Like many hot things, when CD-Recordable (CD-R) first came on the techno-scene, it wasn't very affordable. Most CD replications took place in off-site mastering houses (or Chinese bootleg factories). To make one CD from a "premaster," you had to run at least a hundred. You can bet that 99 of them were useless because typically you were making one to see it before you burned hundreds and thousands of duplicates. This took as long as two weeks.
Since that time, CD recorders have gotten smaller and prices have dropped. Drives are more affordable than ever. With media costing under $10 (if you can get it), it's an affordable way to store 650 MB.
When anything becomes affordable, its uses multiply. Imaging applications include billing, corporate reports, catalogs,
real estate, insurance rates and archiving. CDs' large capacity and easy retrieval make them ideal for storing info from microform. CD-R has come a long way in the last six years. But there's still a long way it can go. CD-R will not fade away. As it improves and new CD formats -- like CD-Erasable (CD-E) -- emerge, CD-R will start a whole new fire. Software and hardware combinations make the most of CD-R
today.
Software recording speeds are based on the speed of the CD recorder. For example, a 2X CD-R drive can only record two CDs an hour, while a 4X records four CDs in the same time.
Choosing the speed of your recorder is just the first step in choosing a CD-R solution. You have to pick the way you're going to record your media -- single session, multisession or packet writing.
You might have to match hardware to software. To save you the work, many companies sell bundles that include drives, software and printers.
To add the finishing touch, you might want to print directly on your discs instead of labeling them with magic markers. We look at each.
The type of data you have determines the best way to burn a CD -- single session, multisession or packet writing. Here's how these techniques work and the software and hardware that use them.
Packet writing, also called incremental writing, has the benefits of multisession recording -- without the high capacity price. With packet writing, you record data, stop, then record again without losing 15 MB.This type of recording comes in handy for storage apps where you want to archive information. Using different kinds of packet writing, you can even record again to a finalized disc. The catch? There's no packet-writing standard. As of now, many CD-Rs don't record in packet-writing mode but, as it catches on, that will change.
One version is variable packet writing. Record as much or as little data as you want. Every time you stop recording, you lose 350 KB of writing space.
Here's the catch: The disc being recorded can only be read in the same type of drive that's writing the CD. Once the CD has been filled, the drive finalizes it in ISO 9660. Then you can read the CD in any CD-ROM drive.
JVC (Irvine, CA 714-261-1292) offers a variable packet writing solution called JVC Extension software ($75). It's an addition to the Archiver Plus System ($1,200). The Extension software works like recording to a floppy disc. Transparent to the user, it picks up recording where it left off. Created for the single user, the CD-R appears as drive letter D, E, F etc. The benefit is you don't need to quit an application to record.
The Archiver Plus is a little more complicated because it's for the network. It has single-session, multisession, and incremental reading and writing software for Windows 3.1, 95, NT or Mac. Once it's done recording, the disc is finalized in ISO 9660. You can't record any more information to it after that. But you can read it in any type of CD-ROM drive. It's sold with a SCSI adapter cable and a 2X/4X recorder.
Alchemy 3.0 CD-R software ($3,000 network; $500 standalone) from IMR (Englewood, CO 303-689-0022) also records in variable packets. It records using track-at-once, which only lets you stop, then start recording again 99 times, but at the low capacity price of 300 KB in between tracks. Another feature, CD-SPAN, calculates the space remaining on the CD. When you're near the end of a CD, a dialogue box tells you to put in another CD.
You never lose any recording data when changing CD-R discs. Alchemy 3.0 is great for archiving data.
Another type of incremental writing is fixed packet. If you use this, you have to record in certain chunks. Unlike variable packet writing, you have to use up the 64 KB space allotted to record in or you lose it. As a result, with this type of writing, you automatically lose at least 100 MB of space because of its design. It works like this: you record 64 KB, you lose 14 KB before you can write again. The math checks.
Sony (San Jose, CA 408-432-1600) started working on their own fixed packet-writing system two years ago. They've succeeded in creating a new file system called CDRFS. It's targeted to take advantage of 4X CD-ROM drives, but all Sony 4X and higher drives will read CDRFS discs.
CDRFS has some unique CD-R features, like the ability to delete. If you think because you can't delete from a CD-R disc, the basic nature of CD-R is record only -- you're right. Sony's new file system is no exception. It creates the illusion that you've deleted.
The idea behind this is more disc management. If you're using fixed-packet writing to record 500 MB on a disc, chances are you're going to have a lot of file names. Just think about how many files you can record to a 1 MB diskette.
On a CD, you can have tens of thousands of files. Using CDRFS, you hit the ędelete' button to delete the file from the index. But the information is never deleted. At a later date, you can use the history function to see a previous edition of the file index and bring the file back.
Another one of the CDRFS features is its ability to finalize the CD and then record it again if there's extra space left on the disc. One of the drawbacks of variable packet
writing is not being able to record again once the disc is in ISO 9660 format.
Before you finalize the disc, it only works in a similar machine to the one that recorded it. With the "freeze" option in the CDRFS file system, you can finish it so it can be read in any CD-ROM drive and still record to it again.
This process puts the "lead in" table of contents on the disc. A CD-ROM drive can't read a disc until it has the "lead in." Freezing can be yours for the price of 13 1/2 MB of disc space. That's how much capacity it takes to create the "lead in." The good news is that, even though the CD is "frozen," you can open and burn it again where you left off. Sound familiar? It should. It's multisession.
In CDRFS, the CD doesn't finalize in ISO 9660 because the drivers that let you read the disc go on the disc when it's first put into the CD-R drive. This process allows the disc to be read in any drive that reads packet writing -- under just about any operating system.
CD UDF is another version of packet writing. Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA) endorsed CD UDF in June. The format defines a common scheme of packet writing. This will have a twofold effect. First, with a packet-writing industry standard, CDs will be able to record in any CD recorder complying with the standard. This makes discs interchangable. Second, CD UDF is supposed to make the eventual move from ISO 9660 CD-ROM discs to DVD media smoother by serving as a "bridge" format from prerecorded compact disc to CD-Recordable,
CD-E, and finally to DVD.
CD UDF burns the CD using variable packet writing. However, when CD-E comes out, it will write in fixed packets. Confused? The drive won't be. The media tells the drive if a track is fixed or variable.
An interesting feature of CD UDF is its cross-platform design. UDF permits long file names but transparently translates them into standard 8.3 file names. It also defines extended attributes that preserve the operating system's own attributes. This boils down to one thing: different operating systems can read and write the same discs.
As with Sony's CDRFS, the UDF-formatted CD can be finalized at any point. Since there aren't any read/write interchangability issues, it would only need to be finalized if the disc had to be read in a CD-ROM drive.
The capacity price is a little higher. The first time you finalize the disc, the overhead is 23 1/2 MB. After that, each additional finalized session costs you another 13 1/2 MB.
Bundled Solutions
Large numbers of CDs come out of CD-R drives that aren't connected to jukeboxes, autochangers or transporters. The software is sophisticated enough to use either a single drive or a tower of drives. These drives and bundled solutions are worth a peek. Once you realize the apps that open up to you using CD-R, a single 2X/4X or better drive can change your habits. The following CD-R packages can meet your needs.
CD-Rtist (under $1,000) from Panasonic (Secaucus, NJ 201-348-7000) provides an out-of-the-box solution. This 2X/4X drive does incremental or single-session burns. It uses Adaptec (Campbell, CA 408-957-4535) software. The internal drive has 1 MB of buffer memory and a 600 Kbyte/s transfer rate. The Windows 95 and Windows 3.1 installation software and SCSI interface card and cables ease setup.
Plasmon's (San Jose, CA 408-474-0100) Afterburner Universal ($870) 2X/4X drive comes with Adaptec's Easy-CD Pro that does packet writing. The software enables the drive to work at its full speed and quickly moves files to the CD. The CD-R also acts as a true CD-ROM without extra drivers. To ensure more data integrity and higher relia-
bility, it recognizes the specific characteristics of the media you're using.
Chances are, at some point in your recording life, you'll come in contact with a Yamaha CD-R. This is a good thing. Yamaha's 4X/4X CDR100 ($1,000) drive works with 50 different software packages. Supporting platforms like Unix, Sun, SGI, Windows 95, Windows NT, OS/2, Novell, NLS, Macintosh, HP 9000, DOS, DEC, Amiga and AIX, there isn't much this recorder can't do. Yamaha has also worked with media manufacturers to create standards that will ensure CDs recorded in a quad-speed drive will have no reading problems in the many CD-ROM drives populating the world.
One place you might see Yamaha's CDR100 drive is in Chi's (Solon, OH 216-349-8605) Chi2801-R jukebox ($12,500). The 28 CD holder has four 4X CD-ROM readers and a Yamaha CDR100 recorder. The desktop enclosure comes with a SCSI interface, cables and Adaptec 1540 SCSI kit. Using Smart Storage CD Archive and Smart CD-LV, it will work with Novell and Windows NT.
For $16,000, Pioneer's (Long Beach, CA 310-952-2111) DRM-1004X 4X/4X CD-R and 100-cartridge
autochanger has a quick disc load time -- less than three seconds. It has two CD-ROM drives. The autochanger consists of two removable 50-disc magazines. The DRM-1004X works with SCSI 2 and supports all major CD standards. Use the software of your choice to integrate the
autochanger into your network environment.
You could buy Smart CD for Recording and Access ($5,000 +) from Smart Storage (Andover, MA 508-623-3300) to work with the Pioneer's recorder, the DRM-1004X has software that takes full advantage of the machine to record and read CDs simultaneously. It works in Novell, Windows NT, Solaris 2.3, 2.4 and 2.5 environments.
The software provides complete automation without user intervention. It records in single-session and provides a 650 MB cache area. Everything is transparent to users on the network.
Microboards' (Chanhassen, MN 612-470-1848) CD-Maker ($14,000) can burn four concurrent CD-Rs at a 2.8 Mbyte/s aggregate transfer rate. The built-in partitioned SCSI 2.2 GB hard drive keeps you from
reserving that on your own system. Microboards also sells an eight-drive model for $20,000 that can record up to 64 discs an hour.
Kodak (Rochester, NY 716-726-7260) has two options for recording a large amount of discs. The Writable CD Production Station takes advantage of a 6X CD-R drive, the PCD writer 600, that writes a full 63-minute CD in about 10 minutes. You can attach the drive to Kodak's Disc Transporter, which has input and output spindles that can hold up to 75 CDs each. CD Publishing software allows single-session or multisession recording.
For large networks, Kodak Digital Science CD ($14,000 +) is an automated disc library that holds 150 CDs. Bundled with Kodak file store software, the system works with Unix, Novell, DOS, NFS, Windows 3.1, Windows 95 and Windows NT.
Young Minds' (Redlands, CA 909-335-1350) CD Studio ($7,000 +) is a total bundle. If you get it configured with MediaFORM's CD-2500, the 4X CD-R can burn all the discs in the 25-disc autoloader in a little over six hours.
The "intelligent controller" hooks up to the SCSI port of a Unix workstation. When the MakeDisc software is running, a networked user can pick data off any drive on the network. Then the information is sent to the "intelligent controller." At this point, the image can't be changed. If there's an error in the data, the user must change it and then resend it to the "controller." Once the data is there, it becomes an image on the controller. This image is burned onto the CD.
What's great about CD Studio is that, if your CD-R is attached to a large (50 + discs) autochanger or jukebox, it needs virtually no user intervention. In fact, the only time a person needs to get involved is when the software says it's time to reload the auto-changer with new CDs.
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