Need An Optical Drive In My Mame Cab?

[lettuce]

Do i really need a DVD or CD drive in my up coming MAME build, what other options do i have to load windows on a fresh harddrive with out a DVD drive?

[shardian]

You do realize that cd-roms can be plugged in and then unplugged from a pc, right?

[lettuce]

Yeah, but i dont have a spare, and not taking my pc apart to use the DVD drive, plus ones SATA and the mobo im using is IDE

[shardian]

I'll send you an IDE cdrom for shipping.

[Ginsu Victim]

Just get yourself a nice big USB flash drive and then you don't need one installed.

[lettuce]

Just get yourself a nice big USB flash drive and then you don't need one installed.

What and the copy the contents of my windows xp disc to the flash drive, and setup so my pc boots from the flash drive?

[RayB]

used goods store... old cd-rom drives are plentiful

its useful for loading more files, though you could also go the USB drive way,,,,,

[Ginsu Victim]

Just get yourself a nice big USB flash drive and then you don't need one installed.

What and the copy the contents of my windows xp disc to the flash drive, and setup so my pc boots from the flash drive?

Meh....I didn't read the part about setting up windows. I just meant instead of having a DVD drive. I installed windows, then took the drive out and only use flash drives to add to the cabinet.

[severdhed]

a cd/dvd drive is by far the easiest way to get windows setup and working.   once you have windows installed, then you really don't need one in the cabinet, you can always install from a flash drive, or over the network.   you should be able to pick up a dvd rom drive online for around $20 shipped..or if you have one in another pc, it would only take a few minutes to swap one out.    if not, check a local pc repair shop, i'm sure they would have spares lying around they'd let you have for next to nothing.

[NickG]

You can install windows from the hard drive you intend to install in the cabinet, but you will have to attach it to the other computer to copy many files onto it first.  Basically, you copy the Windows CD setup files to that hard drive, and also install a bootable DOS image to the drive.  Then you connect the drive to your cabinet PC, boot to DOS from it, then start the Windows installation from the command prompt.  There is a bit a detail lacking in this explanation that you can probably find here:
http://www.overclock.net/faqs/101421-how-install-windows-xp-hard-drive.html
There are a few more guides 'round the net and you can probably find one that tells how to do this from a USB drive if yours has enough capacity for the files, and if your PC can boot from USB.
P.S. , almost forgot you can most other Windows versions and some Linux distro's this way, too.

[GAJoe]

I would take the drive out of the other computer, hook it up to install Windows, then disconnect it and put it back in the original machine.  Unless you have a really hard to get out drive, that seems like the cheapest, fastest solution.

[Jack Burton]

Call a computer repair store and see if they have any CD-ROMS laying around.  They'll probably just give you one they were going to throw away.