Just two decades ago, if you’d asked anyone if they’d buy a laptop without an optical drive, they’d have resoundingly and emphatically said no. Internet speeds were excruciatingly low, and DVDs and CDs were the primary way data was shared. If you wanted to watch a movie, install a computer game, or set up a printer on your computer, you had to use a disk.
Slowly things changed, however. Online movie streaming services became the norm, steam became a hugely popular digital game provider, and most ads for programs and applications just told you to download it over the web. Disks have much less of a role in our daily digital life than they had before, and it more convenient this way.
Disks still have a role even today. Most computer drivers come as disks, and if you want to get your hand on an old video game or program, chances are, you’ll need to install it through a disk. That’s why, if your laptop doesn’t have an optical disk drive, you need to find a way to deal with those issues easily, and this article will show you a few ways you can do that.
Portable Disk Drive
If you want to bypass any extra-steps and use disks without any headache, a portable disk drive is for you. A portable disk drive is just a normal disk drive you hook up to your laptop through a USB port, and your laptop will function as if it has a real disk drive. Thanks to its portability, you can just remove it and store it someplace when you don’t have any use of it.
This is the most versatile solution and lets you do everything a normal laptop with a disk drive does. You can even burn files into a disk, so you can easily share it with your friends and family – granted that’s if you know how to burn a DVD, which can be a tricky process.
Drivers for various Devices
If you’ve bought a printer or scanner recently, you’ve probably dealt with this problem. Most computer peripherals you buy don’t work out of the box with your computer, and you need to install a specialized program known as a driver before your computer recognizes them.
The problem is these programs all come prepackaged with the hardware in the form of a CD or DVD, and if your laptop doesn’t have an optical disk drive, you won’t be able to successfully install the driver and use your new printer, scanner etc.
There are two ways you can go about dealing with this issue:
A. Going to the manufacturer’s website: almost all printer and scanner manufacturers have a website, and they let you download drivers for the different models there. Some manuals even tell you what web address you specifically need to go to download the driver.
B. There are programs like Driver Magician and Driver Easy that scans your computer and automatically installs all necessary drivers. Due to their large databases, you’ll almost certainly have no issue getting your computer to recognize any device.
Alternative Places
Over the last decade, there has been a concentrated effort to make everything available digitally, which is good news for people lack an optical disk drive.
If you are particularly into classic movies and games, one thing you can do to make your life easier is to come up with a list of websites that act as digital alternatives to the traditional disk-based media.
For example, Good Old Games has a large selection of DRM-free retro and new games ready to download at low prices. Netflix and Hulu have uploaded a swathe of older shows for your viewing pleasure. Chances are, whatever you’re into, you’ll find an online digital service that can cater to your needs.
Using Another Computer
If none of the above works, you can always use a friend’s or family’s computer to transfer the files to yourself. There is no shortage of computers with optical disk drives, and you’ll be able to transfer all the disk’s content in a matter of minutes.
Either by uploading them to the cloud or transferring them to a USB flash drive, you can simply do without an optical disk drive.
You’ll face two potential issues with this method:
# You might not have access to a computer with an optical disk drive, and it can get annoying asking your friends to constantly help you with transferring files.
# Most disks are copyrighted, and you can’t copy their content without legal repercussions. This is especially true for movies, music, and games, which might be a deal breaker for most.
