Do You Still Need a CD/DVD Drive For Your PC?
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- čas přidán 14. 07. 2024
- Do you really need a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray drive in 2023/24? Do they still have a use today? I go through the reasons why you might still want an optical drive, and the reasons why you might not. If you can't decide whether to include an optical drive with your next PC, then watch this video for some help.
I have a blu-ray drive in my pc and still use it to this day. I wish more PC games were released physically as I'm not a believer in truly owning anything digital.
I can imagine many people agreeing with you. I know some people that wish they could still easily get hold of games on DVDs or Bluray discs.
I used to feel excited about getting the GTA and PES 2006 installation disk .
I use mine for PS2 emulation for games I already own
The usefulness of CD's and DVD's now is that for the media that can still be found in this form, it doesn't require a subscription and is often cheaper than buying it digitally if I can buy it used. For example, my family has a huge collection of DVD shows and movies, which if it's enough for me, then I can save hundreds of dollars every year on not owning any streaming services. As another example, the original Skyrim would cost $20 to buy on Steam, but only about $7 as a DVD off of eBay.
this is true. a few days ago the internet was acting up and my music streaming was choppy...i just popped a cd in.
I still need one. I need to exhaust all those free AOL trial discs I acquired over the years
I’m pretty sure there’s nothing for those discs to dial into anymore…
@@mbaxter22 nooooooo 😭
Something I miss about getting a physical game or music disc was the manual/extras. I still have the huge fold-out Red Dead Redemption game map that came with the xbox360 case.
Great video as always!
Thank you! Yes, you make a good point. The extras that came in the box was always a nice added extra.
I certainly still use my CD/DVD drive because I've got a mass of CD`s purchased over the years and Im not paying for all my music library again via streaming. I still have loads of Vinyl as well, that fell out of fashion along with cassettes, but they're both on the increase now so `never say never`! The have other thing is you have to be so careful nowadays downloading anything because the internet is a dangerous place
I can certainly understand some people not giving up their drive if they have many CDs and DVDs collected over the years.
FWIW - I ripped all of my CDs awhile back, just to make it easier to enjoy my music without having to handle the CDs. It is legal to make a back-up copy; it would not be legal to rip them and then sell (or give away) the original CD. I still have the CDs all tucked away in storage, but the ripped copies move from computer to computer with me.
@@jasperstarr6804 Im in the process of doing that
It's true you will not need a CD/DVD drive for 99,9% of the time. But I will continue to have a drive inside my computer. For 0,1% I am happy to have a drive.
While you're correct about the diminished need for optical drives, I still find great use for them. Like ripping my CD collection to FLAC. Or watching my wedding video and photos which both on discs.
your pc case looks amazing, taking good care of that OG case I see... well done. love old cases. have 2 of those. Corsair 88R (blacK), and the Graphite 780T white. yes, blue-rays, little drawers and fans controllers are amazing to have in hand-distance in yourdesk
I prefer games on disc vs download them, because when they are on a disc you actually own the game.
Now we have Blu-Ray drives in PCs and even in some laptops.
The late 1990s/early 2000s 😍 … my favourite era in computing and gaming… maybe even in life.
I built a new PC late last year and actually went out of my way to buy an "old" case (Define R6) because it still had a slot for an optical drive, multple 3.5" HDDs, and multiple up-front USB ports. Admittedly I've not used my old DVD-RW yet, but I like having it there! My motherboard drivers & utilities came on a flash drive rather than a disc, a sign of the times.
Edit to add: discs are still in constant use *elsewhere* in the household. I buy all my Xbox & PlayStation games on disc wherever possible, and have a healthy collection of movies & TV series on Blu-ray as well (and would have even more if distributors would stop putting put lazy 2k upscales as "4k" releases...but that's another topic).
I hate the new trend of cases being ultra compact, riddled with RGB frills (I mean, they're fine, but not in exchange for actual functionality!) and driveless :( It's so hard to find cases with lots of HDD bays and 4 usb front ports these days in my country, I had to scavenge for a case that isn't even manufactured in anymore.
theres some modern cases that still have space for an optical drive in the front. like the one he has in the video and i also found some pretty easily on amazon.
@Nayelianne The worst offender is the NZXT H510. One single USB C 3.2, and one USB 3.0, a power button and miraclessly a headphone jack. That's it for I/O. The 3.5 drive caddy is impossible to work with and the screws become easily stripped, and the thumb screws that hold the front of the case on are impossible to unscrew with your fingers. This case in my opinion is complete junk.
While i may not use the optical drive in my computer often, i’m very thankful to have opted for a case that supports it alongside one when i do need its capability. Such uses include:
* Watching DVDs or Blu-Ray movies. While streaming is convenient, i do prefer having actual copies of the movies that i estimate watching more times than just once.
* Ripping music or older CD-based PC games for personal backups.
Plus, there’s the ”feel” to it. Using a computer that lacks an optical drive feels, to me, odd and wrong. It’d be like eating a burger without any toppings. The meat and buns may be good, but there’s something missing.
Yes, being without an optical drive isn't for everyone. Even if it only gets used once every 3 months, it's still worth having an optical drive for those that still use them.
Good and simple explanation. This guy needs subs and likes ❤❤❤
I must admit that since I built my PC, 2 years ago, I didn't use quite often my optical drive. But for me, there are 2 main reasons I still need it :
- When I buy my albums on CD, I always make a perfect copy with Exact Audio Copy.
- The ability to archive long term with M-DISCs
Thanks for your video, it's great to see you back.
Thank you! And thanks for your comment too.
I still think the Optical drive for CD/DVD is one of the most important things that was for PCs or games in general. The moment optical died slowly because manufacturers did not add any extra space or slots for this thing, many games started to become digital only, thus these days only console games have blueray discs but PCs only have digital downloads through Steam, epic etc. launchers, which allows game companies to can take games from you any time also sometimes if you aren't logged in steam, epic etc. you can't even start ur singleplayer games without internet.
Excellent video. I have heaps of discs that contain operating systems, but very rarely use them I have no real use case for DVDs and CDs
Thank you! I also have quite a few CDs and DVDs, but they rarely see the light of day any more.
I just bought 4 drives in 2024, when i learned how many missing old tv shows are on DVD ONLY, so i found many and have been converting to digital for my 80,000 tv episode collection of old and lost sitcoms 1950-2025
Wow, that's a big collection of media that you have! Yes, many recordings of tv and movies seem to get lost over the years, which is a shame for many.
As always, loved the video.
Do you still game at all? Might be an interesting variety to film a “let’s play” of something current or popular back in the day.
I do still game though I'm a bit 'on and off' with gaming. That's an interesting idea. Thank you for your comment!
Thank you. I intend to do a new build by end of year. I'm leaning towards no optical drive. I feel it will be better for the environment. Although I may still have an old rig to play older games/movies/etc.
Yes, some still need an optical drive and some don't. It's quite an individual's choice. Good luck with your PC build.
I love your voice! It's so soothing!
Thank you!
if your PC/Laptop doesnt have an optical drive and you really need one then you can always go with a USB DVD drive.
My PC laptop doesn't have a built-in CD drive, so I had to buy an external one in order to be able to listen to my CD albums (or install my video editing software which came on a disc). I'm old school, I prefer physical media, especially physical music, but I'm not against digital media either. I'm open-minded regarding digital and conservative regarding physical.
I still listen to music on CDs sometimes myself. They are good high quality audio.
Yes, Physical media has actually been making a comeback of sorts, it is nice to access physical media when needed and even watch a movie or show. I still have a DVD/Blu Ray and am happy to have it
I have a blu ray rewriter.
Reasons being:
1) I have a big CD collection which I rip to iTunes
2) I have a decent collection of old PC games which still can’t legally be bought on any store platform
3) I have about 700 blu ray movies which I rip to a Plex server
Yes, getting rid of the DVD or Blu-ray drive is definitely not for everyone.
I have over 500 total discs cd/dvd combined. I still enjoy buying a music cd and scanning into my pc and listening that way and transferring into my phone. Also I can create custom playlists, slap them on a flash drive and listen in the car.
My most recent 2 PCs don't have a dvd drive and if I would need one, I'd buy one of these usb-dvd drives. They're working quite well!
Yes, and the price of them have come down a lot over the years too.
I strongly disagree.
Recently I was getting through my all stored backups. All on optical disks.
For 150 disks dating up to 20 years back. Only 5 had bad sectors. And on that 5 faulty disks only 1% of data had corrupted files and individual files had maximum 5% loss of integrity.
Compare to my hard drive stored data - 50% of hard drives died making total loss of 50% of data.
Conclusion - if I would not use optical drives to preserve my data - I would loose 50% of them.
Furthermore. Can any hard drive or USB stick protect your data from intentional harm - no - all data stored on HDD and USB can be modified or deleted.
So - yes - optical drives are necessity.
Furthermore - with "parity files" it is 100% safe storage - not even considering use of "carbon" or "gold" disks for storage safety.
The point of the video was to help people decide whether they still need an optical drive or not. It's a personal decision and down to the individual. I enjoyed your comment - very descriptive thank you!
I have a UHD Blu-Ray drive in my PC. Physical media is great, and I put a lot of disks in it.
contrary to popular belief, steam does not have every game ever made in its librarys and if u hit the flea market or have cd/dvd/video games collection like me theres quite a bit of these old forms of hardware that havent been added to steam/spotify/netflix.
one great reason to keep one around if u or a friend have a gem of older video game thats not on steam, like dungeon siege legends of aranna expansion pack
Very true and a good comment!
I'm switching cases rn and man, it hurted to see that there were no options with drive bays... I still can't believe I'm retiring my reader 😔
I own a laptop from 2015, running windows 11, since 4th generation CPUs still possible to run windows 11, even though it is "unsupported". It still have internal DVD drive, and I still use it for fun like burning videos to blank DVD and watch it from there. Because for me, playing with vintage mechanical media storage is somehow fun.
I still feel Blu-ray discs have far better quality than most streaming services... and what will you do when your internet goes out?
You may be correct about Blu-ray movies. I remember when music streaming services first came out. The quality of the music wasn't as good as the quality of music on CD discs. Many streaming services have upped their game and now offer good quality music, but this wasn't always the case.
Optical media still has it's place under the sun. Owning and preserving the physical copy of a music album, movie or a piece of software/game is one of the reasons. Streaming services don't have everything you would want to watch/listen and even if they have that piece at the moment, removing it from the service is a matter of time. Same thing with game stores and the dreaded software as a service.
Backups are a viable reason as well. If treated right and stored properly optical discs have a shelf life of 15+ years.
Some very good points made!
i want a dwd writer but i dont have space on the case to puting it,so i think i will run my cable to the front of the case and under the fans to have it outside
I use my DVD Drive to install an earlier version of Microsoft Suite before they started bending you over for leasing fees.
Love physical media. I'm a technician. I have physical media watch my movies on physical meter. I don't want to download nothing from the computer. I want to have my CDs DVDs blu-rays at home games where I can play myself without having to worry about downloading a program. It's the only way to go. Old school is better and with the new technology that we have we can do so much more so I stick to physical media. Love it! Can get enough of it. Been working on this for more than 45 years so I tell you one thing. I love physical media. Right now I'm building a 15 DVD burner and is coming out perfect
I have a vast library of Blu-rays numbering over 300 which includes over 70 3D films like Alita Battle Angel, Jaws 3D and the Iron Man Trilogy. I also have The Hobbit Trilogy in 3D. So it is absolutely critical that I have a Blu-Ray drive in my PC which is my Asus Blu-Ray drive. Also some of my films also have 7.1 audio and I have a Creative xtreme audio 7.1 sound card and Creative Gigaworks S750 7.1 speaker system connected to my sound card. And my television is a 50" Panasonic active 3D tv and universal 3D glasses. So yes I do NEED a optical drive in my pc but I found it very hard to find the right case that fulfilled my needs.
I won’t own a computer without one. Sucks that computers barely ever have them now and if they do it’s a laptop style drive and a flimsy one at that.
I use floppy disks for coasters for my beer. Optical disks make cool little clocks that are kinda nostalgic 😎👍
I still have a CD/DVD/Blu-ray Drive; this is primarily because I still have every CD/DVD game that I purchased; I still use it for Archiving Files.
Not a single word about backups, wow, the only last remaining purpose of these drives.
Oh gosh the amount of hours on Tomb Raider; good memories
I couldn't agree more!
I still have lots of CD's and DVD's that i occationally like to listen to or watch so i have a laptop bluray drive that was removed from a laptop . i attach it to my Alienware Aurora R16. I recently placed my custom built FX8350 gaming PcC back in service as it has 2 disc drives, a bluray and the other is a bluray/HDDVD combo drive. I keep an old copy of Cyberlink Power DVD that can play HDDVD cause newer versions do not support HDDVD anymore.
I still use CDs and DVDs. I'm happy my new laptop has a DVD drive. My tablet even plays DVDs. And that is such a convenience.
Even though we can download almost everything there are a few reasons why an optical drive would be preferred.
As you said, music and movies are being streamed nowadays. Streaming them also means you miss out on some video quality and sound effects, which can be a small or a major difference to you. This is because when you use a disc or a file on your computer, it's already there. You aren't playing it thouasands of miles away.
The movies may have also changed over time. Maybe you want to watch Star Wars with the kissing still in it. Another reason is a VR theater. Virtual reality is amazing for movies, especially 3D. You can still use some streaming services in VR and there are a bunch of movies available for free. Except movies in 3D. No streaming service has those, so you'll need to buy a blu ray disc or get a download of the movie to watch it. Getting the blu ray and ripping the file onto your computer to play it is amazing.
I want to get a blu ray drive for file archiving, especially with all of the 4k files we are piling up, buying bulk bluray would be cheaper than cloud services, and bluray i think has a really low chance of disc rot moving forward. Only problem is lesd and less people will have these drives in the future, despite the benefits of copying your own blurays, and curating your own collection
Yes at 0:45 I remember that pc games started to be released on DVD ROMS instead I remember I got the Shrek the Third video game for my pc in 2007 and i tried to put it on my Windows XP computer but the disc drive wouldn’t detect it and then I realized it’s because my disc drive back then was just a regular cd drive that was only made for reading regular CDs so my father then had to get a external dvd drive so I can play it
For the past 11 years, I never used an optical drive in a PC build. In the odd reason I had to, I use a really old USB dvd drive.
What is the best case with dvd driver actually ? Reference or model plz
Streaming is all butterflies and rainbows until they decided that the shows and films you like to watch don't 'fit their business model' and delete them from their catalogue. So rip the media you own into a digital format and create a home media centre.
I still need a blu-ray drive, but i have no idea how to install it because of my pc case.
I am old school I still need it
Fair enough.
12 years ago I was building a PC, bought DVD-RW drive in SATA since new board didn't have IDE, long story short I only connected power to drive but not SATA (data) as I didn't have cable for it that day. 12 years latter that drive is still in PC without SATA not connected. In those 12 years I nerved needed it once. Not even once. So not sure why we talk about this today 😂.
It sounds like you're definitely ok without a DVD drive.
If I ever build another PC I'm going to be installing a Blu-ray drive in it. Because I have a lot of Blu-ray movies or I could just change case to one that has that option
The copyright protection on many commercial blu-rays will make it a real headache to do that. Sadly part of why I think bluray never took off as much.
I haven't used the dvd writer drive on my Sony vaio E series laptop for a many yrs. It has got some problem and was not able to write on CD or dvd anyway. But reading is ok. I want to remove the drive to reduce the weight of the laptop. But I don't know if there is anything available to cover the opening after removing the drive.. So, I have left the drive there.
I have a few DVDs of bootable Windows 8 and collection of program like Aomei Backupper, Aomei Partition One Key Recovery..I almost discarded these DVDs. But I didn't. One day it came really useful as someone brought to me an old Acer laptop running on Windows xp.. It is Acer Travelmate 400. It had booting problem.. Now this old laptop has no support for booting from usb drive.. It boot only from Cd or dvd. I can't remember it supports floppy drive. But I can't use bootable flash drive.. There is a program to make such old laptop boot from flash drive.. But it needs installing first and this laptop was not booting. At that time, the old dvd of Aomei programs came really useful. I was able to copy the data from the laptop.
I have tons of games on cd and dvd. I’m actually looking to get an external drive for my modern PC since I’m not going to pay to download the games I already own on steam.
This is a vexed topic for me, being like you with a lot of legacy tech and media around.
First use case is, these streaming services ain't free. But I have my library of movies...
Secondly, the tech industry and consumer demand conspired to create an insane chain of dependence. Without the router, cable provider, web servers, etc, all the streaming is dead. Nowadays even mobile and wifi is another link that can break.
So when things break, it's nice to have local alternatives.
Thirdly, it used to be said thst your backups should be split over multiple types of media. So optical used to be the gold standard for longevity. Not sure if that is still true. But again, I would hate to rely on a cloud service for recovery, and I've had memory sticks and HDDs die...
The other legacy use was the brief acceptance of music CDs in car audio, nowadays it's Bluetooth to your phone but only a few years ago I would burn a playlist on to a CDR and play it in the car...
Scary how tech evolves so fast.
Edit - then the audiophile would note the modern trend for mp3 is not lossless compression, so original audio on CD would in theory sound better than streamed music. That's subject to other variables tho.
The nice thing with later optical drives was they could read and write pretty much anything. Early on the industry really got muddled up with disk formats like the insane +R / -R thing.
Yes, it was nice to have a game on a CD or DVD disc and not have to rely on Internet conectivity. There's definitely pros and cons to using discs vs downloading.
I remember when steam became a thing they were still releasing games on Disc but you can only install on one account like I remember I bought Left 4 Dead on pc dvd and I installed it on my steam but after that I wasn’t allowed to install it on other steam accounts
Hi there sir, I would like to add my own input into this.
I actually got a blu ray drive so my pc could be an all-in-one build. I no longer use a tv to watch my movies but my monitor.
I also like to backup old stuff through GOG so it is nice to save media as eventually, I feel all digital will die.
To further expand upon this: I am deeply disturbed by everything focused around just streaming nowadays. I think this is headed toward a path of you owning nothing.
Yes, I understand your concerns. Not everyone wants to give up their movies on discs, or their DVD/Blu-ray drives. And not everyone wants to pay monthly for a movies subscription. Personally, I think it's good to have the choice of both. It would be nice to see the choice of both options last for a long time to come.
@@EasyPcRepairs as long as both can coexist, I am fine with that.
I worked in local government office in Poland till the end of September 2022. They still use CDs (no not DVDs, the CDs) for archiving and transferring data between institution. Many data formats are specified in laws and those are not changed that often, they just bloat.
depends on the application
For privacy it's good to save stuff in cd's, even in floppy disks. There is some sort of a.i that can access your computer and usb drives offline/online via magnetic fields and sciency blablabla hokkus pokkus. So if you have some shit you don't want noone to see or want to share but can't because some laws forbid truth, then cd's baby
it is essential for people who care about their data...backup...optical disks are the best value for money physical backup that 'you' can own...cloud is not yours and they can blow up any time
no one needs optical drives anymore......but that doesnt stop me. im about to update to a blu ray drive so i can actually watch my blu rays on my pc. i still listen to cd's , watch dvd's and have physical pc games. im also 40 years old lol. i can imagine if i was in my teens or 20's id be 100% digital
What corsair case is that?
Yes.
Can blue ray disks safely stores data for long term as compare to any other storage device ???
Yes, original blu-ray disks can last for many years. They say they will last for up to 50 years. I don't know if they will last for that long, but they do last for a very long time if stored in a cool dry place.
I'm building a pc soon and I don't intend to bother with any dvd or hdds. I just want m.2 nvme drives and to keep it moving forwards. I have a portable one that came with my current pc though. So you don't have to fit one do you
That's correct, you don't have to fit one even if there's a bracket for an optical drive.
Aren’t optical driveslike CD or dvds better at storing information in the long run because they don’t have moving components that move when transferring data?
Yes, DVDs and CDs can store data for decades.
I think most people don't appreciate the fact that optical drives are actually a secure data backup solution for long term keeping, just because all USB flash drives are total garbage when in comes to reliability. Want to backup your photo collection? Write it into DVD, cover it from scratch and dust and keep it for 10 years in the drawer. Also, while i don't use DVD disks for a decade now, i absolutely love classic design ATX cases with HDD and ODD expansion slots like my Fractal Design R2 XL and really dislike these modern looking front RGB fan filled cases...
Yes, backing up your data on a disc will definitely last for longer than backing up your data on a flash drive. I mainly use flash drives to transfer data from one computer to another, which is where I find they become very useful. Great comment, thank you!
I say yes for old school games that you can't get through online stores like the og warcraft 3
OF COURSE!!!! DUH!!!!
YES I DO!!! I do a lot recording and mixing and I do need a CD/DVD to burn my CDs and DVDs!!! 😁
How do i run my old cd software on windows 11.
I have alot of them
The same as any other version of Windows: put the disk in the disk drive and open "This PC" and select the disk drive. If your PC doesn't have a disc player, you'll need to buy an external USB CD/DVD drive.
If your old cd software are computer games.... some of them won't work on Windows 11.
When I eventually build a pc, I plan on including an optical drive. No reason not to, right?
That's right. If you want an optical drive then definitely include one. Most people don't need one these days, but if you feel you'll use it then it's worth including into the build.
Do You Still Need a CD/DVD Drive For Your PC?
YES VERY MUCH AND NEW CASES ARE UGLY FULL OF GLASS AND LITTLE METAL
Still coming back for the voice.
Little correction, if I may:
DVD stands for digital versatile disc; so saying DVD disc is a bit redundant. 😊
I guess it sounds a little strange when you put it like that. Thanks for the comment!
I use a DVD and Blu-ray drive. I rip all my content to my PC, and stream it on Plex.
I stored lots of documentary and games on DVD
I have old special occasions memories saved on disc
Yes, having no optical drive isn't for everyone.
i have a wifi antenna that includes a cd so i temporarily plug it in and install the driver
flashı dvye atmamın sebebi silinmemesi bazılarıda yedekliyorum.üstlerinide yazıyorum bulmak için.
evet biraz masraflı dvd çalar cdler kalemi yedek kayıt ederken elektrik vs.fakat elinizdeki kıymetliyse ve bunu silinmesini istemiyorsanız göze almak zorundasınız.yoksa siliniyor uğraşıp duruyorsunuz çoğunuda unutuyorsunuz..
Even back in 2004 i bought games on steam and not discs.
Steam was released in 2003, I don't remember the exact timeline, but as I remember for a few years it was just Valve's game launcher i.e. CS1.6, Team Fortress, Half Life, Day of Defeat, HL2, CS:S, something like Blizzard launcher today. So you couldn't buy games on Steam back in 2004, because 99% of them were not on Steam.
@@JamesSmith-ix5jd I'm pretty sure I did. I bought Counter Strike and Half Life 2.
Yeah you can get older games on digital marketplaces, but if you already have a collection of games on physical media such as discs, why would you wanna spend potentially hundreds of dollars repurchasing them
Yes, some people will have a collection of CDs and DVDs that they will want to keep and use. For those people, they will want to keep their optical drive. But for those that just have a few discs that haven't seen the light of day for years, they most likely won't miss having a disc drive.
I want to use my Blueray more the problem is that there is nothing relesed on blueray.
the last game I bought on DVD/Blueray was Fallout4.
it came on one DVD that had nothing but a instaler on it (size like 500MG the game at launch was 10GB I think).
so do the math on that one.
it gone down hill from there.
you've played portal 2? cool :D
Yes, good game!
This Is ASMR
Also I HATE the Cloud since Normies are such NPCs you don't own the severs that the "Cloud" is on!
No. I got rid of my cds and dvds few years ago and never looked back
DVD can be used to install windows 11
but the most important you left out is that you have to pay to download what you wanted surely you are not that ignorant
dvdye ihtiyaç var çünki dvd içi silinmiyor fakat flashlar çöküyor korumaya geçiyor ve hepsini kurtarmak mümkün olmuyor ve pahalı kurtarma programları dosyalarımıza erişiyor ve bu programları sildikmi bilgisayar çökebiliyor.benim herşeyim dvdlerde.malesef artık mahallemde bulamıyorum bilgisayarda kalmadı. internetde artık harici bağlanan dvdler var..internetdekilerde pahalı .dvdli bilgisayarlar hep eski ve kullanılmış.2.el.2.elde güvenemiyoruz.bilgisayar flash diskim dvd çöktü.dvdler elimde kaldı.dvdlerin bir kısmını yedekliyorum birine birşey oldumu yedeğini yedekliyorum.yeğenimin kasa dvdsinide laptopa bağlayamadım çok zor durumdayım.
ayrıca dvdler flash bellekten daha ucuza gelir.daha ekonomiktir.
Why were they downloading games? Were they 14???
Dvd and cd are vorus free!!!
Dvd player 😂💀
Buddy probably we still need dvd cuz china invented something crazy you need to read about it😅
I dont think you need it, I also think hdds are dead and should only be used on server racks
HDDs are far from dead, unless you're fortunate enough to have cash to burn on large SSDs for bulk storage. At current prices an 8TB SSD is nearly 10x the price of a quality 8TB HDD, and almost certainly won't last as long.
In most cases when an HDD begins dying... you'll see warnings, blue screens and event log errors which gives you time to move important data.
Every single time an SSD drive dies, it's an instant death. This means everything is lost, so either you have a backup drive or you've lost everything.