I'm pretty sure any IDE optical drive except for really early ones would support standard ATAPI drivers like the famous Oak one. This is a case where getting a period-correct one can introduce compatibility issues.

Any drive up to 2005 has the 4-pin analog audio connector. Then, it started to disappear slowly. Some OEM drives I've seen lack it, too - but you'll probably not run across these. If in doubt, simply don't buy a drive. And you can always ask the seller.

Rule of thumb as far as I'm concerned is an IDE CD/DVD drive almost always has 4 pin and sometimes (late CD drives) or most of the time (DVD) 2pin audio connectors, SATA almost always has neither. Also I think pre IDE CD drives should be avoided.

I do not know how it is with SCSI CD drives, never had one.

Just do not buy LG 222 series drives, those are the most common, and the most cheapest, and do not read all discs.

Koltoroc wrote:

Rule of thumb as far as I'm concerned is an IDE CD/DVD drive almost always has 4 pin and sometimes (late CD drives) or most of the time (DVD) 2pin audio connectors, SATA almost always has neither. Also I think pre IDE CD drives should be avoided.

I do not know how it is with SCSI CD drives, never had one.

SCSI optical drives require SCSI-compatible sound cards for CD audio. Even if you're using SCSI hard drives your optical drive should be IDE.

I don't think the analog audio output is functional in all newer drives that still had the connector present, so maybe don't go by pictures or outward descriptions alone.

derSammler wrote:

Any drive up to 2005 has the 4-pin analog audio connector. Then, it started to disappear slowly. Some OEM drives I've seen lack it, too - but you'll probably not run across these. If in doubt, simply don't buy a drive. And you can always ask the seller.

firage wrote:

I don't think the analog audio output is functional in all newer drives that still had the connector present, so maybe don't go by pictures or outward descriptions alone.

Hmm... Just what I thought. It's probably a hit and miss thing. Also, less and less ebay seller replies to your inquiry these days, especially wholesale computer parts sellers.

I also had several DVD drives at my SOHO, of varying vendors and models. And yes, the availability (or the lack thereof) of 4 pin audio output connector varies wildly between models.

How about certain brands and models? Are there certain brands/models that can be considered safe bet?

There is not one to my knowledge. TBH, I don't care what drive I'm using, so as long as it works and won't be greif to find drivers for. I find myself more often than not lately looking for drivers before I purchase the device in question and verifying specs because there's a lot of stuff that turns up at thrift shops that's old PC hardware some person probably dumped because they could not find the Matsushita drivers for it or can't figure out where to get a card for some obscure old interface from 1992.

Typically this is what I abide by...

Anything 386 or above = IDE - CD/DVD-ROM or RW, hell, a multi-format drive, I don't care. Just as long as it's plain' ole 40 pin IDE with the six pin Master/Slave/Cable Select jumper setup, I'm happy. Plus I have about 4-5 IDE CD-ROM drivers to use including the one that came with my first in 2001 - a 52X EPO I bought new at EB Games for $25.00 for my first Windows PC - a cobbled together 486 DX-33 that's responsible for me getting into this crazy hobby in the first place.

Anything 286 = SCSI, just put a SCSI CD-ROM on my 286, one of the best decisions I've made in awhile because being as it's a rather beefy 286 it can indeed run some things that require or come on CD.

Anything 8086/80186/80188/8088 should not have a CD-ROM, not like it's really all that useful, and if I want to listen to tunes with the 8088, spinning some LPs on the turntable makes more sense anyway for a more authentic early 80's experience.

Woolie Wool wrote:

Koltoroc wrote:

SCSI optical drives require SCSI-compatible sound cards for CD audio. Even if you're using SCSI hard drives your optical drive should be IDE.

Why do you need a special audio card to read analog sound from SCSI optical drives? You may need a special cable with some older drives, but I don't know why the choice of audio card may be a problem.

ETA: Actually, this reminds me of a problem I had with this drive: [SOLVED] CD Audio cable question

don't think about those 52x+ drives. That was my last rule of thumb for CD-ROM drives. There was a widespread fear about those physically destroying discs. Many manufacturers put out 48x drives during that time.

My go-to brand WAS Creative.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman wrote:

How about certain brands and models? Are there certain brands/models that can be considered safe bet?

I have a pair of LTD-163 drives and love them to death.

I've also had good luck with older Lite-On drives, but I've also had good luck with Panasonic, Samsung, Mitsumi, NEC, Creative, LG. The drives that I have had the worst luck with and seen the most failures from are Sony drives and this is multiple occasions. That being said I don't even think that sony and for that matter a lot of other companies manufactured their own drives, they only did firmware and stickers. Creative is probably one of those companies.

leileilol wrote:

don't think about those 52x+ drives. That was my last rule of thumb for CD-ROM drives. There was a widespread fear about those physically destroying discs. Many manufacturers put out 48x drives during that time.

My go-to brand WAS Creative.

Didn't someone test that and find that you had to get disks up to (excluding disks that already had small cracks) up to 23,000 RPM (or as I like to call it, 100x speed) to shatter a disk?

52x drives shattering disks is fake news.

Unless they're already flawed or damaged in some way.

I prefer SHSUCDX

gdjacobs wrote:

Unless they're already flawed or damaged in some way.

well if you use the drives for retro stuff, I wouldn't trust the material of 20+ year old CDs to be in pristine condition anymore.

Depends how they were stored. But i still think it can't happen scientifically speaking.

A long time ago, I had a CD drive with volume control and some buttons on the panel (Play/Pause, Next, Previous and Stop). I guess every drive with those buttons will surely have internal audio output.

As a bonus, those drives will surely be quiet... because I've never seen a 16x or faster drive with play buttons.