does an external dvd burner need a fan?

[bmelon]

couldn't find any posts about this...
I just bought a Pioneed 110 dvd burner and installed it in a OWC firewire enclosure. the enclosure's fan started making a really loud and annoying noise at random intervals, so I disconnected it. the question is: is the burner ok without a fan, or should I think about replacing or repairing the one that's in there. one other factor: I have a firewire external hard drive daisy chained through the burner (hard drive>burner.powerbook).
thanks in advance for your advice!

 

[trogdor!]

The best solution would be to replace the fan and get it functioning again. It most likely would work just fine if you just burn once in a while. If you do a lot of burning at once, like multiple copies of disks, I would invest in replacing the fan. The more heat, the less life the drive will have.

As for the daisy chain, it should work just fine as long as the devices have their own individual power supplies plugged in and not bus powered.