How do you reduce access to optical drive?

thegoldenstrand · Post by **thegoldenstrand** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:57 pm

Hi,

For a few programs, I need to keep dvd in my optical drive.

Problem is, many more programs than the one I am using it for appear to try to access the drive when the DVD is in it and the NOISE drives me nuts.

Is there any registry edit or program that will reduce DVD drive access so that it doesn't sound so bad, so often and so loud?

cb95014 · Post by **cb95014** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 6:42 pm

I switched long ago to Virtual CD. Completely silent.

The latest edition allows insertion of a virtual CD in the drive letter occupied by the physical CD/DVD, so it now works with every disc in my collection. You can have multiple active virtual drives, and the licensing is reasonable even for multiple PCs.

thegoldenstrand · Post by **thegoldenstrand** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:11 pm

Thanks for idea in regards to Virtual CD.. nice that is legal, I was also considering Game Jackal which I think does same thing.

But.. my curiousity is still there.. why does windows or other program have to access the cd/dvd drive, especially when cd/dvd is in it?

If I am not accessing it.. who is and how can it be stopped.. I don't see any need to have it spin up sometimes for several minutes at a time for NO reason that I can think of.

Mike

tehcrazybob · Post by **tehcrazybob** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:41 pm

Windows has to spin the drive to determine what is on the disk, as that information isn't stored long-term. Once it's determined that, it keeps the drive spinning for a few minutes so you don't have to wait on the drive again if you decide to access a file. As far as I know, there's no way to disable this behavior. You might be able to edit the registry to prevent it, but then your computer may never detect disks in the drive at all, and at that point you might as well have just removed the drive.

widowmaker · Post by **widowmaker** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 7:42 pm

I am using Nero drivespeed and it's very useful.
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail/Ne ... 84814738/1
You really don't need the full read speed unless you're copying large amounts of data. With this program, you can also set the time before the drive spins down.

thegoldenstrand · Post by **thegoldenstrand** » Tue Apr 01, 2008 10:01 pm

I downloaded nero drive speed and will check it out.

Agree speed dvd's sold at not needed for most things and it does make them LOUD. Why does Windows have to spin up or down DVD drive.. seems if it is empty this happens much less than when full.

Mike

Das_Saunamies · Post by **Das_Saunamies** » Fri Apr 04, 2008 5:26 am

It's probably the same deal as with desktop icons - the graphics have to be displayed, and they are located at the source, which then needs to be accessed to retrieve the information. I don't know what else the OS might be checking.

I added my optical drive to my AV's ignore list, but that only means I'm more vulnerable and the OS will still spin up the drive. This has only boosted access times, as there's no longer a 1-2 second delay when opening up My Computer or the disc for the first time.

How do you reduce access to optical drive?

How do you reduce access to optical drive?

Thanks.. and will look into, but trying to find out..

Thanks, I will give it a try