Selecting the right disc, CD-R discs, CD-RW discs

Optical drive type	Write to CD-RW	Write to DVD±RW/R	Write to DVD+R DL	Write label to
				LightScribe CD or DVD
				±RW/R

SuperMulti	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LightScribe DVD±RW
and CD-RW Combo
Drive with DL support

Blu-ray Disc ROM	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Drive with SuperMulti
DVD±R/RW DL
support

CAUTION: To prevent possible audio and video degradation, loss of information, or loss of audio or video playback functionality, do not initiate Sleep or Hibernation while reading or writing to a CD or DVD.

Selecting the right disc

An optical drive supports optical discs (CDs and DVDs). CDs, used to store digital data, are also used for commercial audio recordings and are convenient for your personal storage needs. DVDs are used primarily for movies, software, and data backup purposes. DVDs are the same form factor as CDs but have 6 to 7 times the storage capacity.

NOTE: The optical drive on your computer may not support all the types of optical discs discussed in this section.

CD-R discs

Use CD-R (write-once) discs to create permanent archives and to share files with virtually anyone. Typical uses include the following:

●Distributing large presentations

●Sharing scanned and digital photos, video clips, and written data

●Making your own music CDs

●Keeping permanent archives of computer files and scanned home records

●Offloading files from your hard drive to free up disk space

After data is recorded, it cannot be erased or written over.

CD-RW discs

Use a CD-RW disc (a rewritable version of a CD) to store large projects that must be updated frequently. Typical uses include the following:

●Developing and maintaining large documents and project files

●Transporting work files

●Making weekly backups of hard drive files

●Updating photos, video, audio, and data continuously

16 Chapter 5 Optical drive