- Joined
- Aug 27, 2007
I am currently building a new system and trying to figure out what are the advantages and disadvantages to using two cd drives as oppose to one.
Any help is appreciated, thanks.
Any help is appreciated, thanks.
-
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One CD Drive vs Two
- Thread starter firejunior88
- Start date
- Joined
- May 19, 2003
- Location
- Kingwood, TX
I've been using just one for years. I don't copy many disks though.
If you copy disks, then it is good. If you don't, then it may not matter.
If you copy disks, then it is good. If you don't, then it may not matter.
- Joined
- Jun 11, 2006
- Location
- Stoughton, MA
I suppose 2 cd drives could make copying stuff easier. You could keep 2 game cds in without the "hassle" of changing discs.
I had 2 cd drives a long time ago and I barely ever used the second drive. Heck I barely use the 1 DVD-RW drive I have now.
I had 2 cd drives a long time ago and I barely ever used the second drive. Heck I barely use the 1 DVD-RW drive I have now.
- Joined
- Nov 10, 2005
Two cd drives could be useful if you're running say a boot cd or linux livecd and you want to access something from another disc. Two dvd drives (or a dvd and a cd) can be very useful, however. For example, let's say you want to watch some avi files on a dvd. While you're doing that you can have an explorer window open in another monitor/window and access files on a different disc at the same time. On top of that, you could burn directly from disc to disc via NERO, or rip movies/audio from one disc while burning or playing another in the other drive.
A last note (and why I use 2 dvd-r/combodrives): my I/OMagic 16x drive started burning fairly erratically so I bought an LG burner. The LG burner takes longer to recognize discs initially than the other drive, so I kept the I/OMagic drive as it's still fantastic for reading discs, but I use the other one for burning. I also run a virtual optical drive via Alcohol but I'm not sure that counts.
A last note (and why I use 2 dvd-r/combodrives): my I/OMagic 16x drive started burning fairly erratically so I bought an LG burner. The LG burner takes longer to recognize discs initially than the other drive, so I kept the I/OMagic drive as it's still fantastic for reading discs, but I use the other one for burning. I also run a virtual optical drive via Alcohol but I'm not sure that counts.
- Joined
- Mar 6, 2006
Pretty much the same, afaik
- Joined
- Jul 17, 2002
It doesn't really matter. But, having 2 burners would mean you could burn the same image to two discs at once if your software supported it.
- Joined
- Feb 20, 2007
- Location
- Germany for now.
go for the two burners... you will be very happy you did in the long run
- Joined
- Dec 16, 2007
- Location
- Chicago, IL
I like having 2 drives, I've always had 2.
Optical drives are just so cheap, I figure might as well get 2.
I go with a DVD-ROM / DVD-Burner on my rigs.
Optical drives are just so cheap, I figure might as well get 2.
I go with a DVD-ROM / DVD-Burner on my rigs.
- Joined
- Dec 18, 2003
- Location
- Lorain, ohio
i had 2 at first, it made coping disks or whathave you faster, but then again, this was when 2x and 4x drives were available 
once it got up to about 16x i just gave up on 2 disks because you can copy a disk in under a half hour roughly.
i remember having to burn cd's over night on my first burner hah! oh man was that thing a workhorse and $200 at the time.
once it got up to about 16x i just gave up on 2 disks because you can copy a disk in under a half hour roughly.i remember having to burn cd's over night on my first burner hah! oh man was that thing a workhorse and $200 at the time.
- Joined
- Mar 13, 2006
I try to minimize the amount of STUFF I have installed on my rigs.
I use a single DVD Burner, hell I havent had 2 installed since CD burners initially became widely affordable.
I use a single DVD Burner, hell I havent had 2 installed since CD burners initially became widely affordable.
i had 2 at first, it made coping disks or whathave you faster, but then again, this was when 2x and 4x drives were available
i remember having to burn cd's over night on my first burner hah! oh man was that thing a workhorse and $200 at the time.
Ditto... I just built the first machine since my 486 days that did NOT have two optical drives. Drives are really fast these days to mess around with more than one.
Not only did I reduce the number of optical drives in my machine, but I also cleaned things up by purchasing a SATA drive. I snagged a Samsung drive off of NewEgg for $30. It's extremely quiet.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16827151154
While I'm at it, I might as well plug the Samsung HD I bought too. Quietest drive I have ever owned, including my 500GB Western Digital drive that previously held that title.
http://www.newegg.com/product/product.aspx?item=N82E16822152100
- Joined
- May 13, 2006
I use 2 opticals mainly because I started with a cd burner and later wanted a dvd burner. I'm debating on going to just one my self (uppgrading to sata). the main thing i've used both for recently is being able to have 2 game cd's, or 1 cd and 1 dvd, in the drive at the same time so i don't have to keep switching them out as I usually don't play more than 2 games heavily at one point in time.
- Joined
- Dec 13, 2005
I use the same two optocal drives (Cd RW and a DVD drive) since the emachines I got in 02 (slightly older so hacked firmware ofcourse) then I got a Lighton EZ dub since it was cheap ($50 from newegg) and I needed an external drive for my server anyway. Having multiple drives is great for copying like people said, but also if your like me and you have ALOT of games and dont want to change discs that much. The benefit of 1 drive is fewer cables, easier cable management, and the more drives you have the messier the front of your case looks (unless you have one of those cases with a door in which case this wont matter)
