CD/DVD ROM Drives

A DVD ROM Drive is different from a CD ROM Drive, they are placed in the same classification as they do have their similarities.

Both read information from similar media, both look very similar in nature and both are connected to the base computer in similar ways.

All drives can be internal and external. Internal drives connect to the machine from within the workings of a PC while the external drives will connect via wires and power cables to different sockets controlled from the PC.

See below for greater detail.

CD ROM Drive

CD stands for Compact Disk and ROM stands for Read Only Memory.

The CD-ROM is able to read most types of CD Media. This includes music cd's and Data Cd's. Data CD's can consist of Software, video files, your own personal work and much more.

CD ROM-RW Drive

The RW in CD ROM stands for Re-writable.

This drive has the fuctions of the CD ROM above plus has the ability to write to a blank CD, commonly known as a CD-R, and being able to write and re-write to a CD-RW. The CD-RW is a blank cd also that can be written to and has the ability to have it's data deleted so the disk may be written to again.

DVD ROM Drive

DVD has two common definitions. The official definition is Digital Video Disk and marketers unofficially refer to the media as Digial Versatile Disk.

A DVD can hold data aswell as video/films/televison series etc. These drives can read most DVD disks that can hold anything from software to films.

DVD ROM-RW Drive

A DVD-RW drive has the ability to do everything a CD-RW drive can plus the ability to write and re-write DVD disks just like the CD-RW drive can with CD's.