Many users have moved to transporting files via portable USB devices or cloud services. CD/DVDs are still often desired by those working with legal evidence or those in insurance and law enforcement due to their low cost and ability to be mailed or stored in flat file folders. Users with systems that do not have on-board DVD drives, or users with third-party hardware, can still utilize external DVD drives to record exported video files if needed. Article 2678 explains this. The following article provides additional information regarding drive types and media use.
When examining optical disc drives as well as the CD or DVD media used in them you will note the presence, or lack of, + and – symbols as well as various acronyms used.
Disc Formats and Capacities
The initial two or three letters inform you about the disc format.
- CD (Compact Disc) is the older of the formats and has a capacity of around 700 MB. Originally created for music, but can be used to store data or video files if used with a compatible reader.
- DVD (Digital Video Disc) created to provide increased capacity for video, these discs typically hold around 4.7 GB.
- BD (Blu-Ray) created to provide even more capacity for high-definition video that requires more space, these typically store up to 25 GB.
A caveat to the capacities listed above, are DL discs, these are mentioned below with the additional acronyms.
Disc Standards (+/-)
There are two standards used for recordable DVDs, indicated by + and – symbols. DVD-R is and older format that was improved upon by DVD+R. The two formats hold similar amounts of data but the DVD+R standard provides some error checking during recording resulting in fewer opportunities for write errors.
You will only see the ± symbol on drives, not on discs, and this tells you that the drive can burn to both + and – discs. This was more important in the past, as many drives today are ±, though this should be noted if you are experiencing issues burning discs since older DVD+R and DVD+RW drives were unable to record to DVD-R and DVD-RW media and vice versa.
Disc Capabilities
The acronyms following the + or – inform you what the disc is capable of, as follows:
- ROM (Read-Only Memory), as the name implies these are read-only and come from a production facility with the data already on them. Many users simply drop the ROM altogether and refer to these as simply, CDs, DVDs, or Blu-rays.
- R (Recordable) indicates that the disc is recordable a single time. Once written to, it cannot be recorded to again.
- RW (Rewritable). In a compatible drive, these discs can be written to more than once.
- RE (Recordable Erasable), this is essentially the same as RW but used for rewritable Blu-ray discs.
- DL (Dual Layer), usually appearing last, you may note some discs that display DL, which stands for Dual Layer. These discs will hold twice as much data, DVDs 8.5 GB and BDs 50 GB. Note, however that dual layer DVDs are NOT the same as double-sided DVDs that are flipped over to record on both sides of the disc.
Disc and Drive Compatibilities
The chart below aligns the drive type along the left-hand side with the optical media type listed across the top.
| Drive Type | Disc Type | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CD-R | CD-RW | DVD-R | DVD-RW | DVD+R | DVD+RW | DVD+R DL | BD-R | BD-RE | BD-R DL | |
| CD-ROM | Read | Read | ||||||||
| CD-R | Read/Write | Read | ||||||||
| CD-RW | Read/Write | Read/Write | ||||||||
| DVD-ROM | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | |||
| DVD-R | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read | Read | Read | Read | |||
| DVD-RW | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read | Read | Read | |||
| DVD+R | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read | Read | Read/Write | Read | Read | |||
| DVD+RW | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read | Read | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read | |||
| DVD+R DL | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read | Read | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | |||
| BD-ROM | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read | Read |
| BD-R | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read | Read |
| BD-RE | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read |
| BD-R DL | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write | Read/Write |
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Troubleshooting
If experiencing problems burning discs, as mentioned above, be sure that the optical media being used is compatible with the drive being used.
Check that any external and/or third-party drives are recognized by the system and have any necessary drivers installed.
Article 2619 discusses the quality of the media.
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