The Computer Dictionary

Optical Drive
Laser Disk

Refers to a CD or DVD player or recorder on the computer. An optical drive is a plastic-coated storage device, or disc, that uses light rather than magnetism in the storage of digital data. A laser is used to write a CD or DVD, and a laser scanner is used to later read the data.

A read only optical drive are the CD, CD-ROM, DVD-VIDEO, DVD-ROM, and the CD/DVD-ROM.

A write once only optical drives are the, CD-R, DVD-R, and WORM.

A rewritable optical drive includes the CD-RW, DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, CD/DVD-RW, MO, and DataPlay.

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