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A magneto-optical drive is a kind of optical disc drive capable of writing and rewriting data upon a magneto-optical disc. 130 mm (5.25 in) and 90 mm (3.5 in) discs are the most common sizes. In 1983, just a year after the introduction of the compact disc , Kees Schouhamer Immink and Joseph Braat presented the first experiments with erasable ...
An optical disc drive is a device in a computer that can read CD-ROMs or other optical discs, such as DVDs and Blu-ray discs. Optical storage differs from other data storage techniques that make use of other technologies such as magnetism, such as floppy disks and hard disks, or semiconductors, such as flash memory.
Unlike early CD-ROM drives, optical disc recorder drives have generally used industry standard connection protocols. Early computer-based CD recorders were generally connected by way of SCSI ; however, as SCSI was abandoned by its most significant users (particularly Apple Computer ), it became an expensive option for most computer users.
Optical drives for computers come in two main form factors: half-height (also known as desktop drive) and slim type (used in laptop computers and compact desktop computers). They exist as both internal and external variants. Half-height optical drives are around 4 centimetres tall, while slim type optical drives are around 1 cm tall.
The recording employs various electronic, magnetic, optical, or mechanical changes to the disk's surface layer. A disk drive is a device implementing such a storage mechanism. Notable types are hard disk drives (HDD), containing one or more non-removable rigid platters ; the floppy disk drive (FDD) and its removable floppy disk ; and various ...
However, not all optical drives provide this capability, and support for this feature can vary significantly between manufacturers and drive models. On drives lacking raw data access, users may rely on a less precise method: monitoring unexpected reductions in read speed, though this is a far less reliable indicator of disc health.
Magnetic tape was first used to record computer data in 1951 on the UNIVAC I. [8] The UNISERVO drive recording medium was a thin metal strip of 0.5-inch (12.7 mm) wide nickel-plated phosphor bronze. Recording density was 128 characters per inch (198 micrometres per character) on eight tracks at a linear speed of 100 in/s (2.54 m/s), yielding a ...
Floptical refers to a type of floppy disk drive that combines magnetic and optical technologies to store data on media similar to standard 3 + 1 ⁄ 2-inch floppy disks. The name is a portmanteau of the words "floppy" and "optical". It refers specifically to one brand of drive and disk system, but is also used more generically to refer to any ...