Flash Drives and Optical Storage

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Flash Drives and Optical Storage
In Computing, optical disc drives are described by Wikipedia as a disk drive that uses laser light or electromagnetic waves within or near the visible light spectrum as part of the process of reading or writing data to or from optical discs. Some optical disc drives can only read from discs, but recent drives are able to both read and record, also called burners or writers. These drives are very commonly used in computers to read software and consumer media distributed on disc, and to record discs for archival and data exchange purposes. (Wikipedia)
An optical disc is a flat, round portable metal disc with a plastic covering. The most common of these are CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs. Nearly every computer these days has an optical disc drive installed. Many different formats for the optical disc exist. The format of the disc specifies whether a user can read from the disc, write on the disc, or do both read and write.
These different types of discs are categorized as follows: A CD-ROM (compact disc read-only memory) is an optical disc that users can read but not write. I guess that’s why the genius named it read-only! Next is a CD-R (or compact disc recordable) this is an optical on which users can write, but not erase. There are also optical discs called a CD-RW (compact disc rewritable) this is an erasable multisession disc you can write on multiple times. To write on a CD-RW disc you must have optical disc burning software and a CD-RW drive. Another type of optical disc is a DVD-ROM (digital versatile disk-read-only memory or digital video disc-read-only memory) which is a high-capacity optical disc which users can only read, they are unable to write or erase. This is the format that movies and...

... middle of paper ...

...storage devices is no different. This has opened my eyes to storage devices. I had no idea before researching the different types that there were so many types and that they all had different functions and uses. Maybe mom was on to something, do your research, you might learn something.

Works Cited
CCAC Talkin' Tech: Choose Your Media Wisely. n.d. web. 21 November 2013.
Lifehacker. 12 January 2011. Web. 21 November 2013. .
"Optical Disks Revolutionize Computer Data Storage." Great Scientific Achievements. Salem Press, 1994. 859-861. Book Chapter.
Shelley, Gary B. and Misty E. Vermaat. Microsoft Office 2010:Introductory. Boston: Cengage: Course Technology, 2011. Print.
Simonite, Tom and Michael Le Page. "The end of knowledge." New Scientist 30 January 2010: 36-39. Article.
Wikipedia. 11 November 2013. Web. 21 November 2013.

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