CompTIA A_ Certification All-In-One Exam Guide, Seventh Edition - Michael Meyers [218]
In general, two items can affect media quality: speed and inks. Most CD-R and CD-RW media makers certify their CDs to work up to a certain speed multiplier. A media maker often has two product lines: a quality line guaranteed to work at a certain speed, and a generic line where you take your chances. As a rule, I buy both. I primarily use cheap discs, but I always stash five to ten good-quality discs in case I run into a problem. Again, this in large part depends on what you want them for: you may want to pull out the cheapies for temporary backups, but stick with the high-end discs for archiving musical performances.
All of this discussion about CD-Rs and CD-RWs definitely holds true for recordable DVD and BD discs and drives as well. Factor in the incompatibility of standards and you’re looking at a fine mess. Do your homework before you buy or advise a client to buy a DVD/BD-writable or rewritable drive.
Buffer Underrun Every CD, DVD, and Blu-ray Disc burner comes with onboard RAM, called buffer RAM—usually just called the buffer—that stores the incoming data from the recording source. Buffer underrun, the inability of the source device to keep the burner loaded with data, creates more coasters—that is, improperly burned and therefore useless CDs, DVDs, and Blu-ray Discs—than any other single problem. Buffer underrun most often occurs when copying from CD-ROM to CD-R/RW or from DVD-ROM to DVD-writable of all stripes. Many factors contribute to buffer underrun, but two stand out as the most important. The first factor is buffer size. Make sure you purchase drives with large buffers, a minimum of 2 MB. Unlike with system RAM, you can’t get a buffer upgrade. Second is multitasking. Most systems won’t enable you to run any other programs while the burner is running.
One trick to reduce underrun is using an ISO. Unlike some optical drives, any hard drive can keep up with an optical burner. Doing a bit-by-bit copy from disc to disc dramatically reduces the chances that a buffer underrun will add to your coaster collection.
All current optical disc burners include the BURN-Proof technology developed by Sanyo, which has eliminated the underrun issue. These drives can literally turn off the burning process if the buffer runs out of information and automatically restart as soon as the buffer refills. I love this feature, as I can now burn CDs in the background and run other programs without fear of underrun. If you’re buying a new burner, make sure you get one that uses the BURN-Proof technology.
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EXAM TIP The majority of problems that occur with CD, DVD, and Bluray Disc drives are usually a direct result of incorrectly installed or updated device drivers, disconnected cables, or incompatible or just plain bad media. Also, keep in mind DVD and Blu-ray Disc drives use specific region codes that are often misconfigured. Blu-ray Disc drives have very specific hardware and driver specifications that must be met for trouble-free end-user experiences. CompTIA is likely to target these areas specifically on the 220-702 exam, so make sure you understand this information.
Firmware Updates
Almost all optical drives come with an upgradeable flash ROM chip. If your drive doesn’t read a particular type of media, or if any other nonintermittent reading/writing problems develop, check the manufacturer’s Web site to see if it offers a firmware upgrade. Almost every optical drive seems to get one or two firmware updates during its production cycle.
Beyond A+
Color Books
The term color books is often used in the world of CD-media. Books are—well, books! In this case, they’re the standards developed