What are the features and speeds of DVD drives?
Unlike CD-ROM drives, which took years to move up to 2x, 3x, and faster spin rates, faster DVD-ROM drives began appearing in the first year. A 1x DVD-ROM drive provides a data transfer rate of 1.321 MB/s (11.08*10^6/8/2^20) with burst transfer rates of up to 12 MB/s or higher. The data transfer rate from a DVD-ROM disc at 1x speed is roughly equivalent to a 9x CD-ROM drive (1x CD-ROM data transfer rate is 150 KB/s, or 0.146 MB/s). DVD physical spin rate is about 3 times faster than CD (that is, 1x DVD spin ~ 3x CD spin), but most DVD-ROM drives increase motor speed when reading CD-ROMs, achieving 12x or faster performance. A drive listed as “16x/40x” reads a DVD at 16 times normal, or a CD at 40 times normal. DVD-ROM drives are available in 1x, 2x, 4x, 4.8x, 5x, 6x, 8x, 10x, and 16x speeds, although they usually don’t achieve sustained transfer at their full rating. The “max” in DVD and CD speed ratings means that the listed speed only applies when reading data at the outer edge of the
