DVD-RAM?

[CubanCorona]

Well I was looking around today for a DVD read/write drive and I noticed that many of the drives were listed as "DVD-RAM." Isn't this incorrect? Doesn't RAM refer to the way in which the memory on the device is accessed? And if I'm not mistaking, DVD drives work like hard drives in that (though the track selection is random) the sector selection is sequential. So is DVD data random access or serial access? Hopefully someone out there can clear this up for me.

- Willow (CCNA,CCNP)

 

[sohcrates]

a CD or DVD acts just like a spinning hard drive...it IS random access because you can quickly access any point on the disc w/out having to read through the other data first.

EDIT: rock on! you're from alexandria too! i live there when i'm not at school (i.e right now)..but i'm moving back home in december when i graduate!

 

[neuralfx]

i think the term DVD-RAM was used for marketing reasons..
-neural

 

[HansXP]

This is 100% correct, actually. DVD-RAM is one of the standards used for writing to DVDs. Others are DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW (yes, there are both - and + versions) At this point, I think DVD-RAM is probably going to win the standards battle, but I could be wrong.

 

[CubanCorona]

So what technology used in these DVD read/write drives has earned the title "random access?" As I understand it, random access is defined as memory access where each memory cell (one bit) has it's own address and the state of this cell can be read without even "looking" at neighboring cells. For example, a binary address is placed on the address pins of a RAM chip and the state of that bit appears on the chip's data pin.

DVD, I thought, works like a hard drive in that the track selection is random, but, once the head is over a particular track, it must count sectors to find the desired data. Now I don't know how the write mechanism works on a DVD drive, but I don't see how it can vary enough from that proccess to earn the title, "random access."

OK so now let's see if someone can explain this to me! =)

- Willow

 

[CubanCorona]

Ah, well, I just read back... I get the picture. Thanks guys.

 

[CubanCorona]

You know, you'd think though that if they were just using it for marketing reasons or to distinguish between standards, someone would have at least called them on accuracy of that term. Isn't that false advertising, lol!

- Willow

 

[HansXP]

I don't believe it stands for Random Access Memory, so there is really nothing to complain about.

 

[cvlegion]

It is a marketing term because RAM is any type of memory which has equal access times. Otherwise, blocks of memory can be accessed without reading others. RAM is secondary storage so an optical drive shouldn't qualify.