Storage forum: Does pushing in the CD tray fatigue the hardware?

I have been pushing the tray for years and only semi-broke one, but I think that was my fault. They don't go in if the power is off you see.

What I really want to know is who was the dope that put the button under the open tray? An even bigger question is why doesn't someone move it to the top?

Hi, I believe the button is always on the bottom for mechanical reasons, since the button directly activates the traction mechanism. space probably limits options to the most simple that is possible. If it were electrically activated then, of course the button could be anywhere.

I've noticed that when I often pushed the tray in for one of my PCs, the ROM drive had read/op errors after a few years. This is just from casual observations and not a full scientific method conducted. It's possible the drive could've done that anyways since it could've been a defect. Also possible that my other drives that i used the button culd'v broken down anyways. I'm thinking pushing with too much force could over time, cause the mechanical problems.

They SHOULD put the eject button in a more accessible place. The top is not a bad idea. Would be neat if they could integrate the button straight up on the front of the tower, like how they copied some USB ports onto the front.

much less likely to run into problems by pressing the eject button too hard, granted I'm "guilty" of pushing the tray every now and then

I'm an old IT pro and I can tell you the following: When the first CD players appeared, they came with instructions that said that you should never push the caddy, it might hurt the electric motor inside. As I recall, the first CD-ROMs came with similar instructions. I actually threw one of those away the other day, a stand-alone (there were no others) 1x CD-ROM for a Mac... I still have my HP Personal Computer (their own architecture) from the beginning of the '80s.

Have looked at the newer computers lately? Some of them that i've seen have a door in front of the Roms. Yes there is a button to open the rom. But to close the tray you have no choice but to push the tray. The door that opened covers the button from the bottom. It's mechanical and they will wear out like anything else so I keep spares as a back up.

That's a bunch of poppycock! I've been pushing my 3 different (HP) computer CD Roms in since 2000 and haven't broken or wore one out yet. On this latest machine, I even jammed the CD in the tray a couple of times (through carelessness) and pulled it back to retrieve the CD and it STILL works fine! By the way, an HP computer has the button on the side next to the tray.

The tray eject mechanism is operated by a small motor and plastic gears (and occasionally a rubber belt). The motor operates at a significant gear ratio advantage, and there normally is very little stress on these parts. However, when one pushes on the tray, the situation is reversed and the unpowered motor is forced to turn through a gear DISadvantage. If done gently so the motor has an opportunity to accelerate slowly, it can work out okay; but if done more abruptly, the inertia of the motor prevents it from starting instantly and it's relatively easy to crack a gear or shuck off a tooth. Sure, it usually doesn't happen, but it is a higher-stress mechanical situation that I choose to avoid.

I've probably pushed my computer's cd-rom drive over 1000 times and still do not notice any problems. Any ideas out there how many pushes I have left? Also, does anyone know how many times you can push the small open/close button before the electric motor that opens and closes the cd-rom drive fails? I'd really love to here from an engineer who designs these parts, but for the rest of you please don't hold back your creative opinions.