Cd drive on shopbot computer

[GlenP]

Hey everyone. I was wondering how often everyone uses there cd drive in their machine dedicated computer. My new PRS should be here Tuesday and I bought a used dell on ebay with xp pro software on it and the cd drive is not working. I will be using my laptop or office pc for design and the dell is for the machine only. It has usb slots for using memory stick for file transfering. The company I bought it from will replace the computer if I want to pursue it but it will delay my machine startup. So my question for all of you is with the drive not functioning going to be a hudge problem. Does the software updates from shopbot come via internet downloads?

[richards]

Except for loading Windows onto the computer and loading a few devices drivers when I've added parts and pieces to the computer, I've never used the CD-ROM on my production computer. In a pinch, you could copy almost any necessary files to a thumb drive and then copy the files to the computer.

[myxpykalix]

I have a laptop that i use for the shopbot computer and I don't think i've used the cd rom drive but a few times for other things than shopbot related stuff. I have a 1gig flashdrive that i take back and forth for files and updates so i wouldn't worry about a cd rom drive. Plus if you ever want to buy a regular cd rom drive you probably can get one for $50.00 (?)

[knight_toolworks]

just to install the software and thats it. I just network my two computers together and the shopbot computer gets it's files off my work computer. it is far easier then a memory stick if you make lots of changes.

[fleinbach]

I too have never used the CD drive in any computer that runs the Shopbot. I send my files over my network.

As others have said here if you ever need a CD drive you can just install one or easier yet just get an external USB one. I have 8 computers on my network and 3 of them where built without an internal CD drive. I have a portable CD drive sitting on my desk with a long USB cable connected to the main computer. They are located remotly so I don't have the fan noise and all the heat they generate in my small office.

[rhfurniture]

I too have no cd drive on my shopbot computer. When I first got it I wired in a cd drive to set it up, and set up 2 hard discs with win2K and shopbot - ver 3-14 I think it was then. I then rebuilt it without the cd and one of the hd's, which I keep as an emergency spare. It is used solely as a shopbot "server", I keep no long term data on it, and feed it with part files and updates over the network.

[gene]

I have a cd drive on my bot computer but actually i can not tell you the last time it was used. All files are done in the office and transfered by memory stick , Also be sure to turn OFF the automatic updates on your bot computer. mu bot computer only has enough on it to do the one job its intended for and thats to run the bot only. anything else in simply not necessary on that computer.