11 Sep
2010
11 Sep
'10
9:02 a.m.
On Tue, Sep 07, 2010 at 06:32:36PM -0400, Charles Dickman wrote:
What was the reason for the carriers used on first
generation CD-ROM drives?
I guess the idea was to protect the media from damage, as data disks are
far more sensitive to errors than audio disk ("can't read file" versus
a short noise pulse).
My first CD-ROM drive cost about $800, but it included
an encyclopedia. :-)
It used the "standard carrier".
I have a Pinnacle RCD-1000 disk burner that also uses the same carrier. I
remember that it was attached to an IBM PC-AT or something close and that we
basically turned out the lights in the room so as not to disturb it during a
burn.
The audio drives used the drawer. I know the error correction is better on
the audio disk than the data disks,
It isn't. CD-ROMs add another layer of error correction on top of what is
already used for audio CDs, so the error correction for CD-ROMs is better.
However, audio CDs are far less troubled by errors - at worst, you'll hear
some annoying sound artefacts from the damaged sectors, whereas with a
CD-ROM data errors means that you can't read (parts of) the afflicted file
or directory.
Kind regards,
Alex.
--
"Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and
looks like work." -- Thomas A. Edison