Upgrading Your Optical Drive

Optical discs (CDs and DVDs) come in various formats. If followed by the suffix -ROM, it means that the optical disc use Read Only Memory. You cannot write additional data onto the disc. If followed by the suffix -R or +R, the optical disc can only be used to record data -- but only one. If followed by the suffix -RW or +RW, you can use the optical disc to store data over and over again.

In order to use optical discs, you need an optical drive. Many complete systems come equipped with a CD writer and DVD player combo, but this optical drive will not permit you to write data onto DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW or DVD+RW discs. If you want to store or burn information onto a DVD disc -- which can hold gigabytes of data compared to the CD's megabyte capacity -- you will need to invest in a DVD writer.

A DVD writer is a good PC upgrade because it can allow you to both read and write data in CDs and DVDs. It is a complete all-in-one solution.

If you are content to use CDs, you can purchase a CD writer which can read and write data onto a CD. Note that you will not be able to read DVD discs in a CD drive. DVD drives, however, can read and write data on both CDs and DVDs. Thus, if you purchase a DVD writer, you will no longer need your old optical drive.

When selecting an optical drive, faster is always better. An 8X DVD writer will need more time to copy files than a 16X DVD writer.

As always, your computer hardware choices are constrained by the amount of extra space inside your computer case. If you are out of space, you can still own an optical drive, but it will have to be placed outside of your case. These optical drives are called external optical drives.

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