Compact disks have basically replaced floppy disks as the portable storage medium of choice for computer software, and for good reason. CDs offer 650 megabytes of storage space, compared to 1.44 megabytes on a 3.5- inch diskette. You can also save and edit the information stored on a compact disk using a CD-Writer or -Rewriter drive. While the CD-Writer can only save information onto the CD once, a CD-Rewriter can save, delete and re-save endlessly, making it as versatile as a floppy disk. While CD drives used to be fairly slow, technological improvements have made the drives much faster, and compact disks and CD drives are an indispensable part of almost any computer system. DVDs, or Digital Versatile Disks, appear identical to compact disks but offer much more storage capacity and are inherently faster than compact disks. Because DVDs can use both sides of the disk, have two layers of data on each side, and pack the data closer than is possible on a CD, DVDs are capable of holding up to 17 gigabytes of data. This allows full-length movies, as well as music and computer software, to be recorded on DVD disks. DVD drives that allow writing and rewriting are also available, but are more expensive. For more information, consult a computer professional.
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