Optical drive makers settle a class-action lawsuit that accused them of conspiracy to inflate prices.

CD and DVD optical drives have enjoyed a long and integral history with the personal computer, but increased connectivity and flash memory technology have made it less essential in recent years.

Installing OS X with a broken optical drive Sometimes you may need to reinstall OS X on a computer, but the drive is broken, resulting in an obvious problem with reading the installation DVD.

I’ll tell you what’s wrong – the optical drive impacts many aspects of computer design. Ever notice how standard desktop PCs are all around 7 or 8 inches wide?

However, if you happen to have another computer with a suitable drive on the network, such as an older MacBook or a Windows PC, you can take advantage of its optical drive on a Mac without the ...

There's this weird slit in the side of my MacBook Pro. It almost seems like a credit card swipe, or a receipt dispenser, or an air vent, or something. Oh wait. That's an optical drive. You'll ...

Many consider optical disc drives to be a relic and unnecessary in this day and age. But there are a few reasons why you should still own such a drive, for example from Hitachi.

If you can’t find an online installer for the program, your best bet is to invest in a portable optical drive. (Jim Rossman/TNS)(Jim Rossman / TNS) Recently I had a conversation with a coworker ...

With that in mind we want to ask you: how often do you use your computer's optical drive? For those that use it regularly, what do you primarily need it for?

These days, very few of us use optical media on the regular. If we do, it’s generally with a slot-loading console or car stereo, or an old-school tray-loader in a desktop or laptop. This has ...

Technology is ever changing. What was ubiquitous one day can be archaic the next. Cassette drives no longer run software. We don't transfer files on a floppy disk, either 5.25" or 3.5". And today, a ...

The golden age of disk drives and laptops During the early and mid-2000s, a laptop having an internal disk drive was a standard feature, something not to be questioned.