CD/DVD QUESTION

[nick111]

Do they sell CD/DVD drives that can be manually turned off while leaving the computer running? I don't use my drives often and don't want them to run continuously. This will save power and take some stress away from the power supply. I don't feel like taking the cover off my computer though. Would external drive be as functional as internal? What are good reliable CD/DVD COMBO drives to buy.

 

[mesarectifier]

No, noone makes anything like that, and it'd be pointless anyway.

Optical drives use so little power that 'switching off' the drive would give a negligable relief to the PSU. Basically, PSUs come in increments of 50w - and because of that there's almost no way that your CD-ROM drive is ever going to tip the system over the edge.

I'd imagine that the motor of the drives uses the most electricity anyway, and so if you take discs out when not using the drives etc... then there's really nothing at all to worry about.

As far as good drives go, you can't really go wrong with a Plextor, or NEC if you're on more of a budget.

 

[nick111]

Thanks for the advice. Very helpfull.

 

[Evil-Weazel]

unlike HDD's the motor on CD's and DVD's do not spin continuously they spin on start up, when the tray is opened and closed and when a CD/DVD is inserted and then stops once it is done accessing the CD/DVD. Only the circuit board is active after that and that = very little power draw.

 

[CompTIA_Rep]

Actualy, thy do consume a noticable amount of power. It doesnt matter unless your on a laptop. If you are, I recomend disabling the drive in device manager and you will get beter lifetimes on your battery.