You can get any compatible drive and still use them as well. If you wanted. The option is there.
/me: Glances at the two ODD currently in use and three more in my shelf. Oh.
my PC does have a optical drive, and it will always have an optical drive.
I generally don’t keep mine installed all the time, but I keep one on hand just in case.
Me too, but I also have an external USB optical drive for other stuff I work on
I’ve got my old Doom floppies!
Still got my box copy of Wing Commander 1 and 2!
because I own them
Sony: rrrrrrRRRREEEEEEE
You can still play UT online, like 20 players are on.
I have 1 Pioneer and 1 LG DVD drives tucked, just in case.

Those things are clearly meant for laptops. It’s always awkward to hook them up to tower PCs. Either you’re bending the short cable to stick them in the top chassis ports and the cable tension pushes it halfway off the case, or your are letting the drive dangle from the back panel ports.
I kinda miss the beefy boys that came with detachable USB cables and their own power supplies.
USB extension cables exist. I have lots of slim external drives and i’ve never had an issue.
I just looked up an external 5.25" enclosure for sata disc drives. Nearly $50 and doesn’t even include a drive. That’s crazy.
I’ve got this idea of putting a slim bluray burner in my machine. I got the bay adapter that houses that and 2 2.5" drives but haven’t finished the thought by actually getting the burner. 🤷 It’s probably pointless though.
I kinda miss the beefy boys that came with detachable USB cables and their own power supplies.
I had an external SCSI CD-ROM drive that used caddies and had physical buttons on it, I used it for a long time as a CD player. It ran off 120.
The portable BR RW I found last year has a USB-C connection on the drive so you can use whatever cable you want.
Though they do make USB extension cables so you don’t have to bend it weird.
I do still miss the chonky boys though, but the nice thing with USB-C is that it doesn’t needs a separate power cable and plug.
laptops
puts my desktop on my lap
🌌🧠
Even if your PC doesn’t have a disc drive by default, you can still enjoy the games by getting a USB disc drive. I literally got one originally for my laptop and have been using it with my current desktop. It’s been a good purchase when audacious is allowed to read the disc.
I was basically forced to buy one many many years ago when cases with no optical drive bays first came on the market. The motherboard I got with that build had the drivers on a CD, and that included network drivers. I had no secondary PC to download them with. I suppose I could have used my phone, but back then the internet wasn’t built for phones very well, and I remember it being a pain in the ass. Since then I have used it quite a few times. It’s always been a great thing to have just in case I need it.
Actually, the few that still get produced are vastly inferior to the 2000s ones via a SATA plug. We are losing the facilities and knowledge, tolerances are far worse now.
Btw, i’ve discovered redumper (from the Redump disc-preservation initiative) if makemkv doesn’t suffice anymore. The old SATA ones chugged along like nothing, while the new-ish ones errored here and there, requiring long correcting runs. All in all, better get some old notebooks than a new USB drive, if you want to go get ripping.
Lemmings on 3.5" disk, will not ever throw away, too many memories
I still have a box of 5.25" that I won’t throw away.
I have Drakkhen on 8" that I’m really proud of.
https://nailbar.io/proj/nail_gallery/?image=pics%2Fdrakkhen.jpg
jokes on you. I have 3 optical drives. and at least one still works!!
I miss the large boxes that video games came in the early 2000s and earlier. The physical media, like manuals, maps, and tech trees were incredible. You couldn’t just alt+tab or check the internet, you had to pin a map to your computer room wall, and keep real notes. Its easier now, but it takes some magic out of the experience.
My teenage bedroom wall was covered in game maps… and Christina Aguilera.
I still have my fallout 2 manual. It was a 60 page ring binded notepad with all sorts of game info.
whoa whoa whoa unreal tournament is retro gaming ?
next you’ll be telling me nirvana is classic rock.
My guy, I’m right there with you. I have a boxed copy of Unreal Tournament 2004 on my shelf, that I bought back in uni… more than half a lifetime ago!
heh same, although I was in college
Boxed UT1999 Game of the Year edition :p
I heard Red hot chili peppers on a classic rock station… Several years ago.
Don’t give a listen to Dexter and the Moonrocks, my guy, they have a song about how the ancient music of the 90s and nirvana in particular crafted who the singer came to be. It made me feel arthritic and shake my fist at the clouds.
well did you take your onion off first?
Take my onion off, what, do you think I’m made of bumblebees?

Mine does.
Same.

I lived on HP Pavillions until I started building my own PCs.
HP might be a vile as fuck company, but you gotta use what you can get your hands on 👍
That parrots sticker! 🦜 🦜 🦜 - classic!
I listened to bits straight off an audio CD yesterday!













