What is DVD RW?

There are so many different technological terms that we hear nowadays, and although we all love the advancements in technology, for some of us it can be a bit difficult to recognize what these terms stand for. Take HD DVD drive and DVD RW for instance. Although most people would know exactly what these terms stand for, many people would be clueless.

DVD RW

Let’s spend some time talking about DVD RW. DVD RW stands for DVD rewritable, which is a re-recordable DVD format that is similar to CD RW or DVD+RW. The data on this type of disc can be erased and recorded over numerous times without damaging the medium. If you know that you are going to want to use the recording space more than once, it will definitely be worth it for you to buy a DVD RW disc.

DVD RWs are rewritable optical discs with equal storage capacity to a DVD R, typically about 4.7 GB. The format was actually developed by Pioneer in November 1999 and has exploded in popularity since then.

One of the greatest advantages held by these discs over the standard DVD R discs is that they offer the ability to erase and rewrite to a

DVD RW disc. They are therefore well worth the money and you can continue using them over and over again, whereas with the standard DVD R disc you are unable to do this.

It really all depends on what you are planning to store on the disc which will determine whether you really need a DVD RW disc or not. For example if you are planning on transferring important data for business purposes that will be permanent you can stick with a DVD R disc, whereas if you are going to be putting music on that you may want to change you should probably stick to the rewritable disc.

You will see immediately just how much easier it becomes shopping for something after you are actually aware of what it is and the technology that it presents me.

The recording layer in these discs is not an organic dye but rather a special phase change metal alloy which is often GeSbTe. The alloy is able to be switched back and forth between a crystalline phase and an amorphous phase. There is also now an even newer format known as the DVD RW2, and older DVD burners are not all forward compatible with this new standard, so you will need to be aware of this.