and here comes the stupid question....

[Darkerick]

Alright,
For the past 2 years, i have been making cd duplicates (using software like CDRWIN to make cd backups). Now thats how Ive been making cd duplicates. Now, how do you burn a cd? Do you need a cd-rom drive and a cd-rw? and whats the difference between a cd-r and a cd-rw?

And here comes the really stupid question.......
Whats the difference between a cd-rom and a cd-rw? I know one can write to a cd, but I only have a cd-rw (plexwriter) and when I put in a cd, it reads it? So a cd writer can write and perform the function of a cd-rom? So then whats the point of getting a cd-rom and a cd-rw?

[minibubba]

a cd-rom can only read CDs

a CD-R/RW drive can read CDs and can write to CD-Rs and/or write/erase CD-RWs

a CD-R is a blank CD that can be written to once, can be burned faster than a CD-RW, and it usually cheaper.

a CD-RW is a blanK CD that can be written to and erased, and written to again; similar to a floppy disk

many peole have 2 (or more) optical drives to speed up the process of dupliating CDs. Some people also have more than one when they have a few CDs that must be used all the time, so they keep on drive loaded and open open. There are lots of reason to have more than one optical drive, these are just a few.

[Wiggo]

A CD-RW drive and DVD drive (both Lite-On brand) works well for me for "on the fly" disk copyin' plus gives a redundency factor. :thumb:

[Mr. C]

Up until a couple of weeks ago, I had a CD-ROM and a CD-RW drive installed.

The CD-RW was for burning and the CD-ROM was for everything else.

Primarily, the reason I used 2 was to keep the wear n' tear on the cheaper CD-ROM drive as much as possible.

But, the prices of CD-RW has come down so much now, with a bit of shopping they are only a few dollars more than a CD-ROM.

I went out and got a Samsung SM352 CD-RW/DVD drive for $99 and removed both of the old drives and replaced them with the single drive.

It simply was sound economics to have 2 drives at one time, but I'm seriously thinking that isn't so true at this point in time.

[Soulburner]

To burn a backup of a disc in .bin format you can use the same program that you used to create them (CDRWIN) but I prefer the more popular Nero 6. And yes you need a cd burner.

[The__tweaker]

It simply was sound economics to have 2 drives at one time, but I'm seriously thinking that isn't so true at this point in time.

Your right.

I've only built computers with one single cdr drive for some time now. :)