All format CD/DVD drive

Any internal or external dvd writer will have the full range capability i.e. write/read cd's and dvd's as well.. The more recent addition has been the ability to read (and also write with few drives) blu-ray discs.. Sony is a trusted brand but am a little skeptical about their universal media acceptance.. Also, i personally find sony drives a tad behind other brands when it comes to reading lightly scratched discs.. There are many other good brands such as Lite-on, LG, Samsung, Plextor etc.. For recommendation purposes, I'll list a few as below -

Sony Optiarc AD7240S

Lite-on iHAS324

If you like to watch blu-ray movies, you may opt for a drive with blu-ray read abilities also.. They come at a higher price compared to normal dvd writer driver though..

Any DVD RW drive will be able to read and write CDs and DVDs. If you want blue ray support, you'll need to get a blue ray version. It will be clearly stated in the drive specs, if it supports blue ray.

Thanks for your answer! Please don't be offended, but I need to make sure we're talking of the same thing. By "all formats" I mean the R, RW, &
ROM for CDs; +R,-R,RW, RAM, etc. for DVDs. In other words, the combo CD/DVD drive I've read about supposedly reads & writes everything. I'm not sure just what all formats there actually are, so I cannot list them. The various internal CD/DVD drives I've looked at so far only handles some formats, which is why I'm asking. As for Sony, I've gone through their site as best as I can, but found nothing similar to what the books mentioned. So are we talking about the same thing? As for blu-ray or anything having to do with HDCP/DRM crapola....I've no interest in it! Regular old CDs/DVDs, S-video, etc. is good enough for me.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I am pretty sure what you are asking is very common. Pretty much all drives these days will read and write every form of disk media except blu rays, unless of course you get a blu ray drive. Generally if you buy a DVD drive it is going to be able to burn to any DVD you buy, +R, -R, RW, Dual Layer, and any CD of all the same sorts. Same goes for reading, it'll read any DVD at all.

WRITE Speed
DVD+R 24X
DVD+RW 8X
DVD-R 24X
DVD-RW 6X
CD-R 48X
CD-RW 32X
DVD+R DL 12X
DVD-R DL 12X
DVD-RAM 12X

READ Speed
DVD-ROM 16X
CD-ROM 48X

That appears to cover it all. And keep in mind the read speed says just DVD-ROM and CD-ROM, but it will read any DVD or CD.

You need to get a DVD RW drive. They have the capability to read and write CD and DVD drives.

Here's a nice DVD drive that suits what you are looking for.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E168...

I don't know if this is the exact one the authors are all ga-ga over, but it looks close enough, and gawd that price is unbeatable. Thanks! Since asking this question, I've run across something else I need the CD/DVD drive to do: make 'bootable' CDs & DVDs. I think this has something to do with a "Mount Rainier" format. Its mentioned in an old book (2003). Not sure if its still valid.

That looks to cover it, except for that Mount Rainier format thing. CD-(M)R? DVD-(M)R? Its mentioned in old book (Computer Hardware In A Nutshell). It may be obsolete. Seems like I can't find hardware books that are up to date! Anyway, thanks for letting me know.

That drive has the ability to burn a bootable CD and DVD. You just need to have a bootable file, and burn it to the disc using an appropriate software.

Excellent! I know about having the necessary software. One book said not every CD/DVD drive does bootable disks...but as mentioned, books are out of date, so all drives may do this today. Anyway, had to make certain. Thanks again.

Happy to help. If you run into troubles later creating a bootable disc, come on back, and we can help walk you through it.

There is never a boot optimized optical disc.. Optical media is meant for data to be written on or read from or both sometimes.. If you have a bootable ISO image then you may straight away burn on the appropriate media using your favourite software.. Certain software allow boot files/entries to be filled in manually.. You can use BBIE (Barts Boot Image Extractor) to extract the boot file(s) and a burning software such as Nero/IMGBURN to burn discs.. Avoid using full speed burning for more satisfactory burn results.. Personally when it comes to writing DVD's/CD's, i prefer Sony drives over others due to their better burn results (personal experience).. I never practise burning DVD's over a speed of 8X though, 12X being max with media advertised as supporting 16X and higher burn speeds..

Now I always burn at 16x for DVDs. I've never had any issues or noticed any difference between that and 8x.

I've found the biggest difference to be the media that you burn on. I've had the most problems with HP discs. Personally, I always use Verbatims.

Exact point.. Very many media sometimes fail to reach their advertised specs.. I've had many bad encounters while trying to exploit the full range capabilities of a media as advertised.. So as a safe practise, i burn at lower speeds.. Furthermore, many old drives do not tend to recognize media which are burned at higher speeds compared to their read speeds (can't seem to find out the logic here).. Personally i hate Sony optical media.. They tend to fail on me the most (although I've my own doubts regarding fake discs).. Have read good things about Verbatim's though.. Too bad we don't find them here in India..

I've used a lot of different media in the past. I've used HP, Sony, Maxell, Verbatim, Memorex, Ridata, and Staples brands. The only one that I had big problems with was HP. I've had issues with Sony too, but not to the level of HP. Even the cheaper brands, like Ridata, have all worked well at 16x.

I would imagine there are some sites that ship to India? Ebay maybe?

Well i don't trust ebay that much either.. We too have some local brands namely moserbaer, mmore etc. and i've found them to be good.. Faced by unavailability of other options, today i purchased a sony DVD-R.. Tried to write the data at 6X and guess what, IMGBURN returned info on the drive being capable at 4X only.. The disc costs 20 INR compared to majority of the other DVD brands available for half the price..