CDROM

[RaptorRed]

What would be the expected life span of a cdrom?

Mine has quit reading and is about 3 years old. That sound about right?
It is a Maxtor 52X.

[happydog]

Seems a bit short, but I wouldn't be suprised either.

I currently have a 52x noname and a hp burner that are both 4-5 years old and working fine.

[dangerballs]

I have a double speed CD that requires its own ISA card, and its been running on my 486 since 1994.  So it really depends on your use (i.e. time using it, temperature, dust, etc.)

[Knightshade Dragon]

I run a Plextor 54x since they released them and it works like a charm.  I was running a Kenwood of similar spec for a long time till Safedisc screwed that up.

[egrudzin]

If you think about it, it has a lot of moving parts under lots of stress.   Luckily it's a pretty cheap thing to replace.  Plus it's a good excuse to get a DVD Drive!

Hey KD, I had a 72x Kenwood that I loved and then one day it just quit working.  It made me very sad since it was the fastest drive I'd ever seen.  What exactly do you mean that Safedisc screwed yours up?  I'm kinda looking for a possible explanation as to why mine died (*sob*).

[Default]

My kenwood 72x had problems with the copy protection on diablo 2 (and a couple others) so I removed it. The reliability on cdroms seems to be all over the map but they're just throwaway items anymore...

[Clanwolfer]

Dust.  Dust dust dust dust dust.

Fastest way to kill a CD-ROM drive, excepting hard shocks (which a desktop shouldn't be taking).  Blow out your case with compressed air every so often; get all those little nooks and crannies.  Between lasers and moving parts, dust can wreak a lot of havoc.