DON'T get a DVD-RW, Get a DVD-RAM. It is a VERY CONFUSING situation right now as there are all kinds of competiting DVD formats from Pioneer, Sony, etc. PLUS, people confuse all this with DVD Video players and recorders. They are all different formats and often incompatible... DVD-RAM is a format supported by Panasonic, Hitachi and Toshiba and it is becoming the "CD-ROM - CD-RW (read ISO-9660, Rockwell, etc) format of choice among people and companies who back-up large amounts of data. DVD-RAM will read Video, RW and other formats INCLUDING CD-ROM, but only WRITES to DVD-RAM format. I've researched this whole issue and DVD-RAM is the best choice, I think. And currently, the fastest and best reviewed drive is the Hitachi GF-2050...