What is the average lifespan of an optical drive these days? I have gone through 3 optical drives (all combo drives) in the past 12 months. 2 HPs and the latest, lasting a grand total of 3 months, was an LG H10L drive which I am actually going to attempt to follow through with the manufacturers warranty. The latest one stopped working while playing GTA 3, started making "clicking" noises while trying to read the disc, locking the game up because of the delay. (Don't you love copy protection?) This is most likely not a power supply or computer issue, as I ended up replacing the PSU when the first drive failed, and this latest drive was part of my brand new computer that I have built.
I've been through a couple in the past few years, with pretty heavy use. I would say 3 in 12 months is a bit over the top. NEC, Pioneer and Plextor drives are the most solid in my experience.
hmm... i had tdk cdrw that has been working rock solid for past 5 years and it's still going strong, same with my 1.5year old nec that I use now i am yet to kill optical drive, what do you guys do with your drives?
Yeah, it's weird. Some drives last a few months, others a few years. I have a 5 or 6 year old combo drive that's fine, and a 3 or 4 year old dvd burner that works. Yet, a system i built a little back had it's DVD-ROM go in a month of light use
Under normal use, you'd expect a drive to fail in the first couple of months or not at all (until it's old and knackered), could have just been hit with a dose of bad luck if your going though that many.
