A. What is an optical drive? What does it do? - Josh
The optical drive is the laser light that sends waves to the disc and reads what is on the disc and tells what is read to the computer. It shoots the laser to the disc so that it can be read. The laser is aimed at the lands and pits of the disc and sends those back to the CPU to show the other components what the disc says. (1)(3)(4)
B. How does it read and record information? - Jared
A DVD drive uses a laser to read the information on a DVD. It shines the laser onto the disc, which bounces off it and and is read by a detector on the drive. The laser reads the lands and pits on the disc which are in binary code(0's and 1's). The computer then converts the 0's and 1's into letters and number, which then displays what is on the disc. (1)(2)(5)
C. What is the difference between a CD and DVD? How much does each hold? - Josh and Jared
The difference between a DVD and a CD is the type of laser that reads them. DVD’s hold much more data than CD’s. DVD’s hold almost 5 gigabytes, while CD’s hold only about 650 megabytes. DVD’s are able to hold much more because they laser used to read them is smaller and the distance between the land and the pits is more compact. (1)(2)(3)
The optical drive is the laser light that sends waves to the disc and reads what is on the disc and tells what is read to the computer. It shoots the laser to the disc so that it can be read. The laser is aimed at the lands and pits of the disc and sends those back to the CPU to show the other components what the disc says. (1)(3)(4)
B. How does it read and record information? - Jared
A DVD drive uses a laser to read the information on a DVD. It shines the laser onto the disc, which bounces off it and and is read by a detector on the drive. The laser reads the lands and pits on the disc which are in binary code(0's and 1's). The computer then converts the 0's and 1's into letters and number, which then displays what is on the disc. (1)(2)(5)
C. What is the difference between a CD and DVD? How much does each hold? - Josh and Jared
The difference between a DVD and a CD is the type of laser that reads them. DVD’s hold much more data than CD’s. DVD’s hold almost 5 gigabytes, while CD’s hold only about 650 megabytes. DVD’s are able to hold much more because they laser used to read them is smaller and the distance between the land and the pits is more compact. (1)(2)(3)
1.)http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-an-optical-drive.htm
2.)http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4702638_computer-dvd-drive-work.html
3.)http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/cd.htm
4.)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optical_disc_drive
5.)http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/electromag/computers/compactdiscs/cd.html