CDRW's

[Gene C]

I'm soon going to be needing one of my hdd channels for another hdd addition ect.

so that will mean I'm thinking about droping my cd rom and just useing my cdrw for everything. is this a good thing or will it cause wear/tear on my cdrw. and should you even do this ??

[NDC]

Well, yes. If you often play games that require a CD, play audio CD's through your CDROM, etc, it will cause wear and tear just like any other drives that use laser technology...

I think it would be a better choice to have both a CDROM and CDRW drive. How about getting an PCI interface IDE controller? You'll be able to connect 4 more IDE devices...That would be a total of 8 devices you can connect to your system.

[codybear]

Hey Gene...I've been using my CDRW for everything for a long long time and still burn an average 40 cd's a month sometimes more and havent had a problem with it......it might wear out quicker but then I will have something more to play with and install:)

[surrealchereal]

Well, that's what I get for going Cheap! :D
I have a really cheap little guy, I had the other one out a while and just used it, and I swear I was watching it sink fast.
(hmm come to think of it, when I updated the drivers...:D)

Nevermind:D

(duhno why but instinct tells me use em both)

[Gene C]

NDC
good ideal on that. I only use the cd f/loading software. but, something did come to mind tho. I wouldn't be able to do a cd/cd copy.

I do have 2 burners" one still in the box""

a while back I bought a case of maxtor 6.4 hhd and a raid card. but, haven't had the time or know how to set it up.

have to ask that quistion at a later date!!

[jadison]

It'll be years before that drive will wear down...but I do agree that having a CD-ROM and CD-RW is helpful, so as u can burn CD to CD.

But if room counts, just use ur CD-RW!

-=jd=-

[gmgq]

Well you never know.

Generally, it is not adviseable to use a CDRW drive for regular CDROM duties. It's common sense, the more you use it, the faster it will wear down. It depends on the quality of the drive. I've had friends who had a Panasonic burner and used it as a CDROM drive as well. It lasted like 1 year before it broke down. Whereas I have another friend who had the same Burner, which he used solely as a CDRW, and it's been fine.

Another friend has a Plextor 8X CDRW, and it's been fine all this time, being used as a CDRW and as a CDROM drive.

So it's a gamble for you if you want to use a CDRW as a CDROM drive as well.