Looking for An Optical Disk Drive
Are you wanting to update or replace your internal disk drive in your computer or other electronic equipment? Sony Optiarc internal drives were made between 2008 to 2014 in different specifications. The Optiarc range also included external drives, including slimline designs.
What Is an Optical Drive?
In plain language, an optical drive is what you use to play and/or record CDs and DVDs. They use a laser to read and write data on discs. Youll find them in your desktop and laptop, but also in dedicated CD players, DVD and Blu-ray players, and gaming consoles. Depending on the model, you can use them to:
- Play and install different forms of media - listen to music, watch movies, install software, play games and so on. Some models released by this manufacturer are also compatible with karaoke formats.
- Record and store data - create backup copies of your files and data, or for recording music and movies.
What Are the Tech Specs to Consider?
Your choice of an optical drive should consider factors such as the speed of the drive, whether or not you want to record discs, and the type of interface or connection they use.
- Speeds: Drives may have different speeds for reading, writing, or re-writing data in both CD and DVD formats. This can be important if you are burning and recording onto your own discs as the speed can affect the reliability of recording. This manufacturer has models designed to be compatible with double and dual layer discs for faster recording times.
- Media Formats: Check compatibility with the formats and types of your existing discs and media that you may wish to use in the drive. Some of these include CD-ROM, CD-RW, DVD-ROM, and DVD-RW. RW stands for re-writable.
- Recording: There are several recording standards and speeds for devices that combine as recorders or burners as well as players or readers of discs.
- Interfaces: This brand initially used parallel ATA interfaces and then moved to Serial ATA (SATA) interfaces for these internal drives.
- Mount Type: Some models are for vertical mounting, others are horizontal. Also check the bezel color that you see on the external area of your equipment if you want your drive to visually match the exterior materials. This may be black, silver, or beige.
- Firmware: Use your device manager in Windows to check what drivers and firmware your existing components use and what you need for your system.
- Operating System: This manufactures models work with the various releases of the Windows operating systems released during the period they were made.
Content provided for informational purposes only. eBay is not affiliated with or endorsed by Sony.
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