# Can a DVD-RW drive take DVD-R disks?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-rw-drive-take-dvd-r-disks/255558>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 17, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-rw-drive-take-dvd-r-disks/255558 "2004-07-17T06:38:51Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 6:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-rw-drive-take-dvd-r-disks/255558/1 "2004-07-17T06:38:51Z")

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The question is in the title. My recording programs will not recognize that I have a recordable DVD in the drive. I always thought RW drives could take R disks.

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**Author:** ![factorial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed8c4c/32.png) [@factorial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/factorial)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-rw-drive-take-dvd-r-disks/255558/2 "2004-07-17T06:53:50Z")

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Short answer:  
They can.

Long answer:  
There are five types of recordable DVD media:  
DVD-RAM  
DVD-R  
DVD-RW  
DVD+R  
DVD+RW

Your burner might accept as few as one of those types (DVD-RAM) or as many as four (DVD-R, DVD-RW, DVD+R, DVD+RW). Most burners will accept DVD-R and DVD-RW media but there are many that only accept DVD+R and DVD+RW media.

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**Author:** ![flight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/bbce88/32.png) [@flight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flight)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-rw-drive-take-dvd-r-disks/255558/3 "2004-07-17T07:05:49Z")

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Thank you much. I have been searching and came up with the same thing you just said after a serious pain. Turns out I only take +R/RW and I have -R/RW disks. I thought it was an R vs RW problem but it is a + vs - problem.

So, what is the difference?

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**Author:** ![factorial](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ed8c4c/32.png) [@factorial](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/factorial)\
**Post date:** [July 17, 2004, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-a-dvd-rw-drive-take-dvd-r-disks/255558/4 "2004-07-17T07:13:56Z")

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They are different formats of disks, just like your PC floppy disk would not have been readable by a Macintosh back in the bad old days. The first format out was DVD-RAM, followed by DVD-R/RW, and most recently DVD+R/RW.

DVD+R/RW is generally considered to be the best format from a technical perspective, but DVD-R/RW is generally compatible with the widest variety of devices (DVD-ROM drives in computers, set top DVD players, and DVD burners.)

Probably the real reason there are two main formats (DVD-RAM is a niche market only) is because certain manufacturers did not want to pay patent licensing fees to use the DVD-R format and decided to produce the DVD+R format so they would not have to.

You can read more about this at [VideoHelp](http://www.videohelp.com/dvd).