What is an Optical Disc?
An optical disc is an electronic data storage medium that is also referred to as an optical disk, optical storage, optical media, Optical disc drive, disc drive, which reads and writes data by using optical storage techniques and technology. An optical disc, which may be used as a portable and secondary storage device, was first developed in the late 1960s. James T. Russell invented the first optical disc, which could store data as micron-sized light and dark dots.
An optical disc can store more data and has a longer lifespan than the preceding generation of magnetic storage medium. To read and write to CDs and DVDs, computers use a CD writer or DVD writer drive, and to read and write to Blu-ray discs, they require a Blu-ray drive. MO drives, such as CD-R and DVD-R drives, are used to read and write information to discs (magneto-optic). The CDs, Blu-ray, and DVDs are the most common types of optical media, which are usually used to:
- They are used to transfer data to various devices or computers.
- These media are used to deliver the software to others.
- They help users to hold large amounts of data, like videos, photos, music, and more.
- Also, optical media are used to get back up from a local machine.
With the introduction of an all-new generation of optical media, the storage capacity to store data has increased. CDs have the potential to store 700 MB of data, whereas DVDs allow you to store up to 8.4 GB of data. Blu-ray discs, the newest type of optical media, can hold up to 50 GB of data. This storage capacity is the most convenient benefit as compared to the floppy disk storage media, which can store up to 1.44 MB of data.
Optical discs are impervious to most environmental threats like magnetic disturbances or power surges; however, these discs are not expensive to manufacture. It helps optical disc storage to make well-suited for archival storage. Sony said in 2016 that it would release a Blu-ray disc with the capacity to hold 3.3 terabytes (TB) of data.
There is a need to be noted, a CD drive can only have the ability to read CDs, and a DVD drive can read CDs and DVDs. Additionally, a Blu-ray, a new type of optical media that can read CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray discs. In other words, older drives are not able to read newer optical discs, but the latest drives have the ability to read older optical discs.
How optical storage discs are made
The basic sandwich of materials structure is used by all recent optical disc formats. The base is formed by using a hard-plastic substrate, and a reflective layer of metallic foil is used for encoding the digital data. Next, a clear polycarbonate layer secures the foil and enables the laser beam to move via the reflective foil layer.
Optical discs include different materials in the sandwich, which are dependent on the type of disc, whether it is rewritable or write-once. In write-once CD-ROM, an organic dye layer is located between the polycarbonate and unwritten reflective foil. Because they replace the aluminium foil with an alloy that is a phase-change material, rewritable optical discs may be erased and rewritten several times.
What optical disc can hold the most?
Blu-ray discs, which are the newest type of optical media, have the potential to store the most, up to 50 GB of data. BD-R (Blu-ray recordable) is available in the market with a storage capacity of 25 GB or 50 GB.
History of Optical Disc
Russell’s creation bears little resemblance to later CDs or DVDs; however, he developed the first method to store digital information on an optical medium. As the medium, Russell used transparent foil, and instead of reflecting a laser off, the data was read with the help of shining a light. Russell’s system could also be any size, not simply a disc, because the data was not read as it spun.
A physicist Peter Kramer developed technology in 1969 when he was working for Philips Research; the newest CD and DVD are based on this technology Kramer devised a method for encoding data on a reflective metallic foil that may be read with a low-powered laser.. Initially, his work was used to hold analog video on the first laserdisc, but gradually it becomes the basis of all digital optical storage media.
Philips and Sony formed a collaborative collaboration in 1979 to produce the first audio CD, which was the first commercial usage of digital optical storage. After five years, Sony developed not only the first CD-ROM for the storage of any digital data, but also the first CD-ROM for the storage of any digital data, this time in conjunction with Denon. The CD-ROM, at that time, had the potential to store up to 680 MB of data. Around 10 years later, the DVD was created by Sony, which increased data capacity to 4.7 GB; When Sony again teamed up with Philips and also joined with Panasonic and Toshiba.
The next generation of optical storage, the Blu-ray disc, took another 10 years to come into the market. The Blu-ray disc was developed by a partnership led by Sony, and it came with up to 27 GB of storage. Toshiba had attempted to offer its own format, HD-DVD, but it was not a member of the consortium at the time. After a brief format war, Blu-ray became the industry standard.
Different Kinds of Optical Drives
Optical drives are disk-based drives that were introduced to the market in the 1980s to allow for increased storage capacity and faster read and write times. There are multiple kinds of optical media, which are discussed below:
CD-ROM
CD-ROM, short for compact disk read-only memory, was the first disk on the basis of drives for the latest PCs. CD-ROM devices populate Compact Disk Filing System discs with data encoded in ISO 9660. To reduce noise and increase stability, most CD-ROM drives in computers run at a slower speed, and if the drive experiences read errors, it will only speed up for larger data files. However, the newest CD-ROM drives have the potential to achieve read speeds of 60 revolutions in a second (60x).
DVD-ROM
DVD-ROM drives, which stand for Digital Versatile Disk Read Only Memory and are a direct evolution from CD-ROM drives, have significantly more performance and capacity than their CD counterparts while maintaining the same physical dimensions. The DVD Forum is a non-profit organization that establishes several standards for DVD functionality and construction, as well as overseeing DVD development.
Blu-ray
In the commercial market, Blu-ray drives are the newest drives available as of 2011. During the early 2000s, Sony developed the Blu-ray technology that was one of the founding proponents
RW Drives
The rewritable drive types are Blu-ray drives, DVD-ROMs, and CD-ROMs. All the functionalities of read-only counterparts are available in RW drives. Write processes are particularly sensitive to shock and can ruin the disc beyond repair if forcibly interrupted; write speeds are slower to preserve stability than read speeds. Writable disks come in multiple-time write and one-time write variations; however, RW drives can write multiple times.
Advantages of Optical Disk
There are various benefits of the optical disk, which are as follows:
Cost
Only plastics and aluminum foils are used in the production of an optical disk, which makes their manufacturing cost less expensive. Therefore, users get the advantage to purchase optical disks in bulk, and also, the optical disk drive is included with many computers by their manufacturers, and users can be benefited from purchasing optical disk drives separately.
Durability
While comparing with Volatile and Non-Volatile memories, optical disks are more durable. It is not caused to data losses due to any power failure and is not subjected to wear. Hence, it can run a long time. However, it is not much safe from any physical damages, including against scratching and heat.
Simplicity
With the help of using optical disks, the process of backup of data is much easier. The data should be placed inside the drive icon; the data, which needs to be burnt. And, the users can backup data easily only by clicking on “Burn Disk.”
Stability
A very high level of stability is provided by optical disk because it is not unprotected from electromagnetic fields and other kinds of environmental influences, unlike magnetic disks.
Portability
Optical disks are very portable; however, they are fairly large in size. They can be used in different computers and devices and transported to different places as they can be placed inside bags and other small objects.
Disadvantages of Optical Disk
Although it has numerous advantages, it also contains some limitations that are discussed below:
Security
Optical disks need to keep safe from the hands of thieves when you are using them for backup purposes. If thieves get success in stealing optical disks, it can be more harmful. Hence, it may provide insecurity; and due to its size, there are more chances to optical disk more prone to lose and theft.
Reliability
Unlike flash drives, any plastic casings can be caused to damage optical disks. Therefore, they make the disk unreadable as they are prone to scratching the disks. The data stored on an optical disk cannot be recovered anymore.
Capacity
As compared to other forms of storage drives, the cost of optical disks is high per GB/TB. Also, while comparing with any other forms of storage medias, it has less storage capacity. Except the Blu-ray disk, the maximum storage capacity of optical disk is 4.7GB.
Duplication
Like a USB flash drive, it is not easy to make a duplicate copy by using an optical disk. There is needed a separate software and hardware in order to process of burning. For this purpose, also, there are multiple third-party programs available. Writing software is furnished with the newest version of windows.
User Friendliness
Actually, it is not appropriate in terms of backup; however, its manufacturing cost is very low. Some significant amounts are needed for Networks and Online backups for services. Furthermore, if an optical drive is under heavy use, it requires a replacement frequently, and it is known to possess high failure rates.
Why is optical media not as popular today?
The popularity of all-optical media has greatly decreased as almost all kinds of content are available on the internet, which can be downloaded and streamed anywhere with a network connection. Another reason optical media is not more common in use today, the price of USB flash drives has decreased, which has the potential to store a lot more data, which led to make optical media a less popular storage solution.