Compatibility test for Phase Change Erasable and WORM media in a Multi-function drive

Abstract

Optical media based on amorphous and crystal phase change have been studied in several laboratories[1][2]. A WORM (Write Once Read Many times) drive is commercially available today[3]. Regarding PCE (Phase Change Erasable) media, recent works have made advanced progress [4][5]. The optical data memory using PCE media has two big features. One is that it has one pass direct overwriting function. It is expected to improve the performance of the current rewritable optical memory. The another is that it has a high performance of handling both PCE and WORM media intrinsically, so-called a multi-function drive. In this paper, we will discuss how to have realized a multi -function drive and report compatibility test results among PCE and WORM media measured by the drive.