CD Writer Drives

Obviously there are a number of models and specifications of CD writers to choose from on the market and so now that I’ve whet your appetite we’ll discuss what to look for in your new drive.

1) Internal or External – There are two distinctly different flavours of CD-Writer; those that are kept inside the computer and those that connect via a cable to the back of the machine. The pros and cons or each one are numerous but I’d say that if you have a standard desktop PC (not a laptop) then you’re better off getting an Internal drive for reliability and affordability although you may require someone to install the drive into your computer for you.

2) Price – One of the most obvious factors; I would be very hesitant on spending more that around £150 on a new internal CD writer unless you can really warrant spending the extra cash on such a drive.

3) Features of the CD-Drive – Standard CD-writers can only write to a disk once and then it can only be read from after that – however the majority of new writers have the ability to re-write to special disks so that you can delete information stored on a disk and re-write over it much like a cassette tape. Since these drives are pretty standard now you should ensure that it has this feature.

Another new feature is ‘Burnproof technology’ that ensures that the CD is correctly written time after time. Drives without this technology are sometimes prone to misburns which will cause the CD you were writing to become unusable. It isn’t a necessary feature but if you can find a drive with this ability at a good price then it would be worth looking at.

4) Speed of drive; The speed rating of the drive not only determines how quickly the CD-writer can pull data off of the compact disc but also how fast it can put data onto the disc when writing. A typical speed rating for a CD-drive is 42×16x12 which means that the drive can read at “42 speed” which is 42 times the speed used by a standard hi-fi compact disc player, it can write a disc at “16 speed” and re-write over the data currently on the disc at “12 speed”

5) Included software; CD Writers require special software in order to function and you should ensure that this is included in the box when you purchase the drive or the CD writer would be essentially useless.