Glossary
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1394—See FireWire.
ASPI—Advanced SCSI Programming Interface. A software communication layer between an adapter card and connected SCSI devices. An ASPI layer exists in most operating systems, including DOS, Windows, LINUX, UNIX, Mac® OS, and OS/2.
ATA—Advanced Technology Attachment. The built-in system a PC computer uses to connect drives to the computer. You may have also heard it called IDE (Intelligent Device Electronics)—they mean the same thing. This is the most common interface for hard disks. The ATA interface has now been enhanced to support faster data transfers. See DMA for more information.
ATAPI— Advanced Technology Attachment Packet Interface. IDE (ATA) was originally designed for hard disks only, not removable devices such as Iomega CD-RW drives, CD-ROMs, and tape drives. ATAPI is designed to bridge this gap and support removable drives. ATAPI devices use your IDE channel to communicate with your computer. The ATAPI interface has now been enhanced to support faster data transfers. See DMA for more information.
Audio CD—See CD-DA
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Blue Book—CD specification that describes the CD Extra (Enhanced CD) format.
Bootable CD—An ISO formatted CD specially configured with a boot record and operating system files that the computer can use as a startup volume.
Buffer—A buffer is a reserved segment of memory used to hold data while it is being processed. When a program is in use, buffers are created to hold a certain amount of data from each of the files that will be read or written to. A buffer can also be a small hardware memory bank used for special purposes.
The buffering of data to a CD-R/RW drive is a vital component of the CD mastering process. Data to be written to the CD is stored in a temporary location before being sent to the CD-R/RW drive. Data buffering is handled solely by HotBurn.
Buffer Underrun—A problem that may occur when writing CDs. The CD recorder requires a steady stream of data from the computer. If the stream is interrupted and the recorder has used its buffer data, errors may occur. Your Iomega CD-RW drive may have special technology to prevent buffer underruns. See Troubleshootingfor more information on Buffer Underruns and the buffer underrun prevention technology.
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CardBus—High speed 32-bit interface based on the PCI interface. This interface is available on most newer laptop computers as a means for connecting high speed removable cards such as USB, FireWire, Ultra SCSI, Ethernet, and High speed MODEMs. PCMCIA devices can be used in CardBus slots.
CD Extra—Compact Disc Extra (also known as Enhanced CD or CD Plus). A new format for creating interactive music CDs. A CD Extra disc has two sessions. Session one consists of audio tracks. Session two consists of a data track.
CD Plus—See CD Extra.
CD Specifications—The specifications for Compact Disc are contained in several books:
- Red Book (1981)—Original CD-DA standard developed by Sony and Philips.
- Yellow Book (1983)—Specifies parameters for CD-ROMs (does not specify data structure).
- Green Book (1986)—Describes the CD-i format.
- Orange Book (1990)—Describes CD-R and CD-RW format and media.
- White Book (1993)—Describes the Video CD format.
- Blue Book (1995)—Describes the CD Extra standard.
CD Text—CD text is an audio CD format in which up to 5000 characters of disc information (title, artist, song titles, etc.) are written to the disc. This information is displayed when the disc is played back on CD Text-enabled players. The CD-R/RW drive must support this feature. If the CD player does not support CD Text, then this information will not be displayed.
CD+G (Karaoke)—Compact Disc Plus Graphics. A special digital audio disc format that combines a standard CD-DA track with graphic and text subchannels.
CD—Compact Disc. A 12cm disc, made up of polycarbonate substrate, a thin metallic layer, and a lacquer coating, originally used to hold digital audio data (as defined in the Red Book). The compact disc was originally developed by Sony and Philips and was introduced in 1982.
CD-DA—Compact Disc-Digital Audio. A compact disc used to store music. This is the original format used by home and car stereos. CD-DA is defined by the original Red Book Specification released by Sony and Philips in 1981.
CD-E—Compact Disc-Erasable. Allows the user to write, erase, overwrite, and read CD information. This format was replaced by CD-RW.
CD-i—Compact Disc-Interactive. A CD format designed to play interactive multimedia applications on a CD-i player attached to a television. CD-i is described in the Green Book, but is no longer used.
CD-R—Compact Disc-Recordable (One-Off or CD-WO). A recordable compact disc that cannot be erased. CD-R is described in the Orange Book.
CD-ROM XA—Compact Disc-Read Only Memory Extended Architecture. An extension to the Yellow Book specification that was proposed by Sony, Philips, and Microsoft® to enhance the multimedia capabilities of CD-ROMs. XA is also used as a bridge between CD-i players and CD-ROM drives. Kodak's PhotoCD is an example of a CD-ROM XA format.
CD-ROM—Compact Disc-Read Only Memory. A compact disc used to store computer data. Data cannot be written to a CD-ROM. CD-ROMs are defined by the Yellow Book.
CD-RW—Compact Disc-ReWritable. A recordable compact disc that can be erased and rerecorded. CD-RW is defined by part III of the Orange Book.
CD-V—Compact Disc-Video. See Video CD.
CD-Video— Compact Disc-Video. See Video CD.
CD-WO—Compact Disc-Write Once. See CD-R.
Close Session—When a session is closed, information about its contents is written to the disc's Table of Contents, and the disc is prepared for the next session.
Closed Disc—Once a disc is considered closed, it can be read in any CD-ROM or standard audio CD player (audio). Additional information may not be added to the CD at a later time.
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Disc-At-Once—A method of recording CDs where, the entire CD is recorded in one pass without turning off the laser. Disc-At-Once allows you to run tracks together without a pause (songs on a CD-DA disc can run together).
Disc Image—A file that contains all of the data needed to create a CD. Disc images can be mounted and browsed like any other volume.
DMA—Direct Memory Access. A mode of data transfer. DMA accelerates transfer rates because it does not access the computer's processor. Ultra DMA can support two devices and transfer data at rates up to either 33 MB/s or 66 MB/s depending on the type of Ultra DMA bus.
DVD Specifications—The specifications for Digital Versatile Disc are contained in several books. Historically, these books were listed as Books A–E. Currently, they are referred to by the name of the format they describe. I.e., Book A which discusses the DVD-ROM format is now called the DVD-ROM book. The DVD specifications are listed below by their old names:
- Book A—DVD specification that describes the DVD-ROM format.
- Book B— DVD specification that describes the DVD-Video format.
- Book C—DVD specification that describes the DVD-Audio format. This specification has not been finalized.
- Book D—DVD specification that describes the DVD-R format.
- Book E—DVD specification that describes the DVD-ReWritable format.
DVD-Audio—Digital Versatile Disc-Audio. Digital Versatile Disc will eventually be used to distribute music much like today's Compact Discs. The specifications for DVD-Audio have not yet been finalized. The initial DVD-Audio specification is based on the Red Book CD-DA specification (44.1 kHz, 16-bit samples). The finalized specification should add at least two other audio specifications: 48 kHz, 20-bit samples, 8 channels, 96 minutes per layer and 96 kHz, 16-bit samples, 8 channels, 86 minutes per layer.
DVD—Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc. DVD (Digital Versatile Disc or Digital Video Disc) is an emerging standard for storing video, audio, and data files that has been embraced by both the computer and home entertainment industries. DVD allows up to 17GB of data on a single CD-sized disc—many times more data than the 650 MB stored on a standard CD. DVDs can be either single or double sided and contain more than one layer per side. A single-sided, single-layered DVD can hold 4.7GB or about 2 hours of high quality video; however, a double-sided, double-layered DVD can hold 17GB or about 8 hours of high quality video.
| DVD Format | Data | Video |
| Single-Sided, Single-Layered | 4.7 GB | 2 hrs video |
| Single-Sided, Double-Layered | 8.5 GB | 4 hrs video |
| Double-Sided, Single-Layered | 9.4 GB | 4 hrs video |
| Double-Sided, Double-Layered | 17 GB | 8 hrs video |
DVD-ER—see DVD-RW.
DVD-RAM—Digital Versatile Disc-Random Access Memory. One of three competing formats for the DVD-ReWritable standard. A rewritable DVD based on Book E of the DVD specifications. DVD-RAM initially held up to 2.66 GB of data; however, the DVD-RAM 2.0 specification changed the capacity to 4.7 GB. DVD-RAM was developed by Hitachi and Matsushita. The current DVD-RAM specification does not include double-layered discs. See DVD-ReWritable.
DVD-R—Digital Versatile Disc-Recordable. A recordable DVD based on the Book D specification and designed to eventually replace CD-R. DVD-R can hold 4.7 GB of data per side. The current DVD-R specification does not include double-layered discs.
DVD-ReWritable—Digital Versatile Disc-ReWritable. There are currently three different formats competing to become the standard for rewritable DVDs: DVD-RAM, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW. All of the DVD-ReWritable formats are capable of rewriting a disc at least 1,000 times. DVD-ReWritable media is not currently readable in home DVD players.
DVD-ROM—Digital Versatile Disc-Read Only Memory. A DVD used to store computer data. Data cannot be written to a DVD-ROM. DVD-ROM is described in Book A of the DVD specification.
DVD-R/W—See DVD-RW.
DVD-RW—Digital Versatile Disc-ReWritable (formerly DVD-R/W or DVD-ER). One of three competing formats for the DVD-ReWritable standard. DVD-RW was developed by Pioneer and is based on the DVD-R mechanism. DVD-RW can hold at least 4.7 GB of data per side. See DVD-ReWritable.
DVD+RW—Digital Versatile Disc+ReWritable. One of three competing formats for the DVD-ReWritable standard. DVD-RW was developed by Philips, Sony, and Hewlett-Packard. DVD-RW can hold at least 4.7 GB of data per side. See DVD-ReWritable.
DVD-Video—Digital Versatile Disc-Video. A single-sided, single-layered DVD-Video can contain 133 minutes of high quality full motion MPEG-2 video and audio (NTSC: 720 x 480 @ 30 frames/sec. PAL: 720 x 576 @ 25 frames/sec). DVD-Video commonly offers language selection, interactive menus, regional encoding and copy protection.
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EIDE—Enhanced Intelligent Device Electronics. A means of attaching devices (such as Zip® drives and other storage devices) to your computer. See IDE.
EISA—Enhanced Industry Standard Architecture. An internal connection for devices such as network cards, SCSI cards, video cards, sound cards, etc. EISA has a maximum data transfer rate of 33 MB/s. See also ISA.
Enhanced CD—See CD Extra.
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Finalized CD—Once the CD has been finalized, it may then be read on any CD-ROM drive and standard audio CD players (audio). Once is a disc is finalized no more information may be added.
FireWire®—IEEE 1394. Many computers have a port for connecting FireWire® devices. The FireWire® port allows you to connect high speed devices, such as digital camcorders, audio recorders, and external storage, to your computer. The FireWire® interface allows you to connect up to 63 devices to your computer. You can connect and disconnect devices to your computer, while it is running, without having to worry about setting device IDs, Switches, or terminators required by many other interfaces.
There are two types of FireWire® connectors. Most desktop computers have 6-pin FireWire® connectors and most laptop computers have 4-pin FireWire® connectors. Computers that have 6-pin connectors can supply power to some devices.
4-pin FireWire Port
6-pin FireWire Port
FireWire® was originally developed by Apple Computer, Inc. FireWire® is also known by its industry standard designation IEEE 1394, Sony® i.Link® or just 1394. Look for "1394" or one of the following logos to locate the FireWire® connector on your computer:
Currently, FireWire® can transfer data at 400 Mb/s. Future versions of FireWire® will be able to transfer data at 800 Mb/s and higher.
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Green Book—CD specification that describes the CD-i format.
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HFS—Hierarchical File System. The standard Macintosh® file system.
High Sierra—High Sierra is a CD format that is no longer used; however, High Sierra is the basis of the ISO 9660 file format.
Hybrid—In general, hybrid discs contain both an ISO 9660 and an HFS platform. Technically hybrid can also refer to multisession CD that is not closed (meaning that more data can be written to the disc in a separate session).
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i.Link—See FireWire.
IDE—Intelligent Device Electronics (formerly Integrated Drive Electronics). The built-in system a PC computer uses to connect drives to the computer. You may have also heard it called ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment)—they mean the same thing. IDE can support two devices per channel with data transfer rates of 16.67 MB/s. The IDE interface has now been enhanced to support faster data transfers. See DMA for more information.
There are usually two places on the motherboard for the IDE cables to connect. These are the primary and secondary IDE channel connections. The hard drive usually uses the primary connection. The IDE channel connections are usually located next to each other either end-to-end or one above the other. They are also generally labeled on the motherboard as "pri IDE" and "sec IDE" or something similar. If you are unsure of where the IDE channels for your computer are located, refer to your computer's documentation or local computer retailer. These channels can support a maximum of two drives each. If there are two drives connected to the IDE interface cable, one drive must be configured as a master and the other as a slave. If only one drive is attached to the cable, it is configured as a master.
IEEE 1394—See FireWire.
Iomega CD-RW Drive—The Iomega CD-RW drive is the perfect complement to any hard drive. It reads, writes, or rewrites many types of CD formats, making it an ideal storage solution for users who want to copy and share files with co-workers, service bureaus, and even friends and family. You can use standard CD-Recordable (CD-R) and CD-ReWritable (CD-RW) discs to organize and archive files without cluttering up your hard drive or the network. And for road warriors, CDs are an efficient way to transport and exchange large files.
The Iomega CD-RW drive is easy to use—just point and click. Use it to back up and archive important files, or share multimedia presentations, photos, and Internet downloads. Plus, your Iomega CD-RW drive allows you to record and erase your original music on CDs and play them in your home or car stereo. With bundled software to enhance performance, the Iomega CD-RW drive is a complete solution.
ISA—Industry Standard Architecture. An internal connection for devices such as network cards, SCSI cards, video cards, sound cards, etc. ISA has a maximum data transfer rate of 8.3 MB/s. ISA will eventually be replaced by PCI.
ISO 9660—The ISO document titled ISO 9660: Information Processing—Volume and File Structure of CD-ROM for Information Exchange (1988) defines a CD format that can be read by many different operating systems, including Mac® OS, Windows, DOS, UNIX, etc. ISO 9660 does not support long file names, custom icons, or directory settings. Discs intended only for Macintosh® users should be written in the HFS format.
ISO—International Standards Organization.
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Joliet—An extension to the ISO 9660 format that Microsoft® developed to allow long file names. Joliet uses the Unicode international character set and allows filenames up to 64 characters long (including spaces).
Jumper—The jumper is the small plastic piece that surrounds the two pins and can be removed and placed in different locations as needed. There are different jumper configurations that can be used with ATAPI devices such as your Iomega CD-RW drive. There are also jumpers located on the back of your CD-ROM and hard drive. If you need to change the settings on your CD-ROM, refer to the table on the CD-ROM or in its documentation. This diagram shows the possibilities for the Iomega CD-RW internal drive.
(Illustration may not match your drive exactly.)
Slave (Drive 1)
Use this setting if you're connecting the Iomega CD-RW internal drive on the same cable as your CD-ROM or hard drive.
Master (Drive 0)
Use this setting if you're connecting the Iomega CD-RW internal drive as the only device on the secondary IDE channel or when installing to an IDE add-on card. Use the jumper provided when configuring the drive to the "Master" setting.
Cable Select
Use this jumper setting if your computer features "Cable Select." On a Cable Select system, the master/slave configuration is automatically determined by the system and all devices will be set on cable select. To determine if your computer uses cable select, look at the jumper setting of any device on the same IDE channel as your Iomega CD-RW drive or contact the computer manufacturer. Use the jumper provided when configuring the drive to the "Cable Select" setting.
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Mixed Mode—A mixed mode CD contains one data track and multiple audio tracks. Mixed Mode CDs have been largely replaced by multisession CDs in which the first session consists of audio tracks and the second session consists of data.
MP3—(MPEG Audio Layer 3) An audio compression technology that is part of the MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 specifications. MP3 compresses CD-quality sound by factor twelve, while still maintaining high fidelity. MP3 music files are played via software or a handheld device. MP3 has made it feasible to download quality audio from the Web very quickly.
MPEG-2—ISO's Motion Pictures Expert Group adopted this codec for the compression and playback of full-motion video. All DVD-Videos are compressed using MPEG-2. CD-i discs are compressed using MPEG-1.
MultiRead—The ability of any drive to read all of the following types of media: CD-DA, CD-ROM, CD-R, and CD-RW. MultiRead is a standard developed by the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA).
Multisession—A multisession CD consists of multiple sessions, each recorded at a different time. Each of the sessions are linked together in such a way that only one logical device appears when the CD is mounted.. Not all CD-recorders can record this type of CD and not all CD-ROM drives can read them.
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OLE—(Object Link Embedding) A program integration technology you can use to share information between programs, so you can share information through linked and embedded images.
Orange Book—CD specification that describes the CD-R and CD-RW formats.
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Packet Writing—A method for writing data on a CD in small increments. Software such as HotBurn Drag'n'Drop requires packet writing.
Parallel Port—Also known as a printer port. A means of attaching devices (such as Zip® drives, printers, scanners, etc.) to your computer. Parallel port has a maximum data transfer rate of 512 Kb/s.
PC Card—Peripheral Connection Card. See PCMCIA.
PCI—Peripheral Communications Interconnect Local Bus. An internal connection for high speed devices such as network cards, SCSI cards, video cards, sound cards, etc. PCI has a maximum data transfer rate of 133 MB/s.
PCMCIA—Personal Computer Memory Card International Association. PCMCIA is a means of attaching devices to your computer. PCMCIA can transfer data at rates up to 1.2 MB/s. PCMCIA supports devices such as Iomega Predator CD-RW drives, MODEMS, hard drives, network cards, flash cards, etc. The PCMCIA interface has now been enhanced to support faster data transfers. See CardBus for more information.
PhotoCD—A compact disc format created by Kodak and Philips that uses a CD-ROM XA format to store photographs for print and display that can be accessed on either a CD-ROM drive hooked to computer or a CD-i player attached to a television.
PIO—Programmed Input/Output. A mode of data transfer. PIO is slower than DMA because it requires the use of the processor. Used by older SCSI controllers and ATAPI interfaces.
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Red Book—CD specification that describes the CD-DA format.
Regional Codes—One of six regions used when encoding DVD-Video. DVD-Videos cannot be viewed on a DVD player or DVD-ROM with a different region code.
Rock Ridge—The Rock Ridge Extension Protocol builds upon the existing ISO 9660 specification, allowing for the existence of an alternate naming space for files and directories.
In general, for every Rock Ridge file and directory name there exists a corresponding ISO 9660 file and directory name. Rock Ridge extensions are built upon the ISO 9660 layer.The Rock Ridge volume simply enhances the existing ISO 9660 volume. For example, the user can specify a long file name, add a file comment, etc. The purpose is not to create an entirely separate and distinct volume.
Romeo—A file naming option used in some Adaptec software that allowed long file names (up to 128 characters long including spaces). The Romeo format is no longer used. Romeo discs are only compatible with Windows 95, Windows NT® 3.51, and Mac® OS (only 31 characters are recognized).
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SCSI—Small Computer System Interface. A means of attaching devices (such as Zip® drives, Jaz® drives, scanners, etc.) to your computer. There are various types of SCSI connectors.
- SCSI-1 allows the user to connect up to 7 devices at transfers data at 5 MB/s.
- Fast SCSI-2 allows the user to connect up to 7 devices at transfers data at 10 MB/s.
- Ultra SCSI (also know as Ultra Narrow SCSI) allows the user to connect up to 7 devices at transfers data at 20 MB/s.
- Ultra SCSI Fast and Wide allows the user to connect up to 15 devices at transfers data at 40 MB/s.
- Ultra 2 SCSI allows the user to connect up to 15 devices at transfers data at 80 MB/s.
- Ultra 160 SCSI allows the user to connect up to 15 devices at transfers data at 160 MB/s.
Some Macintoshes® have built-in SCSI. Most PCs require an adapter card.
Session—a collection of one or more tracks. Each recording procedure generates a session that contains all the tracks recorded at that time. A CD recorded in multiple recording sessions is known as a multisession CD.
Session-At-Once—Session-at-once is similar to disc-at-once. The CD recorder writes an entire session without turning off the laser, but does not close the disc. Additional sessions may be written later. Session-at-once is intended for use when creating discs in the CD Extra format.
Source—This is where the information is copied from. It may be a disc or location on a hard drive. A source drive is a CD-ROM or CD-R/RW drive, which is holding the disc that contains the information you want to copy.
SP-DIF—Sony and Philips Digital Interconnect Format. A pair of stereo channels that can support sample rates up to 48 ksps (kilo-samples per second) with precision up to 24 bits. Your Iomega CD-RW drive may have a SP-DIF connector (depending on the model), but does not include a cable. Many sound cards do not support SP-DIF.
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TOC—Table of Contents. Contains a list of the contents of a CD. The TOC contains an entry for each session and each track which lists the index 1 of each track (except CD-i tracks that have no entry in the TOC). The end or length of the track or session is not recorded in the TOC.
Target—This is where the information is copied to. It may be a disc or location on a hard drive. A destination drive is a CD-R/RW drive, which is holding a disc that you are going to copy information to.
Track—The track is the smallest logical unit on a CD. A CD can contain up to 99 tracks, which may consist of audio tracks, CD-ROM tracks, and XA/CD-i Tracks.
Track-At-Once—The track-at-once mode records each track of a CD individually.
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Unclosed CD—An unclosed audio CD is one that has notbeen "finalized" by the CD-R/RW drive. An unclosed CD cannot be read by any standard audio CD player or any CD-ROM drive until it has been closed. A CD in the unclosed state may only be read by the CD-R/RW drive that created it. Once the CD has been "finalized," it may then be read on any CD-ROM drive and standard audio CD player.
UDF—Universal Disc Format. A file system for use with packet writing. HotBurn Drag'n'Drop creates volumes in UDF format. Your computer requires special software to read UDF discs.
USB—Universal Serial Bus. A means of attaching devices to your computer (such as Zip® drives, Jaz® drives, printers, scanners, etc.). USB allows up to 128 devices to be connected to your computer (using hubs and other connection devices); however, all connected devices share the data transfer rate. You can connect and disconnect devices to your computer, while it is running, without having to worry about setting device IDs, Switches, or terminators required by many other interfaces.
- USB 1.1 can transfers data at rates up to 12 Mb/s.
- USB 2.0 will allow data transfers up to 480 Mb/s.
USB allows you to connect and disconnect devices will the computer is running (hot pluggable).
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Video CD—Video CD format is used to record full-motion video or movies on a CD. Playing a Video CD requires special equipment, including an MPEG decoding system. Video CD must always be the first session on a disc. Video CD can be played on either a Video CD or a CD-i Player.
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Wave files—The wave (or .WAV) file format the standard digital audio format for Windows. You can copy or extract sound files from a CD-DA disc and save them as wave files. You can also create CD-DA discs from Wave files. Wave files are capable of the same quality as the standard audio tracks on an audio CD.
White Book—CD specification that describes the Video CD format.
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Yellow Book—CD specification that describes the CD-ROM format.
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