The Computer CD drives can be classified as the CD-ROM drive, the CD-R drive and the CD-RW drive. The CD-ROM drive reads data from a CD. The CD-R drive can read data from a CD and can also write data to a CD-R disc. The CD-RW drive can read, write and also rewrite data.

The Computer CD drive spins the CD like a fan and reads data from the CD using a laser beam. The speed of Computer CD drive specifies the amount of data the CD drive reads from the CD. This speed is called the transfer speed of the CD drive. The original speed of the CD drive is 150 KB per second.

The speed of the CD drive is specified using a number followed by the alphabet X. The number specifies the number of times the original speed of CD drive must be multiplied with, to attain the speed of CD drive. For example, if the speed of the CD drive is specified as 12X, then the transfer speed is 12 x 150 = 1,800 kbps.

CD-ROM Drive

The CD-ROM drive can read data from the CD-ROM disc and the Audio CD. You can use this drive to install software from a CD and play music from a CD-Audio.

The speed of the CD drive is specified using a number followed by X. For example, if the speed of the CD drive is specified as 52X, then the CD drives reads data from the CD at a speed of 52X.

CD-R Drive

The CD-R drive can read data from the CD-ROM, Audio CD, and the CD-R disc. The CD-R drive also writes data to the CD-R disc. This drive is useful for backing up data that must not be modified on a CD-R disc.

The CD-R drive can write to the CD-R disk in a single session or using multiple sessions. In the Simple session, the data is written to the CD-R disc and the connection is closed so that the CD-R is finalized and no data can be further added to the CD-R disc. Using multiple sessions you can continue adding data to the CD-R disc until the disc is full.

The speed of the CD-R drive is specified using two numbers, each number is followed by the alphabet X. The first number specifies the speed at which the CD drive reads data from the CD. The second number specifies the speed at which the CD-R drive writes data to the CD-R disc. for example, if the speed of the CD-R drive is 52X - 12X, then the CD-R drives reads data from CD at a speed of 52X, and writes to the CD-R disc at a speed of 12X.

CD-RW Drive

The CD-RW drive enables you to read, write and also rewrite data to the CD-RW disc. This is useful for transferring data from one system to another, especially data files that are large in size such as video files.

The speed of the CD-RW drive is specified using three numbers, each number is followed by X. The first number specifies the speed at which the CD-RW drive writes data to the CD. The second number specifies the speed at which the CD-RW drive rewrites data to the CD-RW disc. The third number specifies the speed at which the CD-RW drive reads data from the CD. For example, if the speed of the CD-RW drive is 48X - 12X - 52X, then the CD-RW drives writes data in the CD-R disc at a speed of 48X, re-writes data to the CD-RW disc at a speed of 12X, and read data at a speed of 52X.