Expected lifespan of optical drives

[MMM]

Two question I think every computer owner may want to know the answers to.

1) Would anyone know how long, through experience, an optical drive would last? I have been using mine frequently over the past couple of years and would like to know if I should be looking for a new one soon. And..

2) Does anyone know if the quality of an aging optical drive's written data deteriorate over time or is the writer either working or not? IOW, will the DVDs and CDs I burned earlier have a higher quality burn?

 

[Webslinger]

1) Would anyone know how long, through experience, an optical drive would last?

It varies too much, especially if you get a poorly built drive. Sometimes you can find information based on how long the manufacturer feels the drive will last (snicker).

A Plextor PX-760a has a MTBF of 60 000h. So you can leave it on for 60,000 hours before they think the drive will die. Typically duty is about 10%, so figure 6,000 hours of writing before that drive is supposed to die. That's if you're lucky. Then they usually give you a figure about how many times you can open the disc tray before that fails . . .

Does anyone know if the quality of an aging optical drive's written data deteriorate over time or is the writer either working or not?

Oh yeah. All optical drives very slowly die over time.

 

[MMM]

Thanks Webslinger.
Sony DVD RW DW-Q58A is the drive I have in my Vaio laptop. It's seems to be working and built pretty well. I also know that it is a rebadged Lite-On. Let's see. At about 5 min for burned cds and let's say an hour for DVDs, that does not add up to much for me, probably not even close to a thousand hours. Hopefully I have a well built drive.

Does anyone know anything else about the quality of this drive?

 

[Webslinger]

Does anyone know anything else about the quality of this drive?

My impression of the build quality of laptop drives (and laptop drives in general) is even lower than my opinion of desktop burners. click http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=13411

But, hey, at least you don't have a Matshita. :clap:

 

[MMM]

My impression of the build quality of laptop drives (and laptop drives in general) is even lower than my opinion of desktop burners. click http://forum.slysoft.com/showthread.php?t=13411

But, hey, at least you don't have a Matshita. :clap:

Thanks for the link. Concerning today's optical drives, it was very enlightening and depressing. Too bad about the quality of things going down hill.

 

[oldjoe]

Optical drives have gone to the throw away mentality. But at less than $30 it's feasible to keep a spare on hand.

 

[jjanoch]

rather than starting a new thread, I am looking for this information. What is harder on a DvD drive to rip a DvD or to burn one? Or does either process put the same strain on a drive and push it that much closer to failure?

 

[Webslinger]

What is harder on a DvD drive to rip a DvD or to burn one?

The laser strength for burning a cd-r is approximately 10x stronger than the one used for reading them. A stronger laser strength is also required for burning blank dvds than reading them. Consequently, burning is typically "harder" on a drive.