rewritable disc

computing

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July 13, 2026

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A rewritable disc, often referred to as CD-RW (compact disc rewritable), is a type of optical storage medium used in computing. It utilizes a laser to read and write digital data, which is encoded as tiny pits on the disc's surface. Unlike earlier CD-ROMs, which were read-only, CD-RW discs can be written on, erased, and rewritten multiple times.12

This technology emerged in the mid-1990s as an advancement over CD-Recordable (CD-R) discs, which could only be written on once. While optical storage offers high capacity and durability compared to magnetic media, it generally has a slower information retrieval rate. CD-RW discs were primarily used for computer software and data backup.132

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information processing
Recording media
…media have become available: (1) rewritable, (2) write-once read-many (WORM), and (3) compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). Rewritable discs are functionally equivalent to magnetic disks, although the former are slower. WORM discs are used as an archival storage medium to enter data once and retrieve it many times. CD-ROMs are…
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…media have become available: (1) rewritable, (2) write-once read-many (WORM), and (3) compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM). Rewritable discs are functionally equivalent to magnetic disks, although the former are slower. WORM discs are used as an archival storage medium to enter data once and retrieve it many times. CD-ROMs are…
Read More