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Glossary
Access times
The average amount of time to access an item of
data.
Amorphous
Lacking shape, or in mineral terms, not
crystalline. Amorphous could be taken to mean a
liquid or gel like state. In terms of CD-RW the
important aspect is that the material will remain
stable in this state (not change out of this state
unless acted upon by an outside force of great
heat) AND that the amorphous state has a
different reflective quality than in a crystalline
state.
Analog
(as opposed to digital) where digital is defined
discrete items which can be reduced to zero and
one bits. Analog is continuous, so on any graphic
representation of analog data there are an infinite
number of points between any two points. Digital
approximates analog by adding data points.
Archive
To save files or records, usually in a safe place,
for later retrieval.
ATAPI
AT Compatible Attachment Packet Interface. An
enhancement to EIDE which allows CD-ROM
type devices to use the EIDE interface.
Bi-directional Cable
Signals can transfer both ways on the same cable,
rather than requiring a separate cable for each
direction, as with video in and video out.
Buffer
RAM Cache that is faster than the data is being
delivered. Buffers are used so data may be stored
and delivered to the receiving item as it is
needed.
Buffer Underrun
When a function (such as writing to CD-R media
requires a constant stream of data), attempts to
pull data faster from the buffer than data can be
input from a source drive, and the data buffer
becomes empty.
Burn a CD
Recording a CD-R. Because a laser is used to
write a CD it is also known as burning a CD.
Burst transfer
The fastest a device can transfer, usually from its
buffer.
CAV
Constant Angular Velocity. Constant Angular
Velocity means the drive or media spins at a
constant rate, rather than spinning faster or
slower as was common with older CD-ROM
devices which used CLV (Constant Linear
Velocity). CLV drives cause performance
degradation at higher speed because there is a lag
time, or latency period, before the drive reaches a
standard readable speed for each track. See CLV.
CD-R drive
A drive that can write to recordable CD-R media.
CD-RW drive
A drive that can write to recordable CD-R and
Rewritable CD-RW media.
CD-ROM drive
A drive that can read from CD media.
CLV
Constant Linear Velocity. Rotating a disc at such
a rate to keep the length of track read at a
constant speed. Since a track at the outside of a
circle is much longer than tracks near the center,
the outside track will be moving faster than
interior tracks for each revolution. To keep the
length of track read at the same speed, CLV
drives speed up when reading tracks near the
center and slow down when reading tracks near
the outside. Older CD-ROM devices use CLV.
Crystalline
The recording material can be made to stabilize
in a crystalline state with greater reflective
qualities than the amorphous state. See
Amorphous.
Data stream
The flow of data that accomplishes a task, usually
related to moving data from storage to computer
RAM or between storage devices.