What to Consider When Looking for External Optical Drives
In addition to its large product line of digital devices, Panasonic also manufactures computer optical drives or ODD. Internal drives are mounted inside the computer case, whereas their external counterparts connect to the computer via USB.
What Types Of Optical Drive Formats Are There?
- There are 3 main drive formats - CD (Compact Disc), DVD (Digital Video Disc), and BD (Blu-ray Disc).
- A CD drive can only work with CDs, whereas a DVD and Blu-ray ones can read or write to both CDs and DVDs.
- Another way to classify ODDs is by their function - CD-ROMs and DVD-ROMs can only read discs, and CD-RW and DVD-RW drives can read and burn discs.
- Disk formats follow the same letter nomenclature, however there are a couple of extra formats worth mentioning. CD-R and DVD-R disks can only be written to one time. CD-RW and DVD-RW formats are rewritable, meaning you can write, erase, and write again to these disks. The BD-RE acronym is specific to Blu-ray but basically has the same meaning as -RW in CDs and DVDs.
What Are Some Reasons For Using External ODDs?
- Not all desktops and laptops come with an internal drive. If your computer does not have one and you need to work with a disc, your only option would be to connect an external drive via USB.
- If you rarely use your DVD drive, you may deliberately choose to use an external one instead of choosing a laptop with a built-in one in order to reduce the weight and improve the performance of the machine.
- Due to its plug-n-play USB interface, an external Panasonic drive can be shared easily among multiple computers, thus eliminating the need to own multiple ODDs in an office or at home.
How Does An Optical Drive Work?
- ODDs read and write data to discs via laser - an electromagnetic wave with a particular wavelength close to the visible light spectrum.
- Different disks work with different wavelengths - CDs require 780 nanometers (nm), DVDs use 650 nm, and Blu-ray uses 405 nm wavelength.
- The drive also has a spinning mechanism for the disk. To indicate its speed, manufacturers use the nX notation, where n indicates how many times faster than the base speed the drive can read and write.
- ODDs also have a loading mechanism. Desktop computers usually have tray loading drives, whereas laptops use slot loading. External drives can come with either a tray loading or slot loading mechanism and connect to your computer via USB.
Content provided for informational purposes only. eBay is not affiliated with or endorsed by Panasonic.