The most common types are CD, DVD and Blu-ray ... by USB-based flash drives and external hard drives. Following are the major categories of optical discs in order of writability.

An optical disc (CD, DVD) or USB drive that contains a bootable program that takes control of the computer. Computers are typically configured to look for the OS on a CD or DVD first and then the ...

A former senior official at Sony Interactive Entertainment names one feature he believes the PlayStation 6 must include at all costs.

Optical discs, such as DVDs and Blu-ray discs, are durable and inexpensive. A standard single-layer Blu-ray disc can store 25 gigabytes. By comparison, some USB flash drives can store 1TB ...

As prices of writeable media and drives dropped, consumers rushed to duplicate games, create their own mix CDs, and backup their data on optical disc. It was a halcyon time. Fast forward to today ...

Using 3D storage techniques, scientists at the University of Shanghai for Science and Technology developed an optical disk capable of accommodating 1.6 petabits of data (that's 1.6 million gigabits).

But fear not, data hoarders. Two companies have stepped up to reassure the Japanese market that they'll keep producing high-quality optical media: Verbatim and I-O Data.

The case, which stems from allegations that Quanta Storage and six other companies artificially inflated the prices of optical disk drive sold to HP from 2003 to 2009, means Quanta Storage may ...