# What is different in a 40X CD Write drive vs an 8x drive? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 26, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-different-in-a-40x-cd-write-drive-vs-an-8x-drive/138827 "2002-11-26T03:55:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-different-in-a-40x-cd-write-drive-vs-an-8x-drive/138827/1 "2002-11-26T03:55:47Z")
What components must perform better in a CD-R/W drive in order to write at faster speeds? What makes those components faster? ---
**Author:** ![BadDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BadDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BadDog)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-different-in-a-40x-cd-write-drive-vs-an-8x-drive/138827/2 "2002-11-26T04:32:10Z")
Actually there are MANY technical differences. The big difference is how long you have to wait for the burn to finish. If you are seriously considering buying or replacing a CDRW the big feature you should look for is burn-proof or similar technology. IMHO I believe that Plextor makes the best CDRWs in the market. They are extremely reliable, will read and write on just about anything and will even read physically damaged CDs where others wont. They also have burn-proof that allows you to do other tasks with your computer without screwing up the burn. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Harmonix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonix)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-different-in-a-40x-cd-write-drive-vs-an-8x-drive/138827/3 "2002-11-26T05:36:03Z")
essentially every burner 12x and above have burn proof. Currently the best brands are lite-on and plextor. Every other cd-rw is essentially a rebadge of either of these 2 brands. Personally i’d go for the 40 or so x lite-on drives. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 7:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-different-in-a-40x-cd-write-drive-vs-an-8x-drive/138827/4 "2002-11-26T07:32:29Z")
I believe that 40X drives use Constant Angular Velocity (CAV) motors, so 40X is really only a maximum speed, and writing to the inner edge of the disc is much slower. The same thing happened with CD-ROM drives… originally they were all Constant Linear Velocity (CLV), but the faster drives are CAV and list only a maximum speed. The biggest difference is the most obvious one: the drive has to write slowly at the inside and quickly at the outside. Since the disc is moving faster relative to the laser at the outside, the laser has to use a higher power to have the same effect on the disc. This is complicated by the fact that each disc has different qualities, and requires different laser power for writing. A CLV drive calibrates the laser once and then writes the whole disc at that power level; a CAV drive has to adjust the laser power as it writes to adapt to both the disc’s qualities and the changing linear speed of the disc. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-different-in-a-40x-cd-write-drive-vs-an-8x-drive/138827/5 "2002-11-26T15:38:07Z")
I get the most accurate writes @ 1x or 2x. I always wondered why that its more accuarate at that speed than 40x. I noticed that cdreaders top out at about 52x. Are cdwriters going to top out at that too? There are some on the market now. ---
**Author:** ![dylan\_73](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecccb3/32.png) [@dylan\_73](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dylan_73)\ **Post date:** [November 26, 2002, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-different-in-a-40x-cd-write-drive-vs-an-8x-drive/138827/6 "2002-11-26T17:34:39Z")
Yes, if you spin a disk too fast, it explodes out the front of your drive and you end up with the shrapnel embedded in your face…or perhaps not. CDs will break apart at 64x according to [this guy](http://www.qedata.se/e_js_n-cdrom.htm) (I guess he exceeded his bandwidth limit, because you need to email him for the article now). CDs with cracks in them have exploded already [link.](http://www.st-andrews.ac.uk/ITS/newsletter/2001/10/explode.html)