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optical disk

   Also found in: Dictionary/thesaurus, Medical, Acronyms, Wikipedia 0.01 sec.
optical disk, any of a variety of information storage disks that are played or read using a laser laser [acronym for light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation], device for the creation, amplification, and transmission of a narrow, intense beam of coherent light.
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. Optical disks include compact discs compact disc (CD), a small plastic disc used for the storage of digital data. As originally developed for audio systems, the sound signal is sampled at a rate of 44,100 times a second, then each sample is measured and digitally encoded on the 4 3-4 in (12 cm) disc as
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 (CDs and CD-ROMs), laser discs (see videodisc videodisc or videodisk, disk used with a special player and television to reproduce both pictures and sound. A videodisc player cannot record television programs off the air for later playback, unlike a videocassette recorder (VCR) or recordable
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), and digital versatile discs digital versatile disc or digital video disc (DVD), a small plastic disc used for the storage of digital data. The successor media to the compact disc (CD), a DVD can have as much as 26 times the storage capacity of a CD.
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 (or digital video discs; DVDs and DVD-ROMs). WORM [Write Once/Read Many] disks can be used to record data, but once data is recorded it cannot be altered except by obliterating the old version and storing the new version on a previously unused portion of the disk.

Magneto-optical disks, such as the rewritable optical disk and the recordable disk used with the Mini Disc player, have a special layer, as of barium ferrite, that can be magnetically polarized by a recording head when heated with a laser. Data or sound may be recorded to and erased from any portion of a magneto-optical disk multiple times.


optical disk [′äp·tə·kəl ′disk]
(computer science)
A type of video disk storage device consisting of a pressed disk with a spiral groove at the bottom of which are submicrometer-sized depressions that are sensed by a laser beam.


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Tokyo, Nov 11, 2009 - (JCN Newswire) - Pioneer Corporation and Sharp Corporation have completed all the necessary procedures and launched their optical disk joint venture today.
antitrust body orders Sony to submit info on optical disk drive TOKYO - Sony Corp.
Media loading, file searching and data transfer speed is very fast in AIT tape technology as compared to optical disks and other tape formats.
 
 
 
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