Optical Disc Storage (CD-ROM)

• Optical disc drives uses a laser beam to read and write to

multi-layered discs.

• Optical disc drives work in a manner similar to a magnetic

disk drive.
– Head on an arm that moves forward and backward across the disc.

• Uses a high-intensity laser beam to burn pits (indentations)

and lands (flat areas) in disc to represent ones and zeros,
respectively.

Understanding 1
Operating Systems
 Measures of Performance
for Optical Disc Drives
• Sustained data-transfer rate -- speed at which massive
amounts of data can be read from disc.
– Measured in bytes per second (such as Mbps).
– Crucial for applications requiring sequential access.
• Average access time -- average time required to move
head to a specific place on disc.
– Expressed in milliseconds (ms).
• Cache size -- hardware cache acts as a buffer by
transferring blocks of data from the disc
– Anticipates user may want to reread some recently retrieved info.
– Act as read-ahead buffer, looking for next block of info on disc.

Understanding 2
Operating Systems
 CD-ROM Technology

• CD-ROM -- first commonly used optical storage DASD.

• Stores very large databases, reference works, complex

games, large software packages, system documentation,
and user training material.

• CD-ROM jukeboxes (autochangers or libraries) are

capable of handling multiple discs and networked to
distribute multimedia and reference works to distant user.

Understanding 3
Operating Systems
 CD-Recordable Technology (CD-R)

• CD-R drives record data on optical discs using a write-

once technique.

• WORM (write once, read many).

• Only a finite amount of data can be recorded on each disc

and, once data is written, it can’t be erased or modified.

• It has an extremely long shelf life.

Understanding 4
Operating Systems
 CD-Rewritable Technology (CD-RW)

• CD-RW drives can read a standard CD-ROM, CD-R and

CD-RW discs.

• CD-RW discs can be written and rewritten many times by

focusing a low-energy laser beam on surface, heating
media just enough to erase pits that store data and restoring
recordable media to its original state.

• Useful for storing large quantities of data and for sound,

graphics, and multimedia applications.

Understanding 5
Operating Systems
 Digital Video Disc (DVD) Techonolgy

• DVD uses infrared laser to read disc (holds equivalent of

13 CD-ROM discs).
• By using compression technologies, has more than enough
space to hold a 2-hour of movie with enhanced audio.
– Single layered DVDs can hold 4.7 GB
– Double-layered disc can hold 8.5 GB on each side of the disc.
DVDs are used to store music, movies, and multimedia
applications.

• DVD-RAM is a writable technology that uses a red laser

to read, modify, and write data to DVD discs.
6