Speed 3:Glacier of Doom

[SerialThriller]

Like the name suggests, i was wondering if having a certain type of cd in a drive greatly affects the speed? For example without a disk in one CD-ROM drive i have a diagnostic tool says the speed is 48x. When i put a game cd in (Diablo 2, to be specific) a seperate diagnostic tool says 18x.

Just wondering, are these numbers correct?

And, does the speed change when a disk is in the drive?

 

[DaveSimmons]

Speed changes depending on what part of a CD you are reading (slow at the start / inner edge, fast at the end / outer edge). A 48x is only 48x at the very last part.

If a disc is dirty or damaged it can slow reading since the drive or Windows can need multiple reads on the same data.

If you are reading data scattered all over a disc, speed drops because the drive must spend time moving the laser back and forth before reading the next part.

 

[SerialThriller]

hmmm, so in part a company that tells you that the read speed is 48x is kinda lying cuz it can only read that fast on the easiest part of cd?

 

[Slid]

Originally posted by: SerialThriller
hmmm, so in part a company that tells you that the read speed is 48x is kinda lying cuz it can only read that fast on the easiest part of cd?

Well that isn't much different than a car manufacturer saying a car makes 300hp when it really only makes it at a certain RPM.

 

[SerialThriller]

One last question, does a disk read faster or slower with more data on the disk?