A focus/tracking method and system is provided for use in an optical drive with a possibly multiple-wavelength laser source for control of the focus/tracking of the pickup head of the optical drive. The use of a multiple-wavelength laser source allows the optical drive to read data from various types of optical discs. The focus/tracking method and system combines the use of a differential, dual optical channel method for focusing control of the laser beam used to read data from the optical disc and the use of the single-beam tracking method for tracking control of the same. The focus error signal and the tracking error signal can be obtained from the same set of multi-element photodetectors. The structure of the system can therefore be simplified to include a reduced number of constituent components thus allowing a reduction in manufacturing cost.