How to select an internal DVD writer

Optical drives (currently, DVD writers) are one of the most updated parts in a computer, either due to damage of an old drive (due to wear) or to upgrade to some new features or higher speed. This article will review some basics to consider when purchasing a new DVD writer.

Drive size and form factor

There are just a few optical DVD drive sizes - but the right one has to be selected.
Compatibility Traditional DVD rewriters, mounted in a 5 1/4-inch bay, are compatible with practically all worldwide computers. They include a protruding tray, that will open to receive and release the discs. Different drive formats In the same format, slot-in drives can be found. Some space is spared for disk handling, but special disk formats (8cm, card-size, etc.) cannot be used. Finally, laptops use a different format called slim, and both fixation and interface are different.

Interface

Connection Once the size has been decided, the second parameter will be the logical connection to the computer. Traditional computers (until 2008 or so) worked mainly with EIDE interface (a 40-pin parallel bus, through ribbon cable). Modern computers include also Serial ATA (or SATA) connection, which is faster. If your computer has SATA support as well as a free port, you should go for this option. Alternative interfaces Other alternative interfaces such as USB or Firewire are not developed for internal optical drives - those are mainly for external CD or DVD drives - so you will not find any option of those.

Additional features

Finally, some drive manufacturers offer some additional features, that may help in the final decision. Bundled authoring software (used for creating DVD videos with menus, for example, or rather, to do hard drive backups) can be of great help in old computer systems which did not include these utilities (due to lack of the rewriter itself). Readable Blu-ray format The ability to read the new format Blu-ray will also help in keeping a simple computer system. Therefore, you do not need to add a dedicated device to your DVD burner drive. Marking of special discs Another possibility is the capability to mark (special) discs directly on the rewriter. On the market, you can find many devices that work with the "Lightscribe" technology - a laser will "print" onto the upper disc surface, so that you can label any text, image or a combination of those directly onto the disc. LightScribe works by "burning" the external surface of the disc ( the non-data side), thus only dark spots can be obtained. Practical result is a gray-scale printing of the prepared design.