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Poll: Do you actually use your server's optical drive?

Dedicated Servers by uma 26 replies 1.2K views
uma

Member OP

99.99% or bust

#1

I was auditing our fleet last week and noticed 94% of our dedicated boxes still have DVD-ROMs installed that have never spun up. Zero I/O on those devices for 18+ months across 47 machines. Power draw is marginal but it's another moving part, another potential alert fatigue source. Curious if anyone here actually mounts ISOs via physical media anymore, or if these bays are just legacy cargo cult at this point. We do everything via IPMI virtual media now. Status page stays green regardless.

436 days. reboot is surrender.
BL

Member

#2

Never used mine once in 3 yrs. The bay is just dead space. Could fit another cheap ssd there if the cage allowed it. Saw a deal on contabo.com for $15/mo dedi w/ no optical at all — https://contabo.com/en/vps/ — and im definitely tempted. Receive less hardware fail alerts too probably

JO

Member

#3

Mine has never spun! I use the bay as a secret coffee cup holder! The tray opens perfectly for a small mug! Never apologizes for volume!!

SE

Member

#4

Still use mine for OS installs on oddball distros that dont play nice with ipmi virtual media. Alpine custom iso last month, wouldnt boot from redfish no matter what. Physical disc worked first try.

ben20

Member

2 #5

94% is a fun number. Did you log every single power-on hour or are we estimating dramatically?

uma

Member OP

99.99% or bust

#6

Smartctl log plus ipmi sensor data since 2022. Not dramatic, just thorough.

436 days. reboot is surrender.
WI

Member

#7

Same here. Never spun.

everks

Member

#8

Following.

SE

Member

#9

I used mine once to flash a raid controller firmware that wouldnt take the update over the network. Dell PERC something. Needed the lifecycle controller but the iso wouldnt mount virtual. One disc, one cup of coffee, done.

SN

Member

#10

This. The "never" crowd hasnt been bitten by firmware yet. Wait for it.

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