Nick248 asked the Answer Line forum about optical drives. I figured it was time to go over the various types of CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs, and the drives that read and write to them. [Email your tech questions to answer@pcworld.com or post them on the PCW Answer Line forum .] I can’t blame anyone for being confused
See the article here:
-ROM, -R, +R, +RW? Understanding the optical drive alphabet soup