Someone once asked me why the hell I need a DVD-ROM drive and a DVD Writer on my computer. To me, that was pretty much a no-brainer question, since I once had a CD writer in the same system (which mean I have 3 optical drives on one system). But to those less informed, I'll throw out my reasoning.

Just now, I am once again relieved that I do have 2 optical drives. To be specific, I have a NEC 1300A DVD +/- RW and a LiteOn 16x DVD-ROM. So, can't the DVD writer act as a DVD reader? The answer you'll get from your average BestBuy sales person is "Yes." The answer you'll get from me is "No." My reasoning? Well, its more practical experience than reasoning. I've learned in the past, during the CD writing phase, that my CD-RW drive didn't always read CDs it burned, while my CD-ROM drive was more reliable at that. And sometimes, its actually the other way round. So to be safe, ever since then, I've always had at least 2 optical drives of differing brands/manufacturer in my system. So, just now, after a simple firmware upgrade and some times just by random, my DVD writer actually refused to read a disc that I had burned with it about 3 weeks ago. So, I pop the disc into the other drive, and no problem there. So, once again, I'm glad I have two drives. Also, for those less informed, DVD writers can usually ONLY read DVDs at half the speed of a DVD-ROM (which is a pure reader).

As to my opinion how unreliable DVD writers can be when reading, I say its all because of the laser. Crash course in DVD writing and CD writing. The process involves upping the power of the laser that was originally meant for reading to a point where it can sort of "burn" data onto the disc. Another reason why the process is called burning. Now that whole process is a very fine tuned thing and any slight variations may be fatal. Also, there are issues with media and angle and all that jazz. So for me, I leave the reading to the dedicated reader and the writing to the dedicated writer. Much more reliable, if you ask me.

- posted by Sai @ 8:23 PM