Wouldn't it be nice if the format war between High Definition DVD and Blu-Ray could be resolved as easily as the last DVD optical storage debate?  All those years ago, while they were trying to decide if DVD+R or DVD-R should be the dominant format, somebody somewhere came up with a wonderful idea..... Why not manufacture a DVD writer that could write in both formats? Brilliant!! While this certainly did not finalize the decision on which format should be the industry standard, it did help to simplify things. Because, unlike the Blu-Ray and HD-DVD discs, which require their own dedicated drive, a DVD+R and a DVD-R disc can be read in just about any DVD ROM drive. Add to that too, the fact that one drive can write onto either type of disc, and the format war between DVD+R and DVD-R is almost a null and void.

     But let's not forget about the standard Compact Disc. The founding technology which got us to where we are today. We can't forget about the CD because not every computer has a DVD ROM drive in it, yet. We're getting there, and the price of dedicated DVD-ROM and even DVD-ROM/CD-R/W combo drives are so low now, that it really doesn't make any sense not to include one in your upgrade path. While the CD has considerably less storage space than even a single layer DVD, it still remains the most popular media for optical storage on the PC. Windows Vista will be the first Windows operating system to ship to consumers on a DVD disc. Since everybody's upgrade path's aren't  the same, manufacturers have to give their consumers options, such as external drives. After all, external drives are capable of doing everything that their internal counterparts can, only they give the user the flexibility of using the drive on each and every PC and laptop they own - with the ease and simplicity.

     Giving consumers options is something that Plextor knows all about. Though it was quite some time ago, Plextor's optical drive's were once a SCSI only offering. Even though some enthusiasts even built systems running both ATAPI and SCSI devices, it didn't take Plextor's marketing folks long to realize that offering SCSI only devices wasn't reaching anywhere near the target audience that a computer company needs to be really successful. Fast forward to present day, and you'll find a Plextor driver for just about every interface found on your home computer. To include Firewire and the Universal Serial Bus.