CD : Computer Hardware Buyers’ Glossary

go to home page C words local find full screen, hide local find menu Google search web for more information on this topic jump to foot of page translate this page with Babelfish punctuation 0-9 A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z (all) ©1997-2009 Roedy Green, Canadian Mind Products
CD
Compact Disc, or sometimes CD-ROM Compact Disc Read Only Memory. Computer programs come written on discs that look just like ordinary audio CDs. They can hold about 600 MB of data, or the equivalent of 400 floppy diskettes. A computer CD-ROM drive is much like one in a home stereo, except that it spins 2×, 4×, 8×, 12×, 16× or even 48× as fast. The speeds are exaggerated. They only apply to the outermost track and in burst mode. In practice drives won’t be anywhere near as fast as advertised. The faster it spins, the faster data can be read. With the appropriate cable, you can even play audio CDs on a computer CD-ROM drive. Digital CDs can be read, but not written on. This means there is no practical way to brand them with your name, or even with a serial number. Often a magic password comes with a CD, on a piece of paper you are bound to lose. Without the password, you can’t install (or re-install) the software. Use a red Sharpie fine tip permanent marker to write the password/serial number/key on the top side of the CD where you can’t lose it. Don’t apply any sort of sticky label since it may come off inside the drive, unless it is specially designed for CDs. The two most common kinds of CD-ROM are EIDE and SCSI. Unfortunately there are also several other proprietary types that cause nothing but trouble often bundled with sound cards.
Be careful discarding CDs. They may contain passwords, bank accounts, credit card info, identity theft info… A heavy duty shredder will destroy them.
backup
CD burning
CD ripping
CD-R
CD-RW
donut maker
DVD
DVD case
multiread
recordable
recycling and shredding CDs
rewriteable
ripping and burning CDs
Sharpie fine tip permanent marker
UDF
CMP homejump to top You can get the freshest copy of this page from: or possibly from your local J: drive (Java virtual drive/mindprod.com website mirror)
http://mindprod.com/bgloss/cd.html J:\mindprod\bgloss\cd.html
CMP logofeedback Please email your feedback for publication, errors, omissions, typos, formatting errors, ambiguities, unclear wording, broken/redirected link reports, suggestions to improve this page or comments to Roedy Green : feedback email
mindprod.com IP:[65.110.21.43]
viewYour face IP:[38.107.191.106]
You are visitor number 11.