Optical storage is a type of data storage technology that uses a laser to read and write data on a disc, which may be either of the types commonly known as a compact disc (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), or Blu-ray Disc (BD). Optical storage devices may use either nonvolatile media such as a flattened version of a small, portable hard drive called an “optical disc” or read-only media such as an audio CD or prerecorded video disc. These discs are referred to as optical media.
Optical storage has the advantage of vastly higher storage densities than magnetic media, which makes it the most common type of storage for digital cameras and music, movies, and computer games. It also has the advantage of being virtually unalterable once the data is written to disc, making it an excellent medium for archiving data.
Because optical storage does not involve the use of magnetic media and because the data can be stored physically closer together, it is able to store data at much faster rates than magnetic media. Because of this increased speed, optical storage is well suited to applications such as high-definition video that require very large data files.
Over the past two decades, the popularity of optical storage devices has plummeted due to the widespread availability of flash memory storage devices, such as USB flash drives and SD cards. These devices provide portability, fast read/write speeds, and cost-effectiveness. Despite this, optical storage devices are still useful for routine backups, archiving, and other specialized applications.
