Optical Drive (Select Models Only); Identifying The External Optical Drive; Using Optical Discs; Selecting The Right Disc - HP Mini 5101 User Manual

Optical drive (select models only)

Your computer may come with an external optical drive that expands the functionality of the computer.
The external optical drive allows you to read data discs, play music, and watch movies.

Identifying the external optical drive

Select Start > My Computer.
▲
You will see a list of all the devices installed on your computer, including the connected external optical
drive. You may have one of the following types of drives:
●
DVD-ROM Drive
●
DVD/CD-RW Combo Drive
●
DVD±RW/R and CD-RW Combo Drive with Double-Layer (DL) support
NOTE: Some of the drives listed above may not be supported by your computer.

Using optical discs

An optical drive, such as a DVD-ROM drive, supports optical discs (CDs and DVDs). These discs store
information, such as music, photos, and movies. DVDs have a higher storage capacity than CDs.
The external optical drive can read standard CD and DVD discs.
NOTE: Some of the optical drives listed may not be supported by your computer. The listed drives are
not necessarily all of the supported optical drives.
Some optical drives can also write to optical discs as described in the following table.
Optical drive type
DVD-ROM Drive
DVD/CD-RW Combo
Drive
DVD±RW/CD-RW
Combo Drive
CAUTION:
video playback functionality, do not initiate Standby or Hibernation while reading or writing to a CD or
DVD.

Selecting the right disc

An optical drive supports optical discs (CDs and DVDs). CDs, used to store digital data, are also used
for commercial audio recordings and are convenient for your personal storage needs. DVDs are used
primarily for movies, software, and data backup purposes. DVDs are the same form factor as CDs but
have 6 to 7 times the storage capacity.
Read from CD and
DVD-ROM media
Yes
Yes
Yes
To prevent possible audio and video degradation, loss of information, or loss of audio or
Write to CD-R/RW Write to DVD (includes
media DVD+R DL, DVD±RW/
R, and DVD-ROM
media)
No No
Yes No
Yes Yes
Optical drive (select models only)
Write label to
LightScribe CD or
DVD
No
No
No
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