With media increasingly moving to digital rather than physical storage solutions, an optical drive may seem outdated. But there are still a number of reasons to invest in an optical drive, not the least of which is to access older media, a significant percentage of which still hasn't been shifted over to a digital/online solution. This is especially true if you have games, videos, photos, or documents backed up on physical media. Optical drives can also be a handy way to create new backups quickly and inexpensively, and some programs require discs for emergency boot tools.