I have no dvd capabilities. What exactly do I need to buy in order to burn DVD's?

Question

I have a 2-3 year old Dell with XP and duel CD drives only. I'd like to be able to burn DVDs. Do I need two new drives? Both DVD-Rs? What's the difference between a DVD-R and a DVD-RW? What else do I need after the new drives?

Answer 1

There are three kinds of DVD drives.

A standard DVD drive will play DVD's (or cd's) but will not burn anything.

A DVD-R will allow you to burn (or 'write') DVD's

A DVD-RW allows you to write and rewrite DVD's (but they have to be re-writable discs for you to do that).

If you want to make disc-to-disc copies, you will need a standard DVD ROM, and a DVD-R. The RW isn't really necessary unless you really want to be able to overwrite a DVD once you have burned it.

You don't need a pair of DVD-R's unless you want to be able to burn two DVD's at once (usually not a good idea - especially on an older machine).

You can buy a single DVD-R and probably make copies - as long as you have enough empty hard drive space for it to make a disc image by inserting the orginal DVD - it will temporarily copy the files to the hard drive, and then ask you to insert a blank DVD and then it will burn it.

Answer 2

Is this a desktop computer? If you have a large enough hard-disk (with at least 4-5GB free) a single DVD drive is enough to copy DVDs. If you want to copy directly from DVD to DVD, you will need two drives. One to read the DVD (and which doesn't need to be a burner) and the other which burns DVDs and is a burner.

A DVD-R is a write once only disk. A DVD-RW is a ReWritable disk.

Once you've got the new drive/s installed, you might probably need to update your burning software and some older versions may not support DVDs. Your drives may come with an "express" version of Sonic or Nero.

There are a couple of free burning software like DeepBurner or CDBurnerXP which will work just great.

Answer 3

a DVD-R drive only reads DVD discs. A DVD+R or RW will record DVD's.

There are 3 requirements to burn DVD's.
1. A DVD/RW drive
2. Software that allows you create and burn your projects
3. Recordable DVD media.

You do NOT need two drives. You can complete any burning project with one drive, however having two will offer better performance in some cases.

Answer 4

Replacing one of the CD drives with a DVD+/-RW would be enough. You do not need to do both. You should be able to get an inernal one in the $50-75 range. Just take out one of the current drives and replace it with the new one.

Another alternative is to go with an external one that attaches by USB. You do not have to open the PC and change drives or anything that way. Plus you can use it on more than one PC. But it will cost about 50% more.

Answer 5

To burn DVDs youll need one DVD-RW...to read and Write. And youll need one DVD-R to just read the DVD. The DVD-R can play them but not burn. The RW will burn and play. With the prices falling the way they are you can pick up 2 RWs faily cheap. Then some sort of software to help burn the DVD. Something like Nero works great.

Answer 6

The Drives are So Cheap, you Might as Well Buy Two Burners one with CD/DVD/DVD+R etc, and another with Light Scribe and Whatever else you want; Look at the Systems; Choose the Options you like Best, especially if you want to A, do a straight Burn, and B, do a Top quality Disc Copy.... Whatever you want, you can do and at a low price.

Answer 7

Just buy ONE DVD writer. It will do everything. It usually comes bundled with DVD/CD burning software and Power DVD for playing DVD movies.

You do not need your old drives anymore.

Answer 8

http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/SearchTools/item-details.asp?EdpNo=2528083&CatId=89
only $32
good enough for all jobs
entire listing,
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applications/category/category_slc.asp?Sort=3&Nav=|c:89|&Recs=30

as you mention u'r pc has 2 cd drives
just leave the better one in & pull out the other one
installation instructions & the various media types and details u can find on first link
just be careful, do the jumpering right for master / slave

the burning software, usually nero is also bundled with the burner !

dvd-r > u can write only once, so add files only possible., no remove
dvd-rw > re-write, add files as well as remove them or overwrite them

yup, the nec burner is able to write as well as re-write
dl or dual layer dvd's also supported, 8.4 gb v/s the conventional 4.7 gb

nope, i see no justification for 2 dvd writers
u need buy only one !
in case u'r wanting to burn a dvd movie to blank dvd., u can use disk copy option., wherein source disk is read & thereafter ejected & on-screen instruction appears to insert blank disk

hope i could help
any querries or clarifications are most welcome > post or mail me

Answer 9

Just install DVD RW plus the software and you can burn DVDs.

Answer 10

no u only need one dvd burner drive tht would be fine, dvd- rs mean dvd which is just a dvd player without burner and dvd- rw is re writable dvd player .