what size dvd disk should i get

i have a philips cd/dvd combo got the cd thingie figured out but the dvd has got me snowed, what size? 8.16,24? what i want them for is to use to back up my files. according to windows one care 1 dvd disk gets the place of 8 cds
and i would rather use cds for music. oh thats 8x,16x,and 24x.

please help

 

Jan,

The numbers 8x, 16x, 24x are telling you the speed of the dvd, not size. The
normal size for a dvd is approx 5 inches (maybe a little more). There is a
smaller dvd, about 3 inches square (this will hold a little less than 1.4 gig).

Normal size dvd's come in several types (class?). Either a DVD-R for reading
only, DVD-RW for both read and write. Of importance, to a dvd unit, is the
type (class?) of the dvd, noted by either a "+" or a "-" (plus or minus). Some
units will handle both (+ or -), some will only handle 1 of them. If you look on
the box your unit came in (or look on the front of the unit itself), it should
state what unit you have.

Capacity: a single-layer dvd will hold 4.7 gig of data (again, a little less due to overhead). A dual-layer will hold almost 8 gig of data.

I use a cd-rw for holding smaller data files, programs, mp3's and the dvd's
are used for large files, programs, and some backups.

If i missed anything, i'm sure some of the local experts will jump in.

Hope this helps,

 

re: DVD-R - these can be recorded and read but cannot be erased. Once it
has data, that data is there for good.
The dvd-R can be recorded on more than once, provided you dont "close" it.
Once closed, thats it. Otherwise, you can record to it multiple times until there
is no more space on the dvd.

re: DVD-RW - these can be recorded, read, erased, and recorded, read, again.

 

savagcl
thanks for the info

 

Jan,

You're quite welcome. Hope you can do what you want to now.

savagcl