new laptop without optical drive...

Mad Badger

Mad Badger

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So if I buy my new laptop without an optical drive how will I install my photoshop cd and my old Microsoft office disc? Can anyone point me at a decent external cd writer? I've got 100s of cds to stick onto the network, cheers guys
 
Wow that's cheap! Will look out for a usb 3 version. Tbh I'd prefer to avoid the bay :-/
 
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For £7 it's worth any perceived "risk", but eBay + Paypal as a buyer is probably the most secure place to buy from these days.

Thinking back I actually pulled a DVD multi writer drive out of a laptop and swapped it into the enclosure (it came with a fairly basic DVD-R drive it was that long ago).

If you have an old drive, the enclosures are even cheaper.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-to-ID..._Storage_CD_DVD_Drives_ET&hash=item460ea9d76b

USB 3 seems rare, from the US for £40

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/USB-3-0-S...t=US_Drive_Cables_dapters&hash=item3cd0842d74
 
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Ultrabooks are optical-less, you're expected to attach an external drive. Just think how often (not) you have to call on an optical drive.
 
Well with loads of cds to rip losslessly I thought an optical drive would be needed, quite happy to remove the one from my old machine if I can find an enclosure and power supply somehow
 
Mad Badger said:
Well with loads of cds to rip losslessly I thought an optical drive would be needed, quite happy to remove the one from my old machine if I can find an enclosure and power supply somehow
Click to expand...

My first link in post #4.

£6.99 for the enclosure.
 
Picked a Samsung extremal drive / writer for my mother in laws new laptop from Amazon a while ago. Seem to remember it being around £20 tops. Works a treat
 
Could you not just use your old laptop/another computer to rip the cd and dump it onto a usb stick and install it from there? Saves buying an external drive.
 
Yeah, if only I could start my old laptop in anything but safe mode :-(
 
Presume you have, but have you tried a reinstall / recovery if there's a partician ?

Do you have access to another PC or a friend - they could pop a copy of your software onto say Dropbox ???
 
I shall be following this post with interest. I bought a new Macbook Pro Retina on Saturday, for delivery tomorrow, (Tuesday), so shall at some point want an external drive.

Initially, the only thing I want to do is, transfer my Canon DPP from my old laptop, which hopefully I can do with a USB stick.
 
You don't need an external drive (there is another option)

You need another computer with an external drive and a utility to create an ISO file from the CD.

Then you can copy the ISO to the new machine and if Windows 8, you can mount the file or if you are using an older version of Windows, you can use Virtual Clone Drive.
 
Dale_tem said:
You don't need an external drive (there is another option)

You need another computer with an external drive and a utility to create an ISO file from the CD.

Then you can copy the ISO to the new machine and if Windows 8, you can mount the file or if you are using an older version of Windows, you can use Virtual Clone Drive.
Click to expand...

You don't even need to do that, you just need to rip everything off the disc ensuring you keep the file structure intact. All you have to do then is double click the install.exe
 
antihero said:
You don't even need to do that, you just need to rip everything off the disc ensuring you keep the file structure intact. All you have to do then is double click the install.exe
Click to expand...

Doesn't work with all software, I've had software check it is on a CD drive and refused to install until it was on a disc/mounted ISO.

EDIT :- You can also mount ISOs across a network and they will appear as a local drive which will make some installs happier
 
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I have just downloaded Windows Migrate Software, from the Apple site and will have a good read of the tutorial whilst waiting for my Mac. A quick look and it would appear that I can migrate my files, Favorites, Pictures, Documents etc, but not sure whether I can move my DPP software, which came on the original disc, with the camera.
 
Thanks Dale, was just looking into burning an iso of the cd, looks like an easy answer, b t w does this mean any new software will have to be installed by download, over my rubbish Internet connection?
 
Either via download or create ISO and copy to laptop.


On the plus side, creating ISOs of your install media is great for backing them up and makes future deployments very easy. All software installed in the office is from ISO
 
Dale_tem said:
Either via download or create ISO and copy to laptop.


On the plus side, creating ISOs of your install media is great for backing them up and makes future deployments very easy. All software installed in the office is from ISO
Click to expand...

That is exactly what I've done at home...My SAN if filled with them, I actually get rid of the physical media as bar some exotic stuff you can download it anyway...

I've use a MBA for many years now and never had a need for a drive...But I do have an usb liteon for those situation if when I do...
 
Mad Badger said:
Wow that's cheap! Will look out for a usb 3 version. Tbh I'd prefer to avoid the bay :-/
Click to expand...

no need. CDs / DVDs are very slow, slower than USB2 can communicate.
 
@daugirdas - thanks, I've just realised that.

Went for a Dell XPS15 with a dvd drive in the end, nice laptop, waiting for a Dell U2413 monitor now

:D
 
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