How long does an extremely used DVD/CD burner last??

[BBOSAK2143]

Am hoping next burners will not be so cruel to them and consistently burn a bunch of stuff that becomes junk after a while. Finally have wizened up and using the flash for most things instead of burning disks!! Back to the main topic though. How long should one of these used abused drives last? I know these past 2 drives finally bit the dust after over 3 years of heavy usage. I do not think there was one day that went by for the total of 3 years that I did not burn a disk!!!! Since most I have owned in the past seemed to last no longer than 2 years, I consider this pretty good! So am curious as how long others that use their burners whether DVD or CD get out of them! Also the symptoms like will not read all the time, then not at all. Burn half the data, then nothing! Just a curiosity is all!!! While am at it, since have been going down the road with flash drives. How long and how many times can they be written to???? Any advice on care for burners or flashdrives am sure would be greatly appreciated myself and others!!!!

[Micro]

It's safe to say 3-5 years on pretty much any daily used pc hardware. After 3 years it's considered end of life which I believe, directly correlates with a 3 year support contract. But manufactures will never admit to that. In real-world sake, we all know that things can last much longer...

[Xanayoshi]

Craig's List, Tweakers and Trailer Parks. Unlimited DVD/CD drives for next to nothing. Try to realise, most people know nothing of computers and will trash an entire PC setup because of a virus. Probably not even a virus but some stupid anti-virus coupled with search engine takeover...on like..Yahoo. Pride will make them say "It's broke, what a POS.". Because they didn't break it. This is why Apple exists. Take advantage.

[pam]

How long and how many times can they be written to????

flash drives now are pretty rugged.
Also update unetbootin or find alternatives. With mobo's supporting uefi, efi etc configs, new distros wont work with older programs when booting from flash...

Strontium is selling silver/gold ammo 32 gb flash drives for no extra cost with 5 year support.

[Ironmahn]

BBOSAK2143,
Care for burners is really limited to only a few things.
Blowing out the dust on a regular basis
Using a CD lens cleaner on a regular basis
Burning at slower speeds.
As time goes on, we have seen that burning/reading speeds have increased greatly. This make the burners tasks more taxing and shorten the life of the device. Time span on cutting edge burners can be as little as 1 year on extreme use and high speeds.

Flash drive can be written to any where from 10,000 to 1,000,000 or more times.
Life spans can range anywhere from 10-30 years.
Number one killer of flash drives... static electricity. Ever touch your computer, or anything in your home and get a little spark?!? Game over for a flash drive.

Cheers!

[JOHNNYG]

IMHO ALL electronics are like an incandescent light bulb, you can buy a new one that will out last you, Or burn out as soon as you use it, or need it the most !! . . . . .Can I get an AMEN !!

[Micro]

ha ha ha. Amen to that...

[BBOSAK2143]

AMEN to that also!!! Thought I was on the right track with all this as seemed to be a good amount of time at 3 years. I know 10 years ago if I got one to last over a year, I was cheering!!!! Is one of the few things have noticed as price went down, the quality went up!!! If the money would have been there a few months ago, am sure first time I had one failed burn, would have replaced ASAP!!! Just got to know these things and seems as soon as you get a failed burn, it won't be reading other disks so well either! This is provided has been cleaned regularly as said!!! Am lucky my school has found a little assistance for me, so was able to order 2 new drives. Have to add, nothing like Directron, no place around here can I get 2 DVD burners for $55! Not even one for that price at the stores out here!!! For that price is to my door, so is awesome and also saves time!!!! Since the failure is severe with no longer reading disks so much, it also has affected boot time, due to the drives hardly wanting to be recognized! Seen this on Windoze in the past also, except usually hits immediately. Linux seems to carry things for a bit longer!!!! Love that point, since not all of us are made out of money!!!!! I figured was also a good method I had of alternating between the two burners. At some points burner A would read and burner B burns. Next B reads and A burns. Finally A would go nowhere near burning but would still read, then finally stopped. When burner B was left with both tasks only a few weeks ensued(if that) before it finally quit in the middle of a burn!!!! This is one reason I kind of advise others if you have a burner, have 2! Sure costs more, but I sincerely believe doing as listed above increases the time you have them! Nicer to replace 2 after over 3 years than 1 at about 6months to a year!!!

Now will say a million times, since have had a few of these flash drives, is the best thing money can buy!!! In the past as with Windoze, we all know that does not come with any software, just the OS!!! So you are left with the decisions of what software you need! So this software generally gets downloaded, then eventually burned to a CD/DVD! Am sure someone will get a charge out of this. I still have a disk I burned from 2003. Is fun to laugh at all the ancestors of some software I still use today!!! Anyway for the past 10 years that I used Windoze, I burned um teen disks for this fact!!!!! Now that I am on the Linux side of the fence, most OS's have almost all the software you ever need!!!! Of course is depending on what your needs are! With Ultimate, all I needed to do was download Virtualbox, my video drivers and was practically done!!!! Now the one I made is basically the same, nothing really needed! If there are needs, instead of using a zillion disks, just put it on one of my flash drives! At some point I get an update for it, delete off flash and put new one on!!! Simple easy, no wear and tear on the drives!!! Absolutely love the fact, Sandisk, PNY, and others got these flash drives up to all the sizes needed!!!! In the long run is a major savings and lot less hassle for everyone!!!

Never knew the life is that long on one of these flash drives and is awesome to know!!! Will also be nice, since I will no long burn the amount of disks I was burning since I have the flash drives, that I will probably get near double the time of these new drives after their arrival!!! Just hope they will be good ones at the start!!!! Still to this day after probably purchasing around 20 drives, I only ever received 1 that was faulty!!!! No power from the start!!! So says quite a bit about this industry as to the seriousness they take on producing good equipment!!!! Really appreciate all the input as know others will also benefit from what we know!!! Also thanks to everyone that always keeps this forum running tip top for all of us!!

[pam]

honestly i'd choose a DVD burner over a usb flash any day, at least for now.
They are highly reliable and worry-free when installing any OS.
Most components of a computer like cpu, mem, mobo, gpu can last over a decade if taken care of.
Mechanical devices like hdd and especially dvd writers wont work that long, if they do, then you haven't used it enough..
DVD burners wont work a lifetime, you will have to get a new one every few years.

[Xanayoshi]

I've never had a USB Stick if that's what all this flash talk is about. I've been flashing so much lately though I think I am going to have to go door to door when I move into a new neighborhood.

Pam mentioned this elsewhere, you can get HDD for cheap. Works out to about 10x as much storage for gigs on the dollar. USB2 ext will run OS even with my low spec machine. You can grab internals for even less, which partition wise comes in handy because VB sucks compared to loading it off the machine. Not to mention, back up back up back up. Then again, I forget about your limits. 5gb a month is extremely harsh. There should be laws against that. I'm kind of surprised you are not way more into pentest distros.