[SOLVED] do DVD/CD Rewritable Drives store anything?

Fury__

Reputable
Apr 9, 2017
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4,510
I have saved numerous DVD/CD Rewritable Drives, as well as floppy disk drives from previous computers. I was under the assumption that these drives were practically my hard drives, storing my files and data. Do these CD drives actually store any data? They look oddly similar to actual hard drives.
 
Solution
not at all. there is no internal storage on a dvd drive, like a hard drive has.

it is designed to read data from cd/dvd disks and to write to these disks if it can. but the drive itself holds no data at all.

think of a record player. the album has the songs on it and the record player simply reads the info from the album. same with the dvd drive. it is only a reader while the actual information is on the disk you put in it at the time.

no disk in the drive, means no data to be read. you can probably go ahead and donate those old drives to local thrift store as it does not sound like you have a use for them anymore :)
So is this different than a normal hard drive?? Are my personal files and photos on these drives, or is it simply dats from DVDs only?
Very. Hard Drives and Solid State Drives are faster and carry more storage. From the sounds of it you are just looking to save personal documents and such from external media.

Have you looked into External Hard Drives? Better than CD/DVD and will give you way more storage, speed, and reliability.

Here is a basic 1TB external hard drive that will just connect via USB:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-my-...on-latest-model-black/6356886.p?skuId=6356886
 

Fury__

Reputable
Apr 9, 2017
23
0
4,510
Very. Hard Drives and Solid State Drives are faster and carry more storage. From the sounds of it you are just looking to save personal documents and such from external media.

Have you looked into External Hard Drives? Better than CD/DVD and will give you way more storage, speed, and reliability.

Here is a basic 1TB external hard drive that will just connect via USB:
https://www.bestbuy.com/site/wd-my-...on-latest-model-black/6356886.p?skuId=6356886
Actually, these drives have been taken out of my old computers. Years ago, i thought i could save these drives with all my documents and pictures. Did i save the wrong thing??
 

Math Geek

Titan
Ambassador
not at all. there is no internal storage on a dvd drive, like a hard drive has.

it is designed to read data from cd/dvd disks and to write to these disks if it can. but the drive itself holds no data at all.

think of a record player. the album has the songs on it and the record player simply reads the info from the album. same with the dvd drive. it is only a reader while the actual information is on the disk you put in it at the time.

no disk in the drive, means no data to be read. you can probably go ahead and donate those old drives to local thrift store as it does not sound like you have a use for them anymore :)
 
Solution