What's are CD-RWs and DVD-RWs(UK please)?

Question

I've been told I need to put all my backup onto a disk, but what do I use and what does the "RW" bit even stand for? I know how to burn it and all that but what do I get?

Answer 1

You might want to get a dvd-rw, because they have much more space than a cd.  rw stands for rewrite-able, meaning that unless a program puts read-only info on the disc, you can burn over whatever is on it.  Also, you might want an external hard-drive if you are backing up your entire computer.  even the dvd-rw probably isn't big enough for that sort of job.