We all remember the humble floppy disk
and how it ground away in our computers,
trying to save little bits of information
without becoming corrupted or damaged.
Then came our savior, the CD-ROM, which
managed to store a lot more information
without the problems of corruption or
damage. Of course, for a long time the
CDs were read-only, so we could use
programs or documents which were already
saved to CD-ROMs but we couldn’t
save our own information to them, so
if we wanted to transfer our own files
from one computer to another, unconnected
computer, we had to rely on the floppy
disk anyway. Then the CD-Rs and CD-RWs
came onto the market, allowing us to
save a lot of information onto disks,
either once or, in the case of a CD-RW,
time and time again.
Now another revolution has come about
with DVD writers, which allow us to
save even more information onto a
disk than the CD-R and CD-RW allowed
us to save. However, DVD-R and DVD-RW
drives are only standard or options
in some of the very newest computers,
and many of us have perfectly good
computers without DVD writers. For
those of us who want to upgrade to
DVD writers without going through
the hassle of getting new CPU cases,
external DVD writers offer a great
solution to our problems.
With an external DVD writer we can
use our own computers to make our
own DVD movies or photo DVDs which
we can then play on home entertainment
systems. DVD writers are also great
for storage and file backup, since
DVDs can hold a ridiculous amount
of information, especially if you’re
saving digital photographs or text
documents. Though DVDs are still good
for transporting data from one computer
to another, remember that not all
computers are equipped with DVD drives.
Often times this can raise compatibility
problems, though with external DVD
writers it’s an easy fix: you
can just attach the external DVD writer
to the computer you want to transfer
files to and move the files that way.
Most external DVD writers attach
to computers through either a USB
1.0, USB 2.0, or Firewire port; be
sure to check compatibility with your
computer and its connections before
purchasing an external DVD writer.
Also, remember that external DVD writers
are also great for laptop computers
since they allow you to burn DVDs
while at your home or office and then
leave the DVD writer behind when you’re
travling with your laptop.
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