Need Advice on DVD Read/Write Drive

I have an old internal DVD ROM read only drive, which I need to replace. The "write" part I need now to back up data in case my hard drive decides to crash. I won't be downloading movies or music. Any recommendations on what features to look for, and which ones are good?

My zip drive is an Iomega 100, which is pretty lame storage. Now I'm wondering whether or not I should bother with replacing the zip drive since I'll be getting the new DVD drive. Any thoughts on this?

I'd appreciate any advice to this hardware novice!

Completely ditch the zip drive. If you need portable storage, get a USB flash drive (you can get a 512 MB one for around $50 - 60 USD)

Sorry...I don't know what that means.

I did see those USB flash drive thingees in the store today.

Thanks for responding, and confirming that I don't need a new zip drive.

When you buy blank DVDs, the package will note whether it is a DVD-R / DVD-RW or a DVD+R / DVD+RW. (The "RW" means the disc is re-writeable.) The details are technical, so it's not really worth going into, particularly since you want to use this for data only.

Most modern DVD burners can burn at least these formats.

And drives that will write to only one of the above formats, get a drive that will write to either of them, so you do not have to worry about picking up the wrong blank media.

If all you're going to do is use the write functions for data backup, you don't need anything fancy really.

Something like this:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16827151066

I've installed these in a number of systems. They're quiet, reliable, and inexpensive. I have a more advanced version of this same drive in my system, and by advanced I mean faster, the ability to write dual layer discs, which I use for some specific tasks, etc. I've not burned a single coaster.

And as KitchenWitch said, forget the Zip drive. It's old and cumbersome technology. The only reason I can see to have one of these nowadays is if you use it as your A: drive rather than a 1.44 floppy, the latter being essentially useless. The last few systems I've put together, I haven't bothered to install one unless it was requested.