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Mustek Global :

Generic CD-RW Drive FAQ:

  1. What is CD-Recordable (CD-R)?
  2. What is CD-ReWritable (CD-RW)?
  3. What are the differences between CD-RW and CD-R?
  4. Which IDE port should I set up with my CD-RW drive?
  5. What are the differences among various colors of CD-R?
  6. Why can't CD-ROM drive read the CD-RW?
  7. Can the new DVD players read CD-ReWritable discs?
  8. What is the "ISO9660"?
  9. What is the "UDF"?
  10. How long does take CD-RW drive to write a data-CD?
  11. What's the Disc-At-Once?
  12. What's the Session-At-Once?
  13. What's the Track-At-Once?
  14. What's the Packet Writing?
  15. What does "buffer under run" mean?
  16. What's the difference between recording from an image and on-the-fly?
  17. What is "finalizing"?
  18. Why I can not read the CD-R disc in my CD-ROM drive that I just made from my writer?
  19. What's the difference between a "Multi-Session" disc and a "Multi-Track" disc?
  20. Why does multi-session have so much overhead?
  21. What is a "hybrid" disc?
  22. Difference between using IDE/ATAPI and SCSI interface?

 

Drivers
Class Room
F.A.Q.
Q.1:

What is CD-Recordable (CD-R)?

  A.1:

CD-R is a WRITE-ONCE recordable media that can be used to create one's own CD with a compatible drive and recording software. Being able to hold approx. 74 min. of audio or 650 MB of data it is suitable for storing data files as well as crystal-clear audio.

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  Q.2: What is CD-ReWritable (CD-RW)?
  A.2:

CD-RW stands for CD "ReWriteable." The advantage for CD-RW is let you erase the discs and reuse them. Each disc can hold about 74 minutes of audio or about 650MB of data. CD-RW technology is based on phase change which is different from CD-R--organic day. CD-RW discs can be rewritten up to 1000 times usually. CD-R recorder can not write CD-RW discs only the CD-RW recorder.

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  Q.3: What are the differences between CD-RW and CD-R?
  A.3:

The difference between two media is CD-R only can record once but CD-RW can erase the data and rewrite again. CD-R is the best media to use for distributing data because it is easy of interchange with CD-ROM drives. For CD-RW discs, they are good for back up and storage.

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  Q.4: Which IDE port should I set up with my CD-RW drive?
  A.4:

You can set up the CD-RW drive in any IDE port. Usually, we set up the hard disk in Primary master, so the CD-RW drive can leave in Secondary master or Secondary slave. The reason not to hang on with hard disk in the same IDE port is to separate the CPU loading to increase access time.

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  Q.5: What are the differences among various colors of CD-R?
  A.5:

The colors show the different of reflection. Usually the gold or silver color has strong reflection than blue and green ones. Still, there are some mix colors of media like gold green CD, blue green CD and gold blue CD and so on. In addition, the high reflection of media does not mean the data transfer rate going first because each CD-ROM drive has its own setting. When the reflection is too high to the setting, it will take longer time to access the data.

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  Q.6: Why can't CD-ROM drive read the CD-RW?
  A.6:

The CD-RW only has 15% lower reflection rate than CD-R media, which contains 65% reflection rate. So, if CD-ROM drive does not support the "MultiRead" feature, it can not read CD-RW disc.

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  Q.7: Can the new DVD players read CD-ReWritable discs?
  A.7:

Yes, all MultiRead DVD-ROM drives can read the CD-RW disc.

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  Q.8: What is the "ISO9660"?
  A.8:

ISO9660 is kind of files layout standard for CD-ROM. In the early time, each CD-ROM developing team group decided they're own format of media that could not be compatible to each other's. Until the "High Sierra" showing up, they used the new "ISO9660" format as a standard in CD-ROM field all over the world.

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  Q.9: What is the "UDF"?
  A.9:

UDF is short for Universal Disc Format, another file layout standard for CD-ROM. The UDF format can use in CD-R, CD-RW, and DVD by Packet writing method, which would not cause "Buffer Under-Run" and can be compatible with ISO9660.The advantage of UDF is provided similar function like hard disk.

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  Q.10: How long does take CD-RW drive to write a data-CD?
  A.10:

Usually it takes about 74 minutes at 1x (37 minutes at 2x) to record the 650MB of data and add one or two minutes to do finalizing for the disc. The less data you have, the fast time you get. Remember by using various writing tools, it will also make slight time difference.

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Q.11: What's the Disc-At-Once?
  A.11:

Disc-At-Once (DAO) is writing the entire CD by one pass without any interrupt. There is not gap between track so the size of written CD is same the original one. In this mode, data can be recorded to an entire disc in one pass. It is not possible to write additional data later.

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  Q.12: What's the Session-At-Once?
  A.12:

In this mode, data can be recorded to the disc one session at a time. To use this mode, your software must support Session at Once recording. New sessions can be written later. The difference between Session-At-Once (SAO) and Disc-At-Once is SAO can continue writing but not DAO. Both have no gap in tracks.

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  Q.13: What's the Track-At-Once?
  A.13:

Track-At-Once in the CD-RW drive writes the data first and then finish Lead-in, Lead-out last, so it allows you to write multiple passes. But it will cause some gaps between tracks. Usually, the recordable disc has big size than the original one. In this mode, data can be recorded to disc one track at a time. Discs recorded in this mode cannot be played in CD players or CD-ROM drives other than a CD-RW or a CD-R drive until the session is closed.

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  Q.14: What's the Packet Writing?
  A.14:

This is useful for data back-up. Smaller units of data can be added to tracks. To use this mode, your software must support Packet Writing. MRW-4424 supports both sequential and random packet writing.

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  Q.15: What does "buffer under run" mean?
  A.15:

The writing action has been stopped because the cache buffer emptied, so the bigger your CD recorder buffer size, the safer your recording.

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  Q.16: What's the difference between recording from an image and on-the-fly?
  A.16:

Disc images files are copied data completely from the CD, so it will require big enough hard disc spaces. If you have both audio and data tracks on your CD, there would be an ISO-9660 file system image for the data track and one or more 16-bit 44.1KHz stereo sound images for the audio tracks. On-the-fly, this method takes and throws data directly on the CD so it requires less hard disc space and saves time, but it increases the risk of "buffer under run ".

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  Q.17: What is "finalizing"?
  A.17:

The process of changing a session from adding data to finishing writing is called finalizing. A single-session disc has three basic regions, which are lead in, program area, and lead out. The data will start written in program area first and do the lead in, lead out later. If the disc does not do finalizing that means the lead in (TOC) not finishing yet. The CD-ROM drive might not recognize the disc and doesn't know where the data has been stored.

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  Q.18: Why I can not read the CD-R disc in my CD-ROM drive that I just made from my writer?
  A.18:

One possible reason to cause this problem is your CD-R media not doing the finalized. You can read the disc from recordable drive but not CD-ROM drive because the TOC (Table of Content), the starting point to find the data, is not been completely. Some old CD-ROM drives can not read multisession disc, which has combination of MODE-1 and MODE2 format.

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  Q.19: What's the difference between a "Multi-Session" disc and a "Multi-Track" disc?
  A.19:

A session is a unity on a CD, which includes lead-in and lead out. If the disc only write once, it is a single session. In addition, multi-session disc can write multiple time and more than one session. Under a session, it can contain one or several tracks (up to 99 tracks). Each track has the different index number in the subchannel, which helps drives to find audio or data.

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  Q.20: Why does multi-session have so much overhead?
  A.20:

Each session contains lead-in and lead-out area, and both areas need to be written TOC and indicated the "landing zone". So, multi-session requires about 13.5 MB or 6750 blocks between sessions.

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  Q.21: What is a "hybrid" disc?
  A.21:

The hybrid disc usually has two or more partitions; each partition contains different file system that allows you interpret with various operating systems. Now, there are four file systems can be combined using, DOS (Windows), HFS, Unix, and OS/2. The most popular one is combination of DOS (ISO9660) with Macintosh HFS.

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  Q.22: Difference between using IDE/ATAPI and SCSI interface?
  A.22:

採IDE/ATAPI介面孃計,中便直惜枉面人電腦礬丑僮飭,若瞌SCSI俸熄,則間牧再褸買
公安蛹SCSI辜。不過SCSI俸熄不牧雇翮颼』食蒂汗,燒蕨品膜#滴,不兢同蕈螫汛僚
廾式哉Ρ。若瞌IDE俸熄,在燒蕨過廾中,蘆好不要螫汛僚貳斂飭廾式。

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