CDR
CDRW
DVDR
DVDRW
Blueray
DVDs or CDs
A Molex Connector connects to optical drives and hard drives.
CD and DVD disks are used by optical disc drives.
There are two types uniaxial or biaxial.
The three main types of optical drives are CD drives, DVD drives, and Blu-ray drives. CD drives read and write CDs, which can store up to 700 MB of data. DVD drives handle DVDs, with a capacity of 4.7 GB for single-layer disks and 8.5 GB for dual-layer disks. Blu-ray drives support high-definition content and can store up to 25 GB on single-layer discs and 50 GB on dual-layer discs.
Optical drives and WORMs (Write Once Read Many) are related in that WORM technology can be implemented using optical media. WORM optical discs, such as certain types of CD-Rs or DVD-Rs, allow data to be written once and then read multiple times without the ability to modify or erase the data. Optical drives are the hardware used to read from and write to these discs, making them essential for accessing WORM data. This relationship highlights the use of optical storage solutions for secure and permanent data retention.
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.
There are many types of storage media, two of them are USBs, or thumb drives, and external hard drives.
It is called an optical drive because the mechanism for reading and writing information is optical (light) based - it uses lasers.
An optical, and an electron microscope.
They can also be external.
Check the jumpers on the optical drives, play around with those. Check for compatibility with your OS, check the device manager, check for possible drivers needed although unlikely.