CD-RW drives are very versatile for transporting information to both older and newer CD and DVD ROM drives. CD-RW media can be read by newer CD-ROM and DVD drives. These newer drives are known as Multi ReadTM (MR) drives. And even though CD-RW media cannot be read by older CD-ROM drives, the 1600L i.LINK drive can write to CD-R media which can be read by standard CD-ROM drives and CD players.

How CD-R and CD-RW work

CD-ROM drives (CD-R and CD-RW drives as well) read the one and zero bits by difference in reflectivity. Mass produced Compact Discs are created by stamping “pits” in the CD. These “pits” reflect differently than the “land” which is the area between “pits.”

CD-R drives work by using a laser beam to heat the recording layer, causing a chemical reaction in that spot so CD-ROM players will see this as a “pit” and the unburnt area as “land.”

CD-RW uses what is known as a “Phase Change” technology. In the CD-RW media is a substance which can be changed from an amorphous “mark” that very closely resembles the pits of a stamped CD, to a crystalline state which resembles “land.” The laser beam of the 1600L i.LINK drive changes the crystalline state to the amorphous state by use of a laser to quickly heat the spot on the disc, forming a mark. To change the amorphous state back to the crystalline state the laser beam uses a lower power setting to transition the mark back to the crystalline “land.”

Performance

The 1600L i.LINK drive is capable of writing CD-R media at 12⋅ MAX speed and CD-RW media at 8⋅ MAX speed. 12⋅ speed means that the 1600L i.LINK drive can record a full 650 megabyte CD-R disc in about 5 minutes. At 8⋅ speed the 1600L i.LINK can record a full 650 megabyte CD-RW or CD-R disc in about 9 minutes.

The 1600L i.LINK drive is a multi-function device since the drive is also capable of reading at 32⋅ Maximum (4,800 kilobytes per second).

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