Is it evil to push in my dvd's drawer by hand?

[schweinhundert]

I always wondered if I should hit the button (which is hard to find in the dark recess where my pc lives) or if it's ok to gently push the drawer in by hand. I know it's designed to be able to do that, but is it wearing it out?

Thankee,

[Cynthia]

I have a bad habit of pushing on the tray and so far I haven't crashed any drive by doing that. I do think it's safer to push the button.

 

Third option would be to use the load/eject buttons in the ImgBurn program.

[rasheed]

I always wondered if I should hit the button (which is hard to find in the dark recess where my pc lives) or if it's ok to gently push the drawer in by hand. I know it's designed to be able to do that, but is it wearing it out?

Thankee,

No, there is nothing to wear out. When you push the tray (gently), it will trigger an opto-mechanical (usually, like the ones that were used in mechanical mice) switch in the drive, which will activate the tray motor, pulling the tray into the drive.

Initial force you feel when you push the tray is from the electric motor your hand turns through a system of gears.

 

Since I do not like the feeling like I'm forcing things, I never push the tray by hand, I always push the button

[Paladin77]

No it isn't Evil (Satan won't come up don't worry) its pretty much the same pushing the button or Gently pushing the drive tray (its written in your drive or xbox manual) Pushing the tray gently does pretty much what button does activates motor to pull back the tray. And as Cynthia said its always safer to use software interface to do that (I personally don't look at my desktop drive at all except for putting the disc in the tray).

[Cynthia]

There is also this little program 'Tray' that can open/close your drive(s). It now supports up to 4 drives.

 

http://www.favessoft.com/downloads.html