Theres DVD+R, DVD+RW, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and even DVD-ROM! So whats the difference between all of these different names, arent all DVDs the same? Well, its not quite that simple.

Lets first start with the most obvious difference: some have R and some have RW. The R stands for recordable, while the W stands for rewriteable.

The main difference between DVD-R and DVD-RW, or DVD+R and DVD+RW is that the R disc formats can only be written to once, and then it is only readable and cant be erased for the rest of its digital life. While RW discs are can be written to and erased many times, they are both readable and writeable.

R discs are perfect if they are only needed to be written to once, such as giving some files to a friend or transferring them between PCs. RW discs have their strength in the ability to be used many times over, which is great for routine system backups, etc. And naturally, the RW discs are slightly more expensive than the R discs, but youll have to decide if the tra ...more