Uploaded June 2026 | Updated September 2026, 3 weeks ago
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In this video, I show you various optical drives from the 1990s to today.
The first 5.25" optical drive for the PC was a CD-ROM drive, and it came out in 1985. It cost about $1,495, and was the Philips CM-100. It didn't use a IDE interface like later CD-ROM drives, it used a SCSI interface. It was a 1 X CD-ROM drive which had a read speed of 150 KB/second.
CD-ROM drives didn't became main stream on computers until 1993 to 1995. These drives were becoming more affordable, they cost like $300 to $500 during this time. The CD-ROM became as standard as 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disk drives in the 1990s.
DVD-ROM drives were released for PCs in 1996, and they cost about $300 to $500. I got one in 1998, and it was Toshiba DVD-ROM drive. It cost about $200.
IDE and EIDE was the standard interface for CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM/DVD-RW drives from 1994 to 2005. From 1985 to 1993, CD-ROM drives used SCSI controllers.
CD-RW drives came out in 1997, and they were used until 2005. After 2005, DVD-ROM and DVD-RW drives replaced CD-ROM/CD-RW drives. These newer drives could also read CD-ROM media, and they could write to CD-RW discs. The new standard interface for optical drives from 2006 to 2025 was sata.
In 2006, Blu-ray 5.25" drives came out for PCs, but they were very expensive. You could buy one for $700 to $1000. In 2009, Dell XPS 9000/435T had Blu-ray ROM drive in it. Blu-ray drives never became popular on PCs, because of streaming services, and they were expensive. DVD-ROMs was the PC industry standard for media. Software would be on DVD-ROM discs. However, in 2016, people started to buy software from the internet by downloading it. As a result, aisles for computer software and games started to shrink. There was really no need for DVD-RW drives, people would use USB flash drives to image operating systems.
The first Blu-ray RW drive I bought was in 2014 for about $59.99. Today, these Blu-ray RW drives could be bought for $115 to $500. I bought mine to watch movies on my computer. I still watch DVD and Blu-ray movies on my television and computer. I collect them as well.
From 2016 and onward, computer case companies started to design cases without 5.25" bays, and today it is very difficult to find newer computer cases with 5.25" bays. In 2025, LG and Pioneer announced that no more 5.25" optical drives would be produced by them. USB optical drives will still be produced, but 5.25" optical drives for desktops will not be made anymore. Asus still produces 5.25" optical drives. In the future, there will be less 5.25" optical drives. In the 1980s to the 1990s 3.5" floppy disk drives were common, and today it is difficult to find any. 5.25" optical drives will meet the same fate.
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In this video, I show you various optical drives from the 1990s to today.
The first 5.25" optical drive for the PC was a CD-ROM drive, and it came out in 1985. It cost about $1,495, and was the Philips CM-100. It didn't use a IDE interface like later CD-ROM drives, it used a SCSI interface. It was a 1 X CD-ROM drive which had a read speed of 150 KB/second.
CD-ROM drives didn't became main stream on computers until 1993 to 1995. These drives were becoming more affordable, they cost like $300 to $500 during this time. The CD-ROM became as standard as 5.25" and 3.5" floppy disk drives in the 1990s.
DVD-ROM drives were released for PCs in 1996, and they cost about $300 to $500. I got one in 1998, and it was Toshiba DVD-ROM drive. It cost about $200.
IDE and EIDE was the standard interface for CD-ROM/CD-RW/DVD-ROM/DVD-RW drives from 1994 to 2005. From 1985 to 1993, CD-ROM drives used SCSI controllers.
CD-RW drives came out in 1997, and they were used until 2005. After 2005, DVD-ROM and DVD-RW drives replaced CD-ROM/CD-RW drives. These newer drives could also read CD-ROM media, and they could write to CD-RW discs. The new standard interface for optical drives from 2006 to 2025 was sata.
In 2006, Blu-ray 5.25" drives came out for PCs, but they were very expensive. You could buy one for $700 to $1000. In 2009, Dell XPS 9000/435T had Blu-ray ROM drive in it. Blu-ray drives never became popular on PCs, because of streaming services, and they were expensive. DVD-ROMs was the PC industry standard for media. Software would be on DVD-ROM discs. However, in 2016, people started to buy software from the internet by downloading it. As a result, aisles for computer software and games started to shrink. There was really no need for DVD-RW drives, people would use USB flash drives to image operating systems.
The first Blu-ray RW drive I bought was in 2014 for about $59.99. Today, these Blu-ray RW drives could be bought for $115 to $500. I bought mine to watch movies on my computer. I still watch DVD and Blu-ray movies on my television and computer. I collect them as well.
From 2016 and onward, computer case companies started to design cases without 5.25" bays, and today it is very difficult to find newer computer cases with 5.25" bays. In 2025, LG and Pioneer announced that no more 5.25" optical drives would be produced by them. USB optical drives will still be produced, but 5.25" optical drives for desktops will not be made anymore. Asus still produces 5.25" optical drives. In the future, there will be less 5.25" optical drives. In the 1980s to the 1990s 3.5" floppy disk drives were common, and today it is difficult to find any. 5.25" optical drives will meet the same fate.
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