Everything About Optical Drives

Optical drives or optical disk drives are assigned to do retrieval and data storage in optical disks like CD and DVD.

An optical drive is a computer device which uses electromagnetic waves and laser light. Nowadays, most PC drives can read and write data.

It is about the size of a thick soft cover book. The front part has a small Open/Close button that ejects and retracts the drive door. The optical drive is easily mounted to the computer thru the pre drilled and threaded holes on its sides. The back end of the optical drive has cable port to connect with motherboard.

Optical Disk Types:
• Compact Disc(CD)
The concept was based on audio compact discs which were introduced in 1982. Storage space for digital data can contain about 650 to 700 MB on each disc. It can contain audio, data or both. It uses 780nm wavelength.

Standard CD’s can hold up to 80 minutes of audio. On the other hand, a mini CD can store up to 24 minutes. Later on, it came up with the following media type:
- CD-ROM Read Only Memory
- CD-R Compact Disc Recordable
It is used for writing data which was first created by Sony and Phillips in 1988
- CD-RW Compact Disc ReWritable
Data can be written and erased. Introduced in 1997
- SACD Super Audio CD
It is a read-only optical audio disc format introduced in 1999
- VCD Video Compact Discs
It is a digital format for video storage, introduced in 1993
- SVCD Super Video Compact Discs
It is the same as VCD and is compatible with DVD-Video
- Photo CD
It can digitize and store up to 100 high quality images designed by Kodak in 1992
- Picture CD
It holds photos and has high resolution using JPEG compression
- CD-i Compact Disc Interactive
It is a multimedia CD player produced by Royal Philips Electronics N.V
- Enhanced CD
It is known as CD Extra and CD Plus which combines audio and computer data for CD and CD-ROM players. It uses mixed mode data format.

• Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc (DVD) is the same size as CD. However it can contain or store data 6 times larger than CD. It can store video and data. Standard DVD lasers use 650nm of wavelength. Variations include the following:
- DVD-ROM Read Only Memory
- DVD-R DVD Recordable
It is used to write data. Introduced in 1997
- DVD+R
It can be writable once
- DVD-RW DVD-ReWritable
It can rewrite data several times but needs to erase previous data
- DVD+RW DVD+ReWritable
It can rewrite data without the need to erase old data
- DVD-Video
It can store digital video for consumers
- DVD-Audio
It delivers very high-fidelity audio content in digital format
- DVD-Data Discs
It stores video content
- HD-DVD High-Definition Digital Versatile Disc
It stores data and high definition video

• Blu Ray
It is also known as Blu-Ray or BD. It contains/stores high definition videos and data. It has the same physical dimensions as that of a standard CD or DVD. The name was derived from the type of laser used to process this disk. It uses 405nm wavelength which is shorter than DVD. Compared to DVD, it can store up to 50 GB (dual layer BD) while a single layer disc can store 25GB.
It won over HD-DVD during the high definition format war because
• 70 percent of Hollywood studios exclusively support Blu-ray
• Blu-ray discs can hold more data or video
• high-profile retailers dropped HD-DVD support
- BD-R Blu-ray Disc Recordable
It can record data once using blu ray disc recorder.
- BD-RE Blu-ray Disc-RErecordable
Data can be erased and record new ones several times
Types of Drives
- Readers/ read only drives
Drives that can only read data and can not be used for removable storage
- Writers/Recorder Burners
Drives that can read and write data. They can be used to save data, create music CDs or video discs that can be played in DVD players.

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