Chapter - Four

Optical Storage Media

 Choice of storage
• Multimedia data needs more storage than
others.
• Choice of storage media depends on user’s
circumstances.
–Quantity and type of information at stock,
–Required access time & transfer rate,
–Stability of data,
–Number of users & their skills.
• Optical Storage media continues to be
extremely popular in computer systems,
particularly for Multimedia applications.
 Optical Storage
• Optical storage deals with data storage and is usually
considered as a type of tertiary storage.
–Tertiary storage comes in the form of low-cost
removable media, such as CD-ROMs and floppy disks,
while secondary storage comes in the form of the hard
disks found within your computer.
• Optical storage differs from other types of storage media,
such as floppy disks, hard disks, magnetic tapes and flash
memory:
–Optical storage vary in material composition,
technology, and storage capacity, and are mostly
cheaper (cost per data bit -wise).
–Optical media have higher recording densities. Though
hard disks can store larger amounts of data, one must
consider the bulkiness of a hard disk compared to the
slimness of optical media.
 Advantages of Optical Storage
• Storage Capacity
–It has huge capacity; a 4.7-inch CD can hold over 700
Megabytes of data.
• Compatibility
–Readability of all varieties of CD by any of the huge number
of available CD drives.
• Durability
–A laser is used to store and retrieve data on an optical
disc, and nothing comes into contact with the recording
surface.
–Optical discs can be accessed thousands of times and will
last for decades without deterioration.
• Scalability
–Optical storage technology provides a variety of storage
capacities with room to grow from megabytes to terabytes.
 Advantages of Optical Storage
• Accessibility
–Unused data can be stored in an easily accessible optical
library.
–This enables fast storage and retrieval of backup and
archive data.
–About 100 times faster than magnetic tape.
• Portability
–CDs are extremely robust and durable.
–They are removable and portable.
–They can be transported securely.
• Affordability
–The cost of CDs is cheaper.
–How much CD-R and CD-RW costs? What about DVD?
 Advantages over Magnetic disk
•Higher data density
–Store more data bit per inch.
•Long-term storage
–Insensitive to scratch / dust.
•Low probability of head crashes.
–Distance between head & the disk is more than
1mm.
•Adequate error correction
–Allows error handling.
•Quality
–Holds high quality multimedia.
History of optical storage
 Types of Optical Storage
• Optical storage media can be classified according to their reading
technology:
–the read-only CD, CD-ROM, DVD-ROM, and DVD-Video;
–the write-once CD-R and DVD-R, both of which use WORM
(Write-Once, Read-Many-times) technology.
–the rewritable CD-RW, DVD-RAM, and DVD-RW.
Thus, R in CD-R & DVD-R means "Recordable", RW means "Rewritable", ROM
means "Read Only Memory", RAM means "Random Access Memory".
• Most optical storage media are optical disks, such as CDs.
– The data on optical disks are usually accessed by a laser beam touching
the disc's surface.
– A 'sub-type' of optical disks is the phase-change disk, which uses a
material that can freeze into either a crystalline or amorphous state.
Phase-change disks allow rewritable optical media, such as CD-RWs and
DVD-RWs.
– On the other hand, magneto-optic disks straddle the line, as they're made
of magnetic recordable material but use optical technology (i.e. laser) to
record the data.
 Basic CD technology
Basics
• The most common form of optical storage is the
Compact Disk (CD).
–Even with the arrival of DVDs and other more powerful
optical media, CDs remain a massively popular way for
industries to package software, games, music, and
movies.
–Ordinary computer users often have a soft spot for CDs and
the CD burner hardware of their PCs, as these discs provide
low-cost and easy-to-use back-up for and physical
transfer of data files.
–The CD is a thin wafer of polycarbonite plastic with a thin
metal layer.
–120mm diameter (4.7 inches).
 Basic CD technology
• Data storage:
– For data storage the CD is divided into logical sectors (max. 99).
Normally there are 75 sectors, and each sector can hold 2 Kbytes.
– Capacity for a 74 minute CD is:
74 X 60 secs X 75 sectors X 2 Kbytes
= 660,000 Kbytes = 650 Megabytes
• Because the CD is originally based on audio technology the
track is divided as: minutes:seconds:sectors
– Tracks contains sequential arrangement of pits & lands. The "holes"
on the CD are called pits, while the flat places (i.e. unburned areas)
around these holes are called lands.
– A continuous spiral of data is recorded starting at the inner edge to
the outside edge.
• How does a CD record data?
– Data is recorded on the disc using a laser beam which burns pits (a
series of holes) in the disc surface. Presence of a pit represents a 1,
while absence of a pit (a ‘land’) represents 0.
How does a CD record data
 How does a CD record data
Channel bits are stored as pits and lands on a CD where
• a change between pit and land (or vice versa) corresponds to
a ”1”.
• no change corresponds to a ”0”.

Example:
Optical Storage Types: Audio CD and
CD-ROM
•Audio CD
–The compact disc (CD) which is developed by
Philips & Sony Corporation in the 1980s, were
audio CDs for storing audio data.
–It had a capacity of
• 74Min play back
• 650 MB

•In 1984, CD-ROMs went beyond audio,

–It added software, computer games,
encyclopedias, movies, and more.
–It also boasted memory capacity to 747 MB & low
manufacturing cost.
 Optical Storage Types: CD-ROM
•CD-ROMs mainly differ from audio CDs in terms of error-correcting
code.
– While it might be tolerable for an audio CD to have errors (e.g. from time to time,
the music skips while playing), it is definitely not tolerable for computer
programs, as even the smallest software defect can render the whole program
unusable. This means that CD-ROMs have to contain a larger amount of error-
correcting code needed to safely store data.
•Philips added graphics to the CD-ROM, as well as the ability to
interleave audio, video, and data. This made the CD into a true
"multimedia" medium.
– With the introduction of standardized CD-ROM file system called High Sierra,
any standards-conformant CD-ROM readable in any computer running
Windows/MS-DOS, Unix, etc.
•CD-ROM Drive Speeds
– It's good to remember that while CD-ROMs are economical, CD drives aren't up
to par with your computer's hard disk.
– Hard disks are at an entirely higher performance category, as these can transfer
and access data much faster than CD drives.
– Speed of most CD-ROM drives today hover around 50x.
 Optical Storage Types: CD-R
• CD-Rs and CD-RWs maintain a lot of the features of CDs
and CD-ROMs; that’s why they’re still called compact
discs and this pair highlights the improvements in optical
storage technology.
• CD-R (CD-Recordable)
–CD-Rs are WORM (Write Once, Read Many) discs that give
people a cheaper means of storing data in compact discs.
–It allows user to write once & read many times
• Enables CDs to be recorded when needed at the user’s local computer
• Once created cannot be overwritten
–Unfortunately, the arrival of these low-cost, easy to use CD-Rs also
helped spread software, music, and movie piracy.
–CD-Rs look like regular CD-ROMs except that they are gold-
colored instead of silver. This is due to the use of gold instead of
aluminum, which is used in regular CDs. These discs contain
0.6mm-wide grooves that guide the laser for writing data.
 Optical Storage Types: CD-RW
• CD-RW (CD-Rewritable)
–CD-RWs represent the next step in CD technology after the
CD-R. These discs use the same standard size of CD-Rs but
are more expensive than them.
–CD-RWs allow many writes onto the compact disc, in
contrast to the WORM CD-R.
• CD rewritable means the data on the disc can be erased and new
data written to the disc.
–CD-Rs aren't obsolete with the availability of CD-RWs. CD-
Rs can still be used as cheaper backup media, as well as
more secure storage – unlike CD-RWs, CD-Rs can only be
written once, which means you can't accidentally erase the
stored data with another write process.
 Optical Storage Types: DVD
•The beginnings of the DVD format may be traced back to
the 1990s, where two optical storage formats were in the
works;
–Multimedia Compact Disc (MMCD) and the Super Density Disc
(SDD).
•DVD (Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) may
easily be mistaken for an ordinary compact disc, but what
sets it apart is
–the amount of data that can be stored in it (4.7 gigabytes), as well
as technology that makes this possible.
•Digital Video Disk
–Used to indicate a player for movies. It only plays video
disks.
•Digital Versatile Disk
–Used to indicate a computer drive. It will read computer
disks and play video disks.
 DVD technology
• To squeeze all this information onto
the CD-sized disc, the designers of
the DVD disc made several
changes from the compact disc.
• First they made pits and lands used
to record data and the track
spacing nearly half the size of the
original CD design.
• Then, they made the discs double
sided and added another data
layer to each side creating a
potential for four layers of data per
disc.
 Optical Storage Types: DVD
• Why we need DVD?
–Since DVDs can hold large amount of space (several gigabytes),
these optical discs were unmistakably built for the heightened
home movie experience.
–DVDs can hold around two hours of high-quality (with 700 x 480
video resolution) digital video (using MPEG-2 compression),
plus digital audio.
–One highlight of watching movies in DVDs is the ability to display
the natural scene in true widescreen format.
–These days DVDs have also made their way into video game
consoles. They enable to have impressive picture quality, realistic
PC games…more video into the multimedia productions, which
adds more traffic implications over the net.
 Difference between CD & DVD disc
• CD is usually for computer files, music and pictures. DVD holds
more, because they're for movies, animations, etc.
– You can use DVD to store data and music if you want to, but they're just
a bit more expensive.
• DVDs are produced using the same concept of pits and lands
applied to CDs. The important difference incorporated into
DVDs are:
– More compact packing of the pits/holes: 1.6 microns in between for CDs,
0.74 microns for DVDs.
– Writes data in smaller pits; such that for the same available area, more
data can be stored : 0.8 microns for CDs, 0.4 microns for DVDs.
– Use of a red laser at a smaller wavelength: 0.78 microns for CDs, 0.65
microns for DVDs.
• Moreover, the available data area for DVD disc is larger than
the one of CD.
– A recordable CD disc has the capacity of 700MB, while a DVD-/+R disc
has about 4.7GB.
– The DVD is 6 fold increase in storage than the CD.
• Compared to CD, DVD
uses smaller pits and a
more closely spaced
track. The result is a
significant increase in
data density. Thus Bits
are packed more closely
in DVD’s.

• Uses smaller pits and

lands, reduced track
spacing.
• Can also include another
data layer and/or made
double sided.
DVD vs CD
 DVD Technology
• High capacity storage medium
–Employs second layer of pits & lands on top of first layer, by
adjusting the focus of laser reading both layer is possible.
➔ doubles the capacity (8.5 GB)
–Two sided
➔doubles the capacity (17 GB)
• DVD Formats
–Single sided single layer (SS/SL): Can hold 4.7 GB worth of
data = 2 hours video
–Single sided dual layer (SS/DL) : Can hold 8.5 GB = 4 hours
video
–Double sided single layer : Can hold 9.4 GB = 4.5 hours
video
–Double sided dual layer: Can hold 17 GB = 8 hours video
 DVD Types
•DVD-Video
– Released in 1996 by the DVD Forum, DVD-V is used
primarily for viewing movies and other visual entertainment,
prerecorded on these discs.
– They are interactive and contain features that enhance your
movie-viewing experience.
– Total capacity 17 gigabytes (double-sided)
– Another characteristic of DVD-Video is its support for copy-
protective measures, such as Regional Protection and CSS
(content scrambling system). Such measures were
implemented to prevent piracy.

•DVD-ROM
– Basic technology same as DVD Video, but also includes
computer-friendly file formats.
– Used to store data.
 DVD Types
• DVD-R
–DVD-Recordables, or DVD-Rs, or DVD-dash-Rs, are the
first and most popular formats of recordable DVDs. As with
CD-R, users can write only once to this disk.
–They are highly expensive and uncommon discs used for
professional needs, as they allow recording of any data;
–DVD-R are more available to consumers, but do not allow
copying of protected DVDs.
–Capacity 4.7 gigabytes.
• DVD-RAM
–This makes DVD a virtual hard disk, with random read-write
access.
–Capacity 4.7 gigabyte-per-side.
–Can be re-written more than 100,000 times.
–The DVD-RAM works like a hard disk.
 DVD Types
• DVD-RW
– Just like CD-RWs, DVD-RW discs change state under a laser for it to be
rewritten on. DVD-RWs reach up to 1000 instances of rewritings.
– One drawback of these discs is that because they have relatively lower
reflectivity and are consequently mistaken as dual-layer DVDs, DVD-
RWs are compatible with only around 70% of the players out there.
– It is similar to DVD-RAM
– Features a sequential read-write access more like a phonograph than a
hard disk.
– Capacity is 4.7 gigabytes per side.
– Can be re-written up to about 1,000 times.
• DVD-Audio
– The latest audio format with more than double the fidelity of a standard
CD.
– Because of its much higher capacity, DVDs can make space for much
higher audio quality.
– However, audio on DVD has never really caught up with audio CDs
because people don’t need extremely high-quality music, as they are
content even with compressed MP3 formats.
 DVD Types
DVD+R and DVD+RW (plus-Rs or plus-RWs)
• DVD+R and DVD+RWs provide for:
– lossless linking:
• no need to re-record a whole disc if only part of it needs updating,
– better error handling,
– Easy Write or Mount:
• twice the maximum writing speed of DVD-RWs
– Rainier technology
• transforming the disc into an ordinary floppy or hard drive

• Compatibility issues: support for DVD+R and DVD+RW

may only be found in specialized or high-end hardware and
software.
 DVD Types
DVD-VR and DVD+VR (DVD Video Recording discs)
• Like most DVD discs, DVD-VRs & DVD+VRs were made for
videos.
• This is taken a step further, though, as these Video Recording formats
allow you to create videos on these discs so that they can be edited
fully.
• Possible Features with the DVD VRs:
– adding new video content,
– changing menu backgrounds,
– inserting chapters,
– splitting clips, or
– removing unwanted scenes.
•Compatibility issues: As for the "minus" versus "plus" formats, the
same rule of thumb regarding incompatibility applies: DVD-VRs and
DVD+VRs are not usually playable in ordinary DVD players and must
be used compatible devices with DVD VRs.
What is Blu-Ray Disc?????