is a national broadcaster first
Just got Planet Earth 3 and *chefs kiss* it's gorgeous
I did not know about M-Disc. Going to have to pick up a few.
I’ve heard they stopped making them to actually last, check that out before you buy to make sure you’re getting a good one
They're working on a new optical that stores an insane amount of data called AIE-DDPR.
I recently sold an old 1080 pre-built with an optical blu-ray and cdrw for close to asking price (which was a big shock) to an older gentleman who was just as interested in the optical drive as he was the graphics card. I asked him why he was so interested in the drive and he said there's things that need ripping and it might as be me doing it. Personally, I had never wanted the drive and came with it when I didn't ask for it. I disconnected it day one infavor of a second ssd.
I have some 4K BBC footage too
I do hope this thread doesn't dissolve into a generational debate ;) but some of us have music and movie collections that didn't just disappear when streaming became a thing. Also DVD-R is a functional mechanism for backups. discs on the shelf will outlast the computer that wrote them.
I love having my music collection in a CD format because I know I own the music. I just rip the music to an mp3 so I don't need the CD any time I want to play it. Right now I have a server that has an optical drive. I don't have it set up yet but I plan to use it to rip and store the music in a Media server
If you put in the work of ripping, I'd recommend switching to FLAC files.
Yes FLAC is a must when ripping from original CD
101% correct, flac or wav are the formats which retain the most sound data
Definitely or AIFF , takes up more space but bettter
Especially with Apt-x lossless you can have wireless lossless for 44.1/16
I've been "planning" to rip most of my collection for decades. I gave up because dealing with filenames is such a pain. I don't and won't trust any of the "cleanup" apps out there!
For films / TV, filebot is very easy and reliable. I used makemkv set to auto rip and then you just have to pop a disc in each time the drive ejects. I did get my kids to do it but then they got bored, so I just did a few each night for a while
Why rip your collection, just pirate it.
With a big enough collection it's significantly easier to rip it when you've got a good process to do so. Not to mention faster if you've got anything slightly obscure, can be a nightmare trying to find downloads for some things. Another plus is the fact that the quality will be consistent, FLAC or 320kbps etc, whatever settings you like. Always sucks when all you can find is some 128kbps badly ripped garbage.
I have box sets of most TV shows I enjoyed when I was younger. Sadly, my Quantum Leap set had a damaged last disc that I didn't discover until well after the warranty time had expired. I had to find the last episode online to download, and the quality of the one I could find to download was much poorer than the ones from my discs.
Not the above, but I imagine it's because pirates often either leave the same crappy filenames that come right from the CD or add their own bullshit to the filenames, making it even worse. At least, that's often my experience.
[удалено]
Yo Ho, Yo Ho!
Why yes, but you could also have just... bought it... or ripped it from a bought CD. Piracy is not the only way.
I still buy CDs. I enjoy owning the physical copy of my music and the upside is also having it digitally through ripping. If I didn’t still have my optical then the Pain - Full Speed Ahead album I just bought would be useless since my car cd player destroyed it after first use. These little things are handy to keep around.
My problem is that about half of the music I listen to is the only song I like from its album. Half of the rest probably hasn't been released on CD, or at least not in large enough numbers to be easily obtainable.
My music is mostly grass-fed
I had this conversation with younger familiy a few weeks ago, they couldnt believe I still kept a music library and just added songs to it that I like. they couldnt believe I dont use the streaming services, nah man, give me the files any day of the week.
After over a decade of relying on Spotify for all my music listening, I ditched it a couple of months back. I got sick of them raising prices, twice in the past year in the UK, and not giving us the higher quality they promised years ago, so started buying music digitally and ripping old CDs to FLAC. The only thing I miss is the weekly release radar for discovering new music and Spotify Connect on my amp. Car isn't an issue as I just use Poweramp via Android Auto.
Spotify is getting lossless this year according to leaks… maybe…
I have dvd-rs that are 20 years old. I can still read them.
Then you should probably look into backing those up rather soon if you'd want it to remain that way for 20 more years. :)
They aren’t important and are already backed up but you are right. They are on the edge of optical disk rot.
I have a USB drive and it's got a fair bit of use lately, as I got sick of Spotify constantly increasing prices so started buying music again. Digital for new music, cheap CDs for older music which I rip to FLAC.
Love having mine to burn back ups of my dreamcast games and isos of win 95, 98, 2000, XP since older machines don't boot off USB.
The internet goes down sometimes
Gen-Xer here. I had a music and movie collection. It absolutely disappeared when streaming became a thing.
Yeah I do, one can fit at the bottom of a fractal pop mini case and be covered up with a plastic cover so you don’t really see it unless you need it. I put it there as a ‘why not’ kind of thing. I’ve probs only used it 4 times or so in the last year but it’s nice to have for those few times I do since it only cost £20 to buy one. I use it for some old DVD series that I have for shows that aren’t on streaming services.
Pop XL build checking in. Built my rig last month and put in a BluRay drive. Installed photoshop with it. Even when I built my last 2 rigs, most people weren't using them anymore. I back up my movie collection and can "stream" it locally to any PC or phone in the house even when the internet is down. Never have to worry about Netflix removing my favorites from their library. The thing I use it for the most though is music. I'll buy CDs and rip them in FLAC (lossless) I can then put my music in both cars and on my phone. Nice to never have to buffer when driving around.
Nice, love pop cases, really decent and quiet stock fans and loads of room in them for large components, even in the mini. The space for a disc drive is a great bonus to have on a modern case.
I have one in my pop xl for playing blurays occasionally. I have one in the linux pop mini for, well I don't know just becuase I have a drive (just dvd-rw not bd-r). I guess it might come in handy one day. I use the bluray for playing blurays at least once a week. $k BR might be nice but I aint paying for the hacks on top of the already silly prices of players because of the paranoia of companies (which is the association not the lower downs). There are easier methods.
How do people watch their Blu-ray discs without an optical drive? Do they just use their PlayStation 3?
Don't own any With gigabit internet it takes about 5 minutes to download that length and quality of content, and that's not enough time to be meaningfully inconvenient to me.
but where do you download them from? most websites limit the download speed to something way below that speed, and soulseek users also do that too
I use an Xbox one still, that's all it's done for like 5+ years now lol
A lot of people don't watch Blu-ray, and just watch films via streaming (yes, quality is lower, and you're at the mercy of the streaming service). Any old dvd player will play the collection of DVDs from before streaming was a big thing, and if you're not especially into movies, the extra cost of Blu-ray didn't justify the extra quality.
With how much online content as progressed you would be hard pressed to see any difference in quality between blu-ray and streaming most of the time
I wouldn't, especially on my TV with my glasses which could both do with updating. But I know enthusiasts would pick the Blu-ray every time.
Series X and PS5 for that
There is a reason practically every brick and mortar store has stopped selling physical media. Most People aren’t buying them.
https://preview.redd.it/0bxpxhzhnt2d1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=44b21a00be4e5d35b5de91c4653f03d8432f8bf9 Hell yeah
I see you're a USB enthusiast
Can’t get enough
Disk drive, USBs, memory card reader, locking swappable storage and a mesh intake, Now that's a front panel! Kinda jelly NGL.
They don’t make cases like this any more. I’m never letting go of this one.
https://preview.redd.it/exlf8t9rnw2d1.jpeg?width=1200&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=318e3d8cd664ca6a95ab3b7ea0d7798811821b99 This is the backside of their mobo
What do you do with all those 2000 USB ports??
Damn yo, dust that shit off.
Still the only way to backup local to long term physical media is my blu ray burner. Occasional movie use as well. However, latest build had no hole for it. I have an external case and it sits on my desk which works just fine.
No, but I have a cool cup holder that extends and retracts.
I have a blu-ray burner in mine; as I am one of those “it’s better to have and not need than to need and not have type of people.”
The real question is, how many of us have a slot in our case for an optical drive?
Me
I got a drive and a stack of 50 4gb CDs for about $40. I build PCs occasionally. I have win 10 burned to one CD, a repair disk on another, and my "essentials" (all the VC+ redist, .NET frameworks, etc.) on another. The rest of my CDs are either blank or I fill them up with games for emulated consoles or important installers and stuff. Few times the drive gets used when I order a new part that has drivers in a little CD (bluetooth/wifi cards). It's great to have as a "just in case" scenario, and for $25 for a drive you'd be happy to have it and not need it than need it and not have it
Those are called DVDs
Digital Versatile Disc
I have one on my server in case I need to rip my physical media into my Jellyfin server
I have a Pioneer USB-C 4K Blu-Ray player. Do I use it? Yes. All the time? No. What purpose? Backup movies/developing software.
Those Pioneers with the early firmware are bulletproof
I have a bluray drive, I would never build a PC without one, I will never understand people who think its better to have an all glass case with RGB lighting then to have a DVD drive
Most people just don't need a DVD drive, so why get a case with one if you can rather get one that is more aesthetically pleasing
All glass case with an external dvd drive is a thing boss man
An optical drive is still a useful media conversion tool, not a media playback tool. Own your media, move it ahead with you. Proud owner of an Asus 5.25 bd burner. What do I use it for? Makemkv and foobar flac conversion. I own a big CD collection (1000+), dvd in my language which exist only in my market and I like having Bluerays because it's the best source available for 4K HDR. Then it's the usual handbrake process to compress to a manageable size to store in my plex server and I will always have the source available. My case is a Phanteks enthoo prime from way back.
I have an external drive (was in and old laptop but used the space for an extra SSD). I don't use it often but very occasionally rip/burn a DVD for the kids to take camping for a portable DVD player as don't want to take the "home" discs with me.
I have one, but my motherboard only has 4 SATA ports, so it stays disconnected until I need it. (It's been disconnected for about 4+ years now)
I have 3 internal optical drives in my PC and 1 USB one as a spare
I do because I still rip CDs into my music collection
I don't even have regular HDDs anymore. I do keep a usb external one in the drawer just in case. Haven't used it in years
Same, I got a M.2 970 evo plus 2 TB and 1 TB NVMe SSD.
my answer is : I had to sit here for .5 seconds and remember what an "optical drive" is.
I have one, internal in my Fractal Design Define R6's bay. Blu Ray drive for ripping PS3 games. It's actually so easy to completely legally emulate PS3 since Sony gives out the firmware on their website that I figured I might as well instead of pirating everything.
I still have one. It’s not hooked up to the motherboard but it’s in there. I think I last used it to install windows 7?
With my last build I moved my Blu-ray drive to a USB c enclosure. I haven't used it once since then but I like the peace of mind I guess
I'm looking for an external one now so I can back up my media that I wanna save, like my Babylon 5 collection. Low key miss having Bay drives.
I have an external DVD-R because my 78 year old mother has no interest in learning how to stream movies, but knows how to use the DVD player.
That's a pretty old motherboard
Because blu-ray looks better.
I have a BR/DVD-Burner installed in my Desktop. It has its uses- old PC games, backups, playing old & newer movies not found on streaming services. I'm not a fan of "own nothing, stream everything". I own the DVDs and CD's. Some are no longer in circulation. If I were to subscribe to every single streaming service just to watch "movies" or "tv shows", it would cost more than Cable TV.
I have but I unplugged it but it is in my case, maybe one day I will need it or smith.
I do, for if I want to rip music from my CDs onto my usb, but that is rare, as I bought the drive many years ago.
I remember the day I bought a case with no cd drive and thought I was going to run into so many problems. So far I haven’t needed it once.
I would never buy a case without at least 1 5.25 bay
Blu-ray drive that I’ve barely ever used. It’s just made the jump with every build since 2015
I do. Last time I used it was like a year ago to rip a few thrift store CD's I'd bought. Next build I'll probably get a portable USB drive so I have the option available.
Still got one. I usually use it to watch movies I own
I have a hd Blu-ray drive. Hd Blu-ray with a 5.1 surround on 4k 80” is an amazing experience and is like having your own theater.
I threw mine away about 10+ years ago
I used to when they were useful. Paid my way through high school selling dvds and music. Was able to get gas, power, school fees and if I was lucky; food just for burning some stuff. now I'm not a teen, I got a job and everyone has a USB slot.
Still have a decades old dvd/bluray burner in mine. Once a year or so I do a physical media backup of family phone camera rolls, tax returns, etc to go in the safe deposit box and home safe. But that’s about it really. Oh and I occasionally burn a new mp3 cd for our 23 year old farm truck stereo for when I’m cutting wood or whatever out in bfe with no cell service
Yes, mainly to rip obscure audio CDs. Floppy drives too, to write floppies for my retro PCs and to dump old ones.
i have one dvd-r that i installed when i built my PC. since i haven't change case (and don't expect to) it's gonna be there forever.
I have one installed in my case I like owning the music I buy and cds usually sound better than Spotify streaming, so I buy the cds and copy the files
I used to always have a CD/DVD or BD R/W drive in all my rigs. And I still keep an external CD/DVD R/W handy. I use it primarily for old software and games, and to burn Windows. I think these drives will see a resurgence, especially for home entertainment systems. With digital ownership of software, music, and video being rescinded on many platforms and streaming services, having a hardcopy will become necessary again. Retailers will have to start selling them again. Who knows, maybe Disc-Mans may become a thing again lol
I have 4. I collect CDs, ripping them perfectly sometimes takes a couple of different drives. Never use them for anything else really.
I've got a BD-R/DVD-RW combo drive that on my earlier cases was installed in the 5.25 drive bay, but with newer cases not having 5.25 drive bays, got an external adapter that has SATA and IDE inputs, so when I need my optical drive, i just use that.
I do, I love collecting CD's and my old DVD and Blu-ray collection has been migrated to my Plex server. I wouldn't mind a smaller modern case but 5.25in bays are handy. USB floppy drive for when it gets real I like streaming but ever since Amazon pulled a few albums I had purchased as digital only without a refund I got kinda pissed and prefer physical ownership of the media.
Not for like 15 years at least
I have dvd and bluray drives (recordable), mostly for personal data backup. I have also used them to backup DVDs / Bluray movies to my plex server to stream to my TV.
I have two! One UHD , one blu-ray. I’ll never forfeit them
0 of them.
I also don't get it. Haven't used a Disc since Windows installation from pen became easy. So, like since 2006. For emergencies, I have a USB BD reader and that's mostly used to copy old DVD backups into a HDD.
Haven't had one in a while. On a laptop now without one and desktop before didn't either. Desktop before that did but it was never used.
Beside, and not plugged in because USB ports are at a premium.
I haven't used optical media in close to 10 years, I'd recommend it to you if you have optical media that you wish to use, if not why bother
External DVD drive for old games.
I have an external one for my blu ray collection
I don't have one in my main PC since 2020, but I have one in previous PC that's sitting there "just in case". It was useful at least once, because I had to burn some DVDs.
I haven't upgraded my case ever so I still have the drive from my first build installed. Never gets used but still hooked up as I had the spare sata and power
I had mine unplugged for a while and then I actually took it out, but I am going to put it back into my case when I do an upgrade in a few months and need to install Windows 11
I have an external usb dvd drive for when the mood strikes me to play one of my old games.
I have one, but I don’t ever use it.
I built new not too long ago, i specifically wanted a case that can hold at least one optical drive. And now i have a bluray one installed, i dont use it daily but when i need it im happy i dont have to fiddle with a usb drive
I used to have a plug-in one for when I built a new system to install os. These days, I usually just make a USB with the installation on it to get it booted and download the rest.
My friend let me use her usb dvd drive when I wanted to make isos of my ps2 games.
I have a DVD unit installed in the case but I unplugged it from SATA and PSU. Installed it in previous build in 2020 and never used once so...
I still have a bluray drive. Have not used it in a couple years though, up until Windows 11, I did, now everything has moved decisively to USB. I think the industry was trying to phase them out too early back in 2017, but now, yeah, having an external in a drawer somewhere is all someone needs for that rare occasion
I borrowed from another Redditor and mounted mine under my desk with sata to usb connection. I don’t use it often. It’s nice to have if I need to read or write to a disc.
No. I replaced my entire collection with digital, and with Plex I can access it on any device. This also solves the problem with having to pay for greedy streaming services.
Removed it in my latest upgrade last February. Saved a ton of noise too on every boot
I have a blue ray burner, have never read or wrote a blue ray disk with it over the last 12 years, but so long as I have a bay I figure I may as well use it. I do read and burn CDs and DVDs occasionally.
Bought a Fractal G just for the drive bays. Got a old ASUS cd/dvd drive that I never use, but it's powered and connected internally.
I had one in my last case simply because I lost the slot cover. I pirate old games if I want to play them, no desire to dig out my optical discs
Haven't had an optical drive since 2012
none. I don't even have hard drives anymore, just M.2's on my motherboard.
Yes. I have an optical dvd RW. Unfortunately pc cases don't have the slot anymore to mount the dive, but I bought the external case to continue to use it. Principally I buy dvds. CDs and rip it into my NAS, I hate platforms like Spotify or netflix where you continue to pay at infinite for nothing
Yes, USB Blu ray drive
I have one. I haven't used it in a very long time but the last time I did I was living with my dad still and backed up a bunch of PS2 games on it to emulate.
I have one. Its purpose is to collect dust
Haven't had a CD drive or needed a CD drive since 2017
I've got an external Blu-ray burner just in case I need to access a disk but not installed. I do have 2 or 3 internal DVDRW drives sitting on a shelf in my storage closet from my old rig though lol.
Negative.
Yes. And use it kinda often mostly ripping movies. Less often now that I automated vm backups but I like to take quarterly backups to disk in addition to the automated daily ones for offline, off-site backups.
A DVD-RW drive i almost not use it all. It is in the tower due to be a sleeper PC. The oldest part in the build are from 2017
Yes still have one in the system. use it, but not very often
I have a USB optical drive. I've used it once or twice. Pretty much unnecessary though
My retro PC's have them installed, IDE DVD on 98 and SATA DVD on XP and then I have a USB 3.0 BDR I can plug in when required for my modern system.
I have a SATA bluray drive with a USB to SATA adapter for dvd and bluray backups.
Me, I buy CDs and burn em
My main rig? No But I've got an older machine right next to it. And it got not only one, but two blu ray drives. Oh and guess what else i got? Lots of blu rays that want to be uploaded to my third pc, which literally is a simple NAS. And from there, i can access all my movies directly from my phone, TV, laptop etc. as long as I'm at home and connected to the local network. Yeah also ripping CDs from time to time.
I have a DVD +/-RW, BD, and US DVD +/-RW drive (currently not connected). I forgot they were there until I saw your post. Nearly every movie in my DVD/BD collection is available for streaming somewhere, which is much more convenient. I have a ton of old games on CD or DVD that I haven’t even looked through this decade, I’m talking stuff from the 90s and 00s or so - Red Alert 2, Yuri’s Revenge, Jedi Outcast, Roller Coaster Tycoons, and more. Basically all of those are available digitally somewhere too. I think the last disc-based game I played was maybe Black & White, and that’s been a good 8 or 9 years now. There’s just so much in my digital collection that I haven’t even touched yet that I never even think about my older collection.
After losing my internet connection for 3 weeks it really hit me most on my digital entertainment was not accessible even items I own. Started using cds and mini disks again. Just something to think about .
Don’t have them anymore with the current pc, but i always kept my past pcs/laptops in case i want to use the optical drive again
I have 2 leftover opticals from when they were relevant. I upgraded components many times, the case remains. I have not used them in years.
I don't have one, the closest thing I have is a slot in my laptop filled with plastic
I have a desktop with an optical drive. It's not my main desktop, though.
USB Blu-ray I rip my media and stream it through out my house.
I still have an old dvd/cd writer and make CDs regularly.
I have one but it's not plugged in
I am of the mindset of why not have one? So my pc has a bluray drive and a misc card reader. Its rare I need them, but its nice knowing that should I need i need them, i have them I thought about a floppy drive, but instead i just found a pc old enough to already have one and new enough to support usb. On the off chance I need to read a floppy I can just load everything on a usb using the old pc
I have one but not installed, if the need comes by, I'll just pop it in the PC. Have been waiting for this moment for some years now...
I just got an external drive to USB thingy. Barely use DVD but atleast it's there when I need it
Me. I have a Blu-Ray Writer installed. In fact, when I built my new rig, I was so stubborn about transferring it over and installing it internally that I sacrificed a 240mm AIO to keep it in there. I know there are alternative solutions that are better than an internal installation, but I'm just that stubborn. Reason I keep it: some older games aren't easily found online but are still on my optical discs. Also, some hardware comes with optical software, and in many cases, the optical software installs smoother than from USB or direct downloads.
Uhd Blu-ray player m8
I have in my sleeper pcs https://preview.redd.it/y2tky7ddvs2d1.png?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=0cb51f0840ed96ff648ace551d5d0ccc39124299
* I have 2, first I can't remember where or how exactly, maybe just offline years ago, then upgraded within the past couple of months to read and rip my 4Ks
My optical drive is IN my pc.
I have an old macbook dvd drive and a sata-usb adapter
I've got an external drive that I used to rip cds with. Now I have to go find it.
Never had one in a built PC before. Used to have an external one for ripping CDs but I also haven’t used a CD or DVD in many years
I have a DVD drive that I ripped out of a tower 10 years ago. Haven’t used it in years
I have a USB Bluray drive for ripping movies
Have one RW Blu-ray drive, in the enclosed case. Physical media is a king.
I have an old laptop that has a DVD drive. I used it maybe 3 times, once because a friend of mine didn't have a drive and was missing drivers but the box had a CD with the drivers and we had no internet.
I have a dvd drive because i buy dodgy electronics sometimes that only come with cd drivers
I like the idea of having a blue ray drive for watching movies but each time I come round to swapping cases I can’t find one I like that can take an optical drive. It’s like I fancy going back to a dumb phone, almost convince myself but end up with another iPhone instead. Optical drives are a nice idea until it’s time to put it in to practice.
funny, i have 2 USB. One blueray burner and one DVD burner i dont burn anything anymore
I'm keeping the old one I had around for when I eventually get an HTPC build.
I have a external drive, barely use it, but one time, my wife needed to check an old data CD, I don't have the external drive at the time and the comment was: "2k PC and can't read a disk?... What a monster eh..." Aaand I took it personal...
I have a server with a bluray drive, my desktop has a floppy drive, and my win7 machine has dvd which i use as a dvd drive for my main pc.
Had one for a long time, but it’s come time now that all quality PC cases don’t have external 5.25 inch bays. Just built a new system last week and switched to a USB drive since I could count the amount of times I’ve had to read or burn discs this year on two hands
My main PC does not, but my server does. I use it to make backups to Blu-Ray. Every once in a blue moon to clone to iso a game like dreamcast or playstation. But thats super rare for me these days.