15.01.2024 Views

CompTIA A+ Certification All-in-One Exam Guide

  • No tags were found...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

media to the functional equivalent of a 650-MB flash-media drive. Once

again, CD-RW discs look exactly like CD-ROM discs with the exception of a

colored bottom side. Figure 10-53 shows all three formats.

Figure 10-53 CD-ROM, CD-R, and CD-RW discs

A CD-RW drive works by using a laser to heat an amorphous

(noncrystalline) substance that, when cooled, slowly becomes crystalline. The

crystalline areas are reflective, whereas the amorphous areas are not. Because

both CD-R and CD-RW drives require a powerful laser, making a drive that

could burn CD-Rs and CD-RWs was a simple process, and plain CD-R drives

disappeared almost overnight. Why buy a CD-R drive when a comparably

priced CD-RW drive could burn both CD-R and CD-RW discs?

CD-RW drive specs have three multiplier values. The first shows the CD-

R write speed, the second shows the CD-RW rewrite speed, and the third

shows the read speed. Write, rewrite, and read speeds vary tremendously

among the various brands of CD-RW drives; here are just a few

representative samples: 8×4×32×, 12×10×32×, and 48×24×48×.

Windows and CD-Media Virtually all optical drives use the same interface

as your mass storage drives. You just plug in the drive and, assuming you

didn’t make any physical installation mistakes, the drive appears in Windows

(see Figure 10-54).

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!