[Winder20]

Hey, I currently have a very small case and am upgrading some components, my problem is the power supply I bought has a ton of extra connections that I do not need. There's so many that I can not see any way to keep it organized unless I remove the giant drive bay that is holding the CD/DVD drive. I understand that it would be a major inconvenience to not have a DVD drive in case the computer happened to crash and I couldn't get in windows or something, but other than that I've used it a total of maybe one time since I've gotten the computer, and even in that case I could of downloaded the application from a supplied digital download.

My questions are:

Can I run the computer without a CD/DVD drive, or does it require one to even boot up properly?

Hypothetically if it were to work out and the computer were to crash and I could not get into windows, could I plug it back in and have it be picked up by the motherboard properly so I could use a reformat/repair CD?

I'd appreciate any responses I can get, thanks for reading.

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It is not necessary to have a cd/dvd-rom connected to either boot-up or run windows.

Yes you can connect your cd/dvd-rom at any time (if the system is powered down) and the bios will recognize it at first boot, you do not even have to install it inside the case if it is only temporary.

You could buy an external cd/dvd-rom that you plug into a usb port, just make sure that if you desire to boot from it that you choose removable device and not the usual ide-cd option.

Edited by Alzeimer, 16 December 2010 - 11:56 PM.

[Alzeimer]

It is not necessary to have a cd/dvd-rom connected to either boot-up or run windows.

Yes you can connect your cd/dvd-rom at any time (if the system is powered down) and the bios will recognize it at first boot, you do not even have to install it inside the case if it is only temporary.

You could buy an external cd/dvd-rom that you plug into a usb port, just make sure that if you desire to boot from it that you choose removable device and not the usual ide-cd option.

Edited by Alzeimer, 16 December 2010 - 11:56 PM.

[DjFonti]

You can disconnect it and it will work fine without it.

As for reconnecting it for potentially installing Windows, I am not certain that without the drivers it will work. It might. EDIT: Alzeimer says it's fine.

Depending on what operating system you are using, it may be worth looking at installing Windows from a USB memory stick. This is usually quicker as well and it means you won't need the DVD drive for it.

Edited by DjFonti, 15 December 2010 - 07:04 AM.

[Winder20]

Sounds good, thanks for the quick responses!