CDs and DVDs use a laser light to read the magnetic information stored on them. If a laptop has no built in DVD reader then it is lacking an optical storage device. Optics involves the study of how light behaves.
CD and DVD disks are used by optical disc drives.
types of optical disc drive are: cd,dvd,blueray,cdr,cdrw,dvdrw,mp3,mp4
According to http://www.answers.com/optical+drives, David Paul Gregg developed an analog optical disc for recording video and patented it in 1961 and 1969.
DVDs or CDs
An optical storage device is an electro-mechanical unit that can save and retrieve (write and read) information on a special disc medium using a laser light. Optical drives are designed to work with several types of media: CDs ("compact disc"), DVDs (digital versatile disc" or "digital video disc") and Blu-ray discs.
An optical storage device is an electro-mechanical unit that can save and retrieve (write and read) information on a special disc medium using a laser light. Optical drives are designed to work with several types of media: CDs ("compact disc"), DVDs (digital versatile disc" or "digital video disc") and Blu-ray discs.
An optical disc drive reads a disc by shining a laser on it and detecting the reflected beam. The reflectivity of a disc varies across its surface, which determines the intensity of the reflected beam. Photodiodes detect this reflected beam and produce electrical signals, which are interpreted as data.
"Disc" refers to optical media, such as CDs or DVDs. "Disk" refers to magnetic media, such as hard drives. So the answer depends on which drive you are referring to; most have both an "optical disc drive", and a "hard disk drive".
CD or compact disc DVD or digital versatile disc Mini SD
CD drivers and DVD drivers are both equally common. CD drives is a drive that reads a compact disc and that is connected to an audio system. A DVD drive is an optical disc storage media format.
two types - magnetic in the form of magnetic tape,magnetic disc and optical in the form of compact disc.
The three main optical media types are CD (Compact Disc), DVD (Digital Versatile Disc), and Blu-ray Disc. These media types are commonly used for storing and playing back various forms of digital data, such as music, movies, software, and other files.