Magnetic and Optical Drives

Magnetic (Hard) Drives

Heat is often the cause of hard drive failure. You want the drive temperature to be less than 60 C (not too hot to keep your finger on it). Newer hard drives report their temperature via "SMART" data. You can access SMART data with the (free) DiskCheckup utility. (You probably don't have a heat problem unless you have 2 hard drives installed.)

• How to Buy a Hard Drive [more]

• How to Upgrade a Hard Drive

• External Hard Drives Buyer's Guide

• Tom's Hardware Guide's Understanding Hard Drive Performance.

Optical Drives (CD-R/RW)

• CD Media World -- a site devoted to CD-Rs and DVD-Rs with good information on disk quality.

• CD-R/RW burner reviews at CNET

• If you're buying a CD-R/RW, make sure your CD burning software supports the particular model you have in mind. For example, for Easy CD Creator software, go to the Recorder Support Database at Roxio. It won't really matter if you get software with the new drive, if you already use another program.

• I use "Nero - Burning ROM" on one computer and Roxio "Easy CD Creator" on another. Both have worked fine for me. I located useful reviews for these two and there's more reviews at Goggle.

Has your CD-RW drive stopped recording. There's a good chance that too much dust has accumulated on the lazer lens. If you're mechanically inclined, you can clean the lens. Yahama once provided illustrated instructions.

CD-R quality and life

How long do CDs last? Cheap ones may not last even a year. Better ones will last from 3 to 10 years or more. The best will last 100 years or more if they're carefully stored (cool, dry and dark). If you want them to last, get the premium line, for example, "Datalife Plus" by Verbatim. [details]

General CD-R information

Do you have more questions about CD-R capacity, lifetime, drives, brands, etc.? Find out all you ever wanted to know about CD-Rs, but were afraid to ask, in the "CD-Recordable FAQ". TIP: The pages there are long. You can use them easier by clicking a topic, reading what you want, and then using your "Back" button to return to the Table of Contents. [more]

Answers to questions that members have had

I use Sharpie-Fine Point permanent markers by Sanford to write on my CDs. They're not a recommended marker, but they're the only ones that that I can readily find. Many people use them and Sanford states that they're OK too, even though they don't officially "recommended" them. Whatever you do, don't use a pencil or ball-point pen.

MP3-CDs are not "Audio-CDs". Most software for burning CDs can make either Audio-CDs or MP3-CDs from *.mp3 files. Audio-CDs are similar to music CDs that you buy at retail stores. MP3-CDs are more like Data-CDs. MP3-CDs contain about 10 times as much music as one CD, but ordinary CD players, which work only with commercial CDs, cannot play them. Confused? Read this article for more on *.mp3 CDs.

"Multisession" or "No Multisession"?

If you want to squeeze as much data as possible onto to a CD blank choose the "No Multisession" mode. Otherwise you lose 23MB of space (which is only about 3.5%) as explained in the paragraph below. But, if you do not choose "Multisession", and subsequently record another session anyway, Windows will not show the first data that you recorded. It is possible to "convince" windows to show it, but it's awkward to do so. [Here's how you do it using Nero. Right-click the CD drive letter in Windows Explorer > select Properties > Volumes tab > double-click the session you want to "mount" > click OK. Then refresh the view -- View > Refresh -- in Windows Explorer]

The PCA (Power Calibration Area), PMA (Program Memory Area), TOC (Table of Contents), lead-in, and lead-out areas don't count against the time rating on single-session CDs. You really do get all the storage that the disc is rated for. On a multisession disc, you lose about 23MB of space when the first session is closed, and about 14MB for each subsequent session. A common mistake when writing multisession CDs is to overestimate the amount of space that will be available for future sessions, so be sure to take this into account. -- adapted from CD-Recordable FAQ

DVD burners

Confused about DVD drives and DVD media? I've never used a DVD burner, or even seen one in action. PCWorld.com seems to cover all the right topics though. The article on "Picking the Right Media" is very helpful. [part 2]