If you intend
to buy a desktop computer or laptop, you will have to look in the market for
the best specifications that each device offers you, such as storage capacity,
CPU power, RAM capacity, appropriate physical size, and screen quality. It is
noticeable in recent years that most companies producing desktop and laptop
computers have begun to abandon in their new device versions the inclusion of
the internal optical drive part in their devices, and some companies are even
producing optical disk drives separately so that they can be connected
externally to the device whenever needed.
So, what are
optical drives? What is the importance of its presence in devices? How does it
work? What is the reason for the absence of some computers from them? What is
the difference between the internal optical drive built into the device and the
external optical drive? We will answer all these questions in the following
lines.
Basically, what is an optical drive?
Companies
have worked on developing optical drives since the 1960s, and the first of
these devices did not come to light until the 1970s, and their use at that time
was still limited to reading primitive, non-rewritable optical discs, in which
data is stored in a complex mechanism that cannot be rewritten. The content of
the optical discs was mostly entertainment media such as movies, music, and pictures
only.
In 1982,
Philips Electronics and Sony introduced CD-ROMs (CD ROMs) to the market for the
first time, which had a storage capacity greater than that of earlier forms of
optical discs, and larger than the storage capacity of floppy disks (Floppy
disks).
In the late
nineties of the twentieth century, the first CD drives that were able to both
read and write data or store data on CDs appeared, and the development of the
first multi-use digital disk drives (DVD drives), which were capable of playing
digital multi-use discs characterized by their ability to Storage of more data
compared to CDs, and then appeared in the first decade of the third millennium
Blu-ray drives capable of reading Blu-ray discs, or what is known as blue ray
discs, which was widely spread for its ability to Store a larger amount of data
than a DVD with a multi-use capacity of up to 200 GB.
A compact
disc, optical disc, or optical disc, whatever it is called, is a disc with a
diameter of 120 millimeters and a thickness of 2.1 millimeters, and it consists
of several layers on top of each other, represented in a transparent plastic
layer of polycarbonate, and a reflective metal layer made of aluminum, which is
The layer in which the stored data is read, and a transparent plastic protective
layer of acrylic material.
Optical disks store data and information, from programs and operating systems to media of various kinds, such as images, music files, and video clips, in the form of bits or binary digital units whose value is either 0 or equal to 1, and these bits are represented on the layers of the optical disk with recessed regions. or flats arranged in a very narrow spiral path that extends from the inner hole in the core of the CD towards its edge.
Each region
deep in this path expresses a bit with a value of 0, and each flat region in it
is considered a bit with a value of 1. These ciphers, as we mentioned at the
beginning, were written on optical discs using complex methods that the optical
drive could not perform, and its role was limited only to Reading it before
optical drives developed to be able to read and write data on optical discs.
An optical
drive is a device containing a rotating glass disk that uses a type of
low-intensity beam known as an infrared laser to scan at a constant rate of
different optical disks; Where the optical drive sends the laser beam to the
surface layer on the CD, and if this beam hits a flat point, it is reflected
from it to represent it with an optical signal whose value is equal to 1, but
if the beam hits a sunken point, then it is not reflected and the value of the
optical signal at this point is equal to 0. The optical drive then converts all
the optical signals into electrical signals and sends them to a computer that
processes these signals, and then the process of reading the data takes place.
In the case
of rewritable optical discs and storing data on them, the optical drive emits a
laser beam that heats up parts of the recording layer of the disc, which is a
layer made of a crystalline alloy, causing it to melt in these areas to form
recessed and flat points that represent the bits needed to encode data. to be
stored.
There are two
main types of optical drives, some of which are internal, which are installed
inside a desktop or laptop computer, and others are external which are located
separately from the device and can be connected to the computer using a USB
cable, FireWire, or Thunderbolt cable.
The difference between internal and external optical drives
External
optical drives are cheaper compared to internal drives and can be easily
maintained or changed whenever they fail, while internal optical drives
installed inside computers are difficult to remove, which are also more
susceptible to damage, and may sometimes harm the integrity of the device as a
whole as a result of heat. resulting from its operation, and its energy
consumption reduces the battery life in the "laptops".
Reasons why modern laptops do not have optical drives
For decades,
optical discs of all kinds remained one of the most popular ways to store
digital data until their use began to decline little by little. Even Blu-ray
discs and DVDs are almost disappearing nowadays, as did the floppy disk or
floppy disk, which once had Very little storage capacity and cannot withstand
high temperature and pressure conditions, to be replaced by other methods of
transferring, copying, and storing data such as cloud storage, hard disk or
flash memory.
Since 2015,
most manufacturers of desktop and laptop computers have refrained from
including the internal optical drive in their devices for several reasons,
perhaps the most important of which is the low economic feasibility of using
optical discs, as it has become possible to use a single device such as a hard
disk, which has a storage capacity of tera. Byte (1000 GB) to replace several
optical discs in storing and copying data.
Also, not all
types of optical drives are suitable for playing different types of optical
discs, so having a DVD drive for example in your device configuration may not
allow you to play some other types of optical discs such as Blu-ray discs, but
will only play discs that are compatible with him.
The spread of
cloud storage has also contributed to reducing the role of optical discs, as
millions of people around the world prefer to use the Internet as a low-cost
way to save data of all kinds, ranging from media files such as music, videos,
movies, and books, through to programs and applications, to operating systems
and even games from By saving them on sites that allow cloud storage servers.
Many of these sites have good security methods to secure users' data.
In addition
to the above, optical discs need special preservation and care methods, as any
scratching of the reflective layer in which the data is stored will lead to damage
to the optical disc and permanent loss of stored data. While cloud storage
allows users to access a huge amount of data stored online at any time, from
any device, and anywhere around the world without having to carry a box full of
CDs exposed to heat, scratching, breaking, damage and loss with them all the
time! It also allows them to access that data for other people around the world
whenever they want to.
Most software
developers, game designers, and even some book publishers, movie, and music distributors
are also making their products available for sale through online stores or
online platforms that use cloud storage, and you can get your digital copy
right away from the comfort of your place instead of going out or traveling far
to buy a copy. Stored on a CD.
Small size,
lightweight, and mechanical durability are also among the important
considerations that PC manufacturers aim to provide to users. Abandoning the
optical drive part that many users no longer need helping reduce the size and
weight of the device, allowed the addition of other features such as cooling
units, and lowered the final total cost of the device.
We should
also point out that one of the main important components of the optical drive,
the glass spinning disk, naturally consumes more energy than the hard disk
drive (HDD), which ultimately negatively affects the life of laptop batteries,
of course.
The
manufacture of optical discs of all kinds requires the use of huge amounts of
raw materials that may result in carbon emissions and electronic waste, not to
mention their short lifespan compared to other storage methods, which means
that their use may negatively affect the environment and climate quality.
alternative solutions
Some users,
however, still have CDs, DVDs, or Blu-ray discs that they may want to play from
time to time or copy their content one day, and some may have material stored
on optical discs and want to transfer them to laptops for broadcast via
Internet networks and cloud storage means, and some software still uses optical
disks to install them in emergencies, so what are the ways available to run
such disks in the case of an internal drive? There are still many ways to play
optical discs, including, for example, the following:
- You
can buy an external optical drive, which is available in the market at
reasonable prices, to use it when you need it, and you can connect it to your
personal computer quite easily using a USB cable, FireWire or Thunderbolt
cable, and once connected to the device, it will be installed automatically,
but you have to take into account It is necessary to purchase the type that is
compatible with your computer's operating system, as well as the type of discs
that you want to play through the device.
- You can use
an intermediary device that contains an optical drive so that you empty the
content of the optical disc on this device and then re-transfer it from the
device to any other storage medium such as a hard disk or flash memory that can
be read easily after that using your laptop.
Summary | The
reasons that led manufacturers of desktop and laptop computers to dispense with
adding optical drives within the internal components of the latest versions of
their devices are summarized in the following factors:
-The low
economic feasibility of using optical discs with limited capacity and the
number of their users with the emergence of other storage methods that have
multiples of storage capacity and are cheaper than the total cost and consume
less energy such as cloud storage, hard disks, and hard disks.
-The decrease
in the overall size, the overall cost, and the lighter weight of laptops after
giving up on providing them with internal optical drives, with the possibility
of exploiting the space that was previously allocated for that part to occupy
in adding parts that add new features to the same device.
-Extending
the life of laptop batteries by no longer needing to consume the same amount of
energy to move the glass spinning disk contained in the optical drive.
-Reducing the
raw materials and economic resources used in the manufacture of optical discs
with a limited capacity and a relatively low lifespan, reduces electronic waste
and the resulting carbon emissions, and thus reduces the associated
environmental risks and damages.
-The data
stored on optical disks are more likely to be permanently lost and lost as a
result of the sensitivity of these disks and their susceptibility to
scratching, breaking, and damage, with the availability of other safer means to
save data.