am I just a Luddite for preferring liveCD/DVDs to liveUSB?
 

I'm using a USB drive for my live medium because I'm out of DVDs. But I'm going to buy more DVDs as soon as I get around to it, because I trust optical discs more. When I abandon an installation of my distro because I have found subtle errors that shouldn't be happening, it tends to be one that came from a liveUSB. Am I wrong to think USB drives are more complex; and between that and the layer of complexity added by a liveUSB-making program, there is more that could go wrong?

I'd be inclined to agree with you. Firstly USBs are read-write. Most optical discs, especially those used as installation discs, are read-only. I don't see any way a DVD-ROM could get corrupted if the original image burned on it was OK.

Also USBs are solid-state devices masquerading as hard drives. There's some kind of firmware inside the handle that manages that side of things. So that adds a layer of complexity and of commercial secrecy too.

On the other hand, USBs are small and handy and easy to use and have a big capacity, so I like them.

You're not a luddite but you could be a bit paranoid ;)

Exactly what I suspected. I have been vague at best on how the USB drive can get corrupted if i don't mess with it, but I know the disc won't.

Paranoid enough, yes. I don't think people want to kill me; but I don't trust my liveUSBs and I do my best to hide my identity from people on the internet. (Ask anyone who's been doxxed whether that's particularly paranoid.)

From a cost effective point of view, the USB is more economical. I have had issues with a DVD image not mounting correctly and I had to do some command line fu to get it to mount a directory with the firmware scripts I needed to install, so they are not 100%.
I also have the issue of working with systems without DVD drives, and if they do have one it has not been used in so long that it does not read.

Many installers assume USB is used, so they are optimized for it and include lots of extras that go over the limit of what DVD can hold. And with persistence configured on the USB, you can put in scripts and download files to use on various machines.

But if DVD works for you and you don't mind the waste and expense, then its your call. But it is a bit Luddite behavior IMO, not like floppy disks, but getting there. :-p

So an optical drive that gets ignored for too long stops working?

They can stop working if they fill up with dust. I've seen it happen. Most of them are sealed relatively well. Then again, USB ports can also be impacted by dust as well.

SCSI, SATA, IDE, or USB drives etc all have some sort of controller with firmware. Something is needed convert ATA commands whether data is on a platter or memory chip. A "disk" drive is more complex then a DVD disk but players have their own idiosyncrasies.

In most cases the ISO file you download is an ISO 9660 CD-ROM filesystem which also contains the hybrid feature i.e. adds a MBR so it can boot like a regular disk drive. This is why live OS are read only. Most if not all DVD ISO files I download are less then 4.7GB which is the limit for a single layer DVD disk. A DVD player is still a physical device and dust and abuse can damage the lasers as well as scratches on the disc itself will cause the player to "skip". The quality of CD/DVDS you purchase vary and a recorded CD/DVD will in time degrade depending on the environment where it is stored.

USB flash drives do wear out over time due to write limits and physical abuse.

For a long time I've had great fun following the kernel changelog files (direct links in the Slackware forum) and have noted literally dozens and dozens of USB bug fixes. Including so-called "quirk fixes" for specifically named USB drives...

Still not at all sure how these fixes drizzle down kernel versions, but they certainly are a reminder to keep the kernel updated.

Btw. have used USB sticks for years without issues, all Kingston.

Being a luddite was a blast in the seventies,,,,,ahem.

Optical still has usefulness IMHO. It isn't as flexible or fast as USB but being RW has value to some kinds of work while being RO has value in others. Thankfully optical media is still readily available and USB drives have come WAY down in price. I like and use 'em both and if someone considers that Luddite, I really don't care..

Plus there's the issue of disk rot.

I do like the convenience of being able to burn an *.iso directly to an optical disk and having it just work, but I notice that built-in optical drives are starting to disappear from computers. My new laptop came without one, and recently I looked at some desktops that no long include them. (The vendor, though, helpfully offered small, inexpensive, USP optical drives as an option. Fortunately, I already have several portable optical drives of my own.)

I suspect that one factor in this (in addition to a nutty desire to make laptops as slim as possible) is growth of streaming media for entertainment and of the "cloud" for backups. Computer geeks--er, aficionados--are not a significant market component.

I understand the potential issues involved with DVD vs. USB, but I switched to using flash drives a few years back, because I got tired of purchasing DVDs. I haven't had any significant issues in doing so. I do still have a small collection of burned DVDs on hand, just in case.

Since I use a handful of PCs and the newest case has no space for a 5.5" DVD drive, a f ew years ago I bought a cool little case for repair work. It has it's own serious PSU, 2x5.5" drive bats and 2xeSATA connections. It opriginally housed a Plextor DVD-RW and a 500GB SATA Seagate drive. Now it has the Plextor and an 8TB Seagate and a conversion output strip for USB. I used to have to carry around a PCI eSATA card for servicing clients but now I can connect to anything. Commercial consumer grade optical disks may rot but many businesses and even governments use Artchive quality opticals. I'm retired now so it doesn't matter anymore except for my home network but I do wonder how many big ouitfits still use opticals. Some still run DOS!

I used to have a wallet of CD and DVD images for various boot environments, but since I found Multisystem, https://www.pendrivelinux.com/multib...sb-from-linux/ I can carry 1 USB with multiple bootable tools installed on it.
Convenience trumps quality, so the few issues USB has is still easier to put with then carrying a wallet of fragile disks and an external DVD to read them.

I still have 2 laptops & an old desktop with DVD drives, have a stack of re writeable CDs & DVDs, but seldom use them - pendrives are just so much quicker & easier to use - but now I have external HDD/SSD drives too, which far outweigh even pendrives in their usefulness for sneakernet. :)

We all have our foibles, use what suits you best. ;)