77. Pluses, minuses of blank DVD discs
By Mark Alberstat
Q. I have written to you before and was pleased with your response, so I
am hoping you can help me again. My question is on burning photos to DVDs.
What is the difference between the two types of DVDs, -R and +R?
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When shopping for a DVD burner, or DVD blanks to put your data on, you
will see DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R and DVD+RW. They may seem the same at a
quick glance, but they are different, and that's something the end user
should be aware of.
Although there are dual-layer discs and burners out there now, most
standard DVD burners and discs are single layer and all store 4.7
Gigabytes. That's about 6 1/2 times the amount of information
stored on a traditional CD.
DVD-R is the type of disc, and writing routine, that you can use to create
a disk once but not add anything to it when you are finished. Add the W to
this type of disc and you can now erase and rewrite the information up to
1,000 times. In this case, there is a clear advantage of having a drive
that allows the DVD-RW, simply because you don't need as many discs. If
one disc becomes outdated, when you make another one, there is no need to
throw away the original disc because you can simply write over the
information.
When you move into the +R and +RW, things get a bit more confusing but are
still understandable for most computer users. The +RW is the more popular
format of the two + varieties because it can write to the disc faster and
also allows drag and drop of desktop files, making it easier for most
users to create a disc. The +R type of disc is similar to the -R in that
these discs can only be written to once. After the burning session is
finished, files cannot be added or deleted.
If you have a DVD drive, you have to buy the appropriate media for it. A
-R or -RW drive will not work on discs created for +R or +RW.
In either case, if you are creating discs for archival reasons, and the
data will not be changing, -R or +R is the route to go. If you are
expecting the data to change or be updated in some way, the +RW or -RW
would be more appropriate.
But overall, the discs with the W in their format type are more expensive,
and this alone could influence what type of blank media is purchased.
If you are not sure what kind of DVD drive you have, both Mac and
Windows-based machines have utilities built into their operating systems
to tell you. On a Mac, it is the system profiler, while in Windows, you
will have to go into your device manager under the systems properties in
the control panel.
With this knowledge in hand, you should be able to decide what type of
disc or burner is best for you and what options are available before a
sales clerk baffles you with an ocean of acronyms.
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Originally published 5 February 2006
