How to Choose a CD Drive

January 3rd 2008  
File under: Hardware Selection, Optical Drive

 

There is a variety of CD Drives in the market, namely CD drive, CDRW drive, DVD drive, DVD-RW drive, DVD+RW drive etc. It is a headache to sort out all the different brands and types in order to find the one suitable for you. This guide shows you how to choose a good CD ROM drive easily.


Media Type

Different type of ROM drive support different type of storage media. A CD-ROM can only read CD while a CDRW-ROM can read, record and rewrite data on CD. Here is a list of what type of media each ROM supports.

  • CD ROM - CD reading only
  • CDRW ROM - CD reading, recording and rewriting
  • DVD ROM - DVD and CD reading only
  • DVD+RW ROM - DVD and CD reading, DVD recording and rewriting in +RW format
  • DVD-RW ROM - DVD and CD reading, DVD recording and rewriting in ?RW format
  • DVD+RDL ROM - DVD and CD reading, DVD dual layer recording of +R format

DVD+RW and DVD-RW are two different standards for DVD recording. DVD+RW allow you to add and remove data without erasing the whole disk and starting over. This means that DVD+RWs can almost be treated like removable hard disks. Conversely, DVD-RW is less flexible; the whole disk needs to be erased before new data can be added.

A DVD storage capacity is 4.7GB. Dual Layer (DL) allows user to record data on two sides of the disc, thus doubling the total capacity to 8.55GB

Choose a drive according to your need. If you wants to watch DVD movie on your pc, do not get a CD drive. I would recommend getting a combo drive that supports all the different media types. It is cheaper than getting all the different drives separately and also more convenient. The drawback for a combo drive is a slower speed.

Internal or External

Internal drives are usually cheaper than external drives. External drives connect to the computer through firewire or USB2.0 and more suitable if you need to move your data around.

Speed

The speed of the drive determines how fast it transfers data to the computer. The higher the speed, the faster the transfer. You will see various speeds on the combo drive, something like "52×32x52" The first number represents the reading speed, the second number represents the rewrite speed and the last number shows the recording speed. Choose a drive with fast speed.

Conclusion

To choose a good CD drive, you must know what you need it for. If you are using it to listen to audio CD only, it is best to get the CD ROM drive whereas if you need to copy large amount of data, get a DVD burner.

Due to its large capacity, DVD will soon replace CD as data storage device. it is recommended to get a DVD burner rather than a CD Writer so you don’t have to spend money to upgrade again in the near future.