The Optic Medias (CD ROM's

and DVD)
The Optic Medias (CD
ROM's and DVD)
 CD ROM and DVD are optic
readable media, contrary to hard
disks, floppy disks and tapes, which
are magnetic.
 The optic storage media are read
with a very thin and very precisely
aimed laser beam. They
supplement the magnetic media.
 They have clear advantages
in the areas of data density
and stability: Data can be
packed much more densely
in an optic media
 than in a magnetic media. And they
have much longer life span. It is
presumed that a magnetic media,
such as a hard disk or DAT(digital
audio tape) can maintain their data
for a maximum of five years. The
magnetism simply fades away in
time. Conversely, the
 life span of optic media is counted
in tens of years.
 The Compact Disk
 The compact disk (CD) was introduced by Philips and
Sony in 1980 It is a small plastic disk with a
reflecting metal coating, usually aluminum. Myriad's
of tiny indentations are burned into this coating.
These indentations contain the music in millions of
bits. The CD is organized in tracks. Each track is
assigned a number.
 The big advantage of the CD is its high-quality music
reproduction and total absence of back ground noise
as well as a great dynamic. During operation, the
software in the drive can correct errors caused by
such things as finger marks on the disk. All in all, the
CD is an excellent music storage media.
The CD-ROM
 The CD-ROM (Read Only Memory)
came as an extension of the CD in
1984. In principle, the media and the
drives are the same.
 The difference is in the data storage
organization. In a CD-ROM, the data
are stored in sectors, which can be read
independently -like from a hard disk.
 The CD-ROM has become an important
media in the PC world. It can hold 650
MB of data, and it is very inexpensive to
produce.
 Today, there are three types of CD
drives and DVD drives are on their way:
Let us start by look at the CD-ROM construction. To facilitate
understanding, it will be easiest to compare it with other disk
types, especially the hard disk. The CD-ROM is a plastic disk of 4.6"
diameter.
 It is placed in a CD-ROM drive, which is like a drawer in
the PC cabinet:

When the CD-ROM disk is placed in the drive, it starts to spin

the disk. It reaches operating speed in one to two seconds.
Then the drive is ready to read from the disk.
About Optic Data Storage
 The CD-ROM can be compared to a
floppy drive, because the disks are
removable. It can also be compared
with a hard drive, because of similar
data storage capacity.
 Actually, a CD-ROM disk can hold up
to 680 MB of data. This equals the
capacity of 470 floppy disks.
However, the CD ROM is neither a
floppy nor a hard disk!
 While floppy and hard disks are
magnetic media, the CD-ROM is an
optic media. The magnetic media
work in principle like an audio
cassette tape player. They have a
read/write head, which reads or
writes magnetic impressions on the
disk.
 The magnetic media contains
myriads of microscopic magnets,
which can be polarized to represent
a zero or numeral one (one bit).
 In the optic readable CD-ROM,
the data storage consists of
millions of indentations burnt
into the lacquer-coated, light-
reflecting silver surface.
 Tracks
 Our data consist of bits, each of
which is a burnt dent or a shiny
spot on the CD-ROM disk. Music
CD's are designed much in the
same manner. The bits are not
splashed across the disk, but
arranged in a pattern along the
track. Without that organization,
you could not read the data.
 Data read from CD-ROM
 Data are usually read from the CD-ROM
at a constant speed. The principle is
called CLV (Constant Linear Velocity). It
implies that the data track must pass
under the read head at the same rate,
whether in inner or outer parts of the
track. This is accomplished by varying
the disk rotation speed, based on the
read head's position. The closer to the
center of the disk the faster the rotation
speed.
 In the music CD, data are read
sequentially. Therefore, rotation speed
variation is not necessary
 The CD-ROM disk on the other hand
has to read in random pattern. The
read head must jump frequently to
different parts of the disk. Therefore, it
forever has to change rotation speed.
You can feel that. It causes pauses in
the read function. That is a
disadvantage of the CD-ROM media.
Also the faster versions can be rather
noisy.
Rotation speed and data
transmission.

 The new drives are 24X and 32X spin. When you see
their rotation speeds, you wonder how much further
this technology can be advanced. The hard disk can
spin at high speeds, because it operates in sealed
box. The CD does not.
 CD-R and CD-E
 In 1990, the CD-ROM technique was
advanced to include home burning. You
could buy your own burner. That is a
drive, which can write on special CD-
ROM disks. These have a temperature
sensing layer, which can be changed by
writing. You can only write on any given
part of these disks once. This CD-R disk
is also called a WORM disk (Write Once
Read Many). Once the CD-R is burnt, it
can be read in any CD drive – for sound
or data.
 There is also a type called CD-erasable
(CD-E), where you can write multiple
times on the same disk surface. This
technique is promising. However, not all
CD drives can read these CD's. The
latest drives, which can adjust the laser
beam to match the current media, are
called multi read. Look for that, when
you buy a new CD-ROM drive.
DVD
 DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disk.
 Certain DVD drives can both read and
write the disks. There are also read
only, designed for playing videos.
 The DVD is a flat disk, the size of a CD -
4.7 inches diameter and .05 inches
thick. Data are stored in a small
indentation in a spiral track, just like in
the CD.
 Other DVD types
 We have the following DVD versions:
 DVD-ROM is for read-only, like the CD-ROM.
This media is usable for distribution of
software, but especially for multimedia
products, like movies. The outer layers can
hold 4.7 GB, the underlying 3.8 GB. The
largest version can hold a total of 17 GB.
 DVD-R (recordable) are write once-only like
CD-R. This disk can hold 3.9 GB per side .
 DVD RAM can be written and read like a
hard disk. Capacity is 2.6 GB per side or
whatever the agree on. There are many
problems with this format
END