Chris's Wiki :: blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrive Commentshttps://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrive?atomcommentsDWiki2017-09-11T11:20:26ZRecent comments in Chris's Wiki :: blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrive.By Miksa on /blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrivetag:CSpace:blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrive:74143dec817f68d4d7a4f7c0a2c545aa98149734Miksa<div class="wikitext"><blockquote><p>As far as M.2 stuff goes, my understanding is that on current chipsets, using M.2 slots actually eats up some of your SATA ports because the relevant PCI lanes overlap</p>
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<p>I believe that only applies to M.2 SATA drives. If you use M.2 NVMe drives they should normally have dedicated PCIe lanes. NVMe drives cost a bit extra, but who doesn't want those 3GB/s speeds.</p>
</div>2017-09-11T11:20:26ZBy Aristotle Pagaltzis on /blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrivetag:CSpace:blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrive:dbfbe82f97675d42d6560e291710ac5ea08e7e6aAristotle Pagaltzishttp://plasmasturm.org/<div class="wikitext"><p>I made the switch to a USB DVD drive a decade ago. I was hesitant for the same reason I took years to switch from PS/2 to USB for my keyboard: a lingering distrust of the reliability of the BIOS to speak with USB devices, since USB requires discovery and enumeration with a complex protocol, which is not a concern with dumb connectors. Once switched, I got used to it immediately, though, even at the time. Now it’s just another appendage buried in a drawer that I use roughly every other year. For you, that’s not even a factor.</p>
<p>I don’t know how sentimental attachment to physical media might have affected me – I never had a lot of CDs or DVDs –, but my guess is still that the transition will feel like a complete non-event from the other side.</p>
</div>2017-09-10T22:22:12ZBy Chris Siebenmann on /blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrivetag:CSpace:blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrive:fd95b9e77a693b4a1374b60dbd2fa48e00ff0f38Chris Siebenmann<div class="wikitext"><p>My normal four drives are a mirrored pair of SSDs and a mirrored
pair of larger HDs for bulk storage. I have six drives in
my machine right now because of <a href="https://utcc.utoronto.ca/~cks/space/blog/linux/ZFSSSDPoolSetupMistake">a sort of ongoing transition</a> from a pair of system HDs to the pair
of SSDs. I want to keep the ability to have six drives at once because
I'll probably eventually want to do another such transition, either with
the SSDs or with the HDs.</p>
<p>As far as M.2 stuff goes, my understanding is that on current chipsets,
using M.2 slots actually eats up some of your SATA ports because the
relevant PCI lanes overlap (well, are reused between M.2 slots and
SATA ports). This makes sense from a general system design perspective
(in that people usually have one or the other) but is a bit inconvenient
for someone like me who wants a lot of drives.</p>
</div>2017-09-10T00:15:39ZBy Brendan Long on /blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrivetag:CSpace:blog/tech/LettingGoOpticalDrive:b2bfcf79277e2bdbd325f2428b0c5625aa52b7dbBrendan Long<div class="wikitext"><p>I don't suppose you plan to tell us why you need six hard drives?</p>
<p>I'm not sure if this helps, but you might be able to connect some of your hard drives with M.2 or PCIE (not with an adapter - some hard drives are natively PCIE cards).</p>
<p>I recently disconnected the DVD drive in my desktop since it makes noise and I haven't used it in at least 8 years.</p>
</div>2017-09-09T16:12:19Z