HP CQ35-233TX, CQ35-226TX, CQ35-224TX Using optical discs, Selecting the right disc, CD-R discs

Using optical discs

An optical drive, such as a DVD-ROM drive, supports optical discs (CDs and DVDs). These discs store information, such as music, photos, and movies. DVDs have a higher storage capacity than CDs.

Your optical drive can read standard CD and DVD discs. If your optical drive is a Blu-ray Disc ROM Drive, it can also read Blu-ray discs.

NOTE: Some of the optical drives listed may not be supported by your computer. The listed drives are not necessarily all of the supported optical drives.

Some optical drives can also write to optical discs as described in the following table.

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
Blu-ray ROM DVD±R/	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
RW SuperMulti DL
Drive
SuperMulti	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LightScribe DVD±RW
and CD-RW Combo
Drive with DL support
Blu-ray ROM with	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
LightScribe DVD±R/
RW SuperMulti DL
Drive

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

There are 3 kinds of optical discs: CDs, DVDs, and BDs (Blu-ray discs). CDs can be used for storing your personal files. DVDs and BDs, which have a much higher storage capacity, are typically used for movies, software, and data backup.

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. 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

●Freeing hard drive space by enabling you to offload files

14 Chapter 5 Optical drive