Hardware Reference
In-Depth Information
See
“
Updating the Firmware in an Optical Drive
,”
p.
599
(this chapter).
Note
The 52x CD-R recording speed is the fastest speed available, but higher spin rates can result
in excessive vibration and even disc failure.
If speed ratings are unavailable for your media, you might want to restrict your burning
to 32x or lower for data. If you are burning audio CDs, you might find that some devices
work better with media burned at 8x or lower speeds than with media burned at higher
speeds.
Tip
Most drives and mastering software support a setting that automatically determines the best
speedtouseforburningaCD-R.Softwarethatsupportsthistypeoffeatureanalyzestheme-
dia and adjusts writing methods and write speed during the write process to ensure the best
results. Using this feature with media with an unknown speed rating helps you get a reliable
burn no matter what the speed rating of the media is.
CD-RW
Beginning in early 1996, an industry consortium that included Ricoh, Philips, Sony,
Yamaha, Hewlett-Packard, and Mitsubishi Chemical Corporation announced the CD-RW
format. The design was largely led by Ricoh, and it was the first manufacturer to intro-
duce a CD-RW drive (in May 1996). This drive was the MP6200S, which was a 2/2/6 (2x
record, 2x rewrite, 6x read) rated unit. At the same time, the Orange Book Part III was
published, which officially defined the CD-RW standard.
CD-RW drives rapidly replaced CD-R-only drives, and although rewritable DVD drives
have largely replaced CD-RW drives, any rewritable DVD drive can function as a CD-R/
CD-RWdrive.Somelow-costsystemsincludeDVDcombodrives,whichcombineDVD-
ROM and CD-R/CD-RW capabilities.
You can burn and write to CD-RW discs just like CD-Rs; the main difference is that you
caneraseandreburnCD-RWsagainandagain.Theyareveryusefulforprototypingadisc
that will then be duplicated in less expensive CD-R or even stamped CDs for distribution.
Theycanberewrittenatleast1,000timesormore.Additionally,withpacket-writing soft-
ware (software that supports the Universal Disk Format standard), CD-RWs can even be
treated like giant floppy disks, where you can simply drag and drop or copy and delete
files at will. Although CD-RW discs are about 1.5-2 times more expensive than CD-R
media, CD-RWs are still far cheaper than optical cartridges and other removable formats.
