Question Is it okay to leave Cd/Dvd drive empty?

Jan 18, 2025
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Maybe dumb question, but is it okay to leave it empty for my laptop?
This is an old laptop already. I thought it was the HDD that was clicking but after i change to SSD i think it was the cd drive.
And i think keeping it affects the booting cause after turning it on, there is clicking sound and takes quite some time before the OS go on.
 
Just so you know and don't worry. That little clicking sound you hear from the drive is normal. At EVERY boot-up the system "polls" each of the devices connected (like HDD, SSD, keyboard, optical drive, etc.). Each such unit has its own Initialization process to self-check which includes responding to an external query with a coded reply to indicate whether it is working OK or not. And EACH unit's self-check does things most pertinent. For an optical drive (and for mechanical Hard Drives and Floppy Drives), the process includes moving the scanning head arm out and back which causes the little sound when the head reaches the rest stop. It also spins up the disk drive shaft (whether or not there is a disk installed) and then stops it.
 
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