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MIGHT SOUND STUPID BUT HERE GOES,
WHAT IS THE DIFF BETWEEN A DVD+/-RW, A DVD+RW, A DVD COMBO DRIVE, DVD-RW/CDRW? WHAT IS A DUAL LAYER DVD ?
I READ THE STUFF BUT STILL CONFUSED.
WHAT I'M GETTING AT IS
IF I GET A DVD+/-RW AND A DVD-ROM IN A SECOND BAY CAN I STILL BURN AND PLAY CD'S?

I WANT TO BE ABLE TO RECORD,READ,AND RE WRITE BOTH DVD'S AND CD'S BUT I HERE ABOUT THE BATTLE BETWEEN DVD FORMATS WHAT THE HELL DO I NEED?
I'M FLIPPING LOST

GOOSE

MONEY TALKS,B.S. JUST PILES UP.

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

ok goose simple answer is buy a dvd that will do both + and - that way you will not be left out in the cold should on become the final standard . It is like vhs and betamax now. All dvd burners should be able to do cds, but I will tell you dvd -r are cheaper now by the disc than dvd+r.
Double layer means they can add more info to the discs surface area. FYI DVDs andCDs do not last 30 years as advertised your lucky to get 7 before they breakdown.

all the rest is too technical and confusing just get a dvd that does both and save your sanity.

also cd and dvd-rw dont always burn in a format you can exchange and can get screwed up with multiple burns I dont use them too many problems.

SO I'M BETTER OFF WITH A DVD-+RW/CD-RW DRIVE WITH A DVD -ROM OR CD-ROM DRIVE IN THE 2ND BAY?


MONEY TALKS,B.S. JUST PILES UP.

_________________
\"Live Free Or Die\"

The best setup would be a one DVDplusminusRW drive and one DVDminusROM drive. the plusminusRW drive will be able to burn anything you want (DVDplusR, DVDminusR, DVDplusRW, DVDminusRW, CDR and CDRW) and the ROM drive will be faster at reading anything you want. Also with two optical drives you can make copies on the fly, instead of copying it to your HDD and then to a disc. It's not hard to find a good deal on a dual layer p-RW drive, so if you can, get that. You can still use all single layer media, and just start using the dual layer media when the price comes down some more (within a year or two it will be very reasonable). If this is just for data, and will only be used by you, make sure it has plus cpapbility which is often 2x as fast as minus.

Also keep in mind not all current dvd players will play all formats. It would be a good idea to get a plusminus drive and try both discs on your home dvd player (if your going to use this for movies that is). It would suck if you get a plus drive and your dvd player only does minus, or vice versa.

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There are 10 kinds of people in the world: Those who understand Binary, and those who don't.