# DVD RW drives and hard drives

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-rw-drives-and-hard-drives/225597>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 22, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-rw-drives-and-hard-drives/225597 "2004-01-22T06:55:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![galen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@galen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-rw-drives-and-hard-drives/225597/1 "2004-01-22T06:55:41Z")

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I’m buying a new computer soon. I want it to include a DVD RW drive. Should I get +RW, -RW or a combo. Does it really matter?

Also, some budget units feature 160 GB drives but they operate at 5400 rpm instead of 7200. If a computer has plenty of RAM, say 512 mb so it is not constantly swapping data to the hd, does that really slow the computer down that much?

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**Author:** ![gotpasswords](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c57346/32.png) [@gotpasswords](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gotpasswords)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-rw-drives-and-hard-drives/225597/2 "2004-01-22T22:37:00Z")

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Go for the combo - it’ll help future-proof in case the world decides to abandon either the “dash” or “plus” format. I’ve been happy with my [Plextor PX-708A](http://www.plextor.com/english/products/708A.html) drive. It reads, writes and re-writes both CD and DVD.

As for the 5400 RPM drive, yikes, that’s gonna be either old stock or a laptop. Even with 512 MB RAM, it can be hard to avoid a swap file, and applications and files will be slower in loading.

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**Author:** ![sevenwood](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@sevenwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sevenwood)\
**Post date:** [January 22, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-rw-drives-and-hard-drives/225597/3 "2004-01-22T23:09:01Z")

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Another vote for a Combo DVD unit here - My Sony VAIO arrived with one built-in, and it works great. I’ve been using it to convert old VHS tapes of family Christmases to DVD - some of our family members have DVD readers that can only handle the -R type, some have units that can only handle the +R type, but I don’t care because I can build either type.

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**Author:** ![Dragwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dragwyr/32/2855_2.png) [@Dragwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dragwyr)\
**Post date:** [January 23, 2004, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-rw-drives-and-hard-drives/225597/4 "2004-01-23T15:14:20Z")

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I also recommend a multi format DVD burner. I got [THIS ONE](http://reviews.cnet.com/Sony_DRU_510A/4505-3205_7-21226932.html?tag=pdtl-list) for Christmas and it has been working great!

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**Author:** ![Alereon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Alereon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alereon)\
**Post date:** [January 25, 2004, 9:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dvd-rw-drives-and-hard-drives/225597/5 "2004-01-25T09:25:37Z")

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Check out the [Lite-On LDW-811S](http://www.newegg.com/app/ViewProductDesc.asp?description=27-106-924&catalog=5&manufactory=BROWSE&depa=1). It is very well regarded, and quite inexpensive. It burns DVD+Rs at 8X, and DVD-R and +RW at 4X, as well as DVD-RW at 2X. Lite-on has traditionally produced some of the best CD-RW and DVD-ROM drives on the market.