Optical drives retreive and/or store data on optical discs like CDs and DVDs which hold much more information than classic portable media options like the floppy disk.
optical drive, CD drive, DVD drive, disc drive
Most optical drives can play and/or record onto a large number of different disc formats. Popular formats include CD-ROM, CD-R, CD-RW, DVD, DVD-RAM, DVD-R, DVD+R, DVD-RW, DVD+RW, DVD-R DL and DVD+R DL. Reference your optical drive's manual before purchasing media for your drive to avoid incompatibility issues.
An optical drive is about the size of a thick soft cover book. The front of the drive has a small Open/Close button that ejects and retracts the drive bay door. This is how media like CDs and DVDs are inserted into and removed from the drive.
The sides of the optical drive have pre drilled, threaded holes for easy mounting in the 5.25 inch drive bay in the computer case. The optical drive is mounted so the end with the connections faces inside the computer and the end with the drive bay faces outside.
The back end of the optical drive contains a port for a cable that connects to the motherboard. The type of cable used will depend on the type of drive but is almost always included with an optical drive purchase. Also here is a connection for power from the power supply.
Most optical drives also have jumper settings on the back end that define how the motherboard is to recognize the drive when more than one is present. These settings vary from drive to drive so check with your optical drive manufacturer for details.
