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Frequently Asked
Questions |
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1. Are there any standard
systems (complete)? The key to answering this question is to define what a complete system is and which standards the various components adhere to. Currently, as discussed in other areas of this technical report, there are several standards that relate to various components of an imaging system. Unfortunately, there are still several components that have not been addressed by industry standard committees, such as the software used to control optical jukeboxes. The actual methodology used to store and retrieve data from the optical media also has not been addressed. Along with these items, there are not any standards dictating the methodology used to view and/or manipulate objects stored on optical media. As a result, there are not any complete industry standard imaging systems available, but there are several imaging systems which support many of the currently existing component standards. When evaluating imaging systems, the modularity and flexibility to include both current and future technologies will improve the particular imaging systems capability to utilize the industry standards when they are adopted. If the imaging system consists of tightly integrated proprietary components, it will be more difficult to embrace these standards, than those designed with the intent to incorporate future standards when possible. 2. Should I use only
standards-based systems? If there were standards based systems available, the answer to this question would be an unequivocal YES. Even though products not based on industry standards occasionally have features and capabilities not included in particular standards, the advantage to the end-user or customer to remain "standard based" is significant. This is based on the fact that, standard based systems are well documented and well supported by numerous vendors, proprietary systems are not. Until there enough standards developed to allow vendors to implement fully compliant standards based system, the end-user should attempt (whenever feasible) to select those vendors and components which can be replaced or upgraded with a minimum of effort and in a cost-effective manner. The user should always have the ability to select a different component to fully take advantage of new technologies without being forced to pay large dollar amounts to either have data converted or to re-integrate portions of the overall imaging system. 3. Are there any
standards for migration paths? The migration path of data is an extremely important issue for any imaging system. As technology moves forward and imaging components become obsolete, the imaging system manager needs to be acutely aware of how and if the currently stored data can be migrated from one system to another. Currently there are not any standards for data migration paths, but there are several technical reports available through AIIM which provide information on various issues which need to be considered when migrating imaging systems. 4. Are there any
standards for jukebox robotics? Robotics standards have not been developed as of yet. The development of these standards is important as each vendor uses their own methodology, which in many cases is proprietary. Along with this, most vendors provide the optical robotics software bundled with the storage/retrieval software limiting the ability of the user to select a system based on their needs rather than what systems the vendor supports. Without the development of these standards it is extremely difficult for an optical system user to easily migrate from one optical jukebox to another without first ensuring whether the software being used is capable of supporting the new jukebox. The result of this is that the user is forced to select a specific vendor for both the jukebox robotics and data storage/retrieval capabilities rather than selecting the desired jukebox and then selecting the software package providing the storage/retrieval capabilities. 5. Do standards include
disk capacity? Optical disk standards do not directly describe the overall capacity of the optical media. The amount of data which can be stored IS different than the initial storage capability due to overhead required by different storage packages. The different ANSI/ISO standards indirectly include disk capacity through the definition of rotation speed and the methodology used to store the data on the optical media. 6. Should I use
rewriteable, or WORM, or multifunction? The determination of which optical media to use is dependent on several factors. These factors include whether the data needs to rewritten without the need to save the original data, whether there are any legal or contractual requirements dictating the archival of the data, and the amount of data needing to be written. Prior to determining what type of optical media to use, the user needs to understand the basics of each type of optical media. WORM optical devices allow data to be written to each portion of the media only once while rewritable devices allow data to be written to each portion of the media repeatedly. While there are some software packages available which allow the WORM devices to appear to the user as a rewritable device, the system is really writing the updated or new data to a different portion of the disk leaving the original data intact. Rewritable devices, on the other hand, actually mark the original used portion of the media as unused, therefore available for use again. The third type of optical device is the multifunction drive. These optical drives provide the ability to use either WORM media or rewritable media. Currently WORM media is available in sizes up to 14" in diameter with the ability of storing from 300 MB of data up to 14.8 GB of data. Rewritable media provides the ability to store from 300 MB of data up to 8 GB and is available in sizes up to 12" in diameter. When determining the type of optical media, the user should first consider how the data needs to be organized, for rapid retrieval and the amount of data needing to be stored. For example if the user stores accounting information for a company with several divisions, each division might have its data stored on a separate optical disk. If the amount of data to be stored exceeds the amount which can be stored on a rewritable device the user should ascertain whether the required time to "swap" media would adversely affect the desired response time. If the desired response time is in fact adversely affected the user might opt to use a 12" WORM with a larger storage capacity. These factors should be considered along with the total number of optical drives being used and the total length of time the data needs to be in a "near-line" state. It is always recommended that an analysis of data storage and retrieval requirements be performed prior to the selection of optical media, optical drives, and optical jukebox's. 7. What does it mean to be
"ISO compliant"? ISO, or the International Standards Organization, is the organizing body for hundreds of committees dealing with the standards issues for everything from ship containers to hard-hats to images held on optical disk. Being ISO compliant therefore depends on the particular standard in question. Typically, a standard sets out what must, and sometimes what should be done in particular circumstances, how an object should be designed or how it should perform under certain prescribed tests, or the set of quality control procedures that are to be followed by an organization. Conforming to these strictures means being ISO compliant. 8. What are the
advantages of purchasing OD media that are formatted according to a standard? The advantage of purchasing media formatted according to the various standards allows the user to select from any of several optical disk drive vendors. This allows the user to upgrade or change original optical drive equipment when desired. Without these standards the user is restricted from using previously used media on other optical disk drives unless they are supported by the optical drive vendor.
9. Can I use ISO 9660 on
magnetic disks? The ISO 9660 standard is a volume and file structure for CDs. As such this standard cannot be implemented on magnetic disks.
10 Can I use ECMA 167 on
magnetic tape? No, ECMA 167 is a volume and file interchange used in Europe for optical disk subsystems. 11. Do the end-users or
the component/system vendors need to purchase "standards"? Standards are available to anyone who wishes to implement them. The primary purpose of standards is to enable users of a specific technology to utilize a common approach to the technology. As these standards are not proprietary, anyone interested can receive a copy of the standard by contacting the approving agency, such as AIIM, ISO, ANSI, etc., and, in some cases, paying a small fee which is used to offset the cost of printing, stocking, and mailing the copies of the standards. 12. Who writes Optical
Disk standards? The Optical Disk standards are developed by various committees within AIIM, ECMA, ISO, and ANSI. These committees consist of people from various disciplines throughout the appropriate technology being standardized. Entry into many of these committees (such as those sponsored by AIIM) is normally open to interested people and companies throughout the industry and heavily encouraged. 13. What is an Optical
Disk data interchange standard? A number of initiatives are underway both nationally and internationally in the area of improving the interchangeability of images. It is important to distinguish between standards for the disks themselves and standards for the objects held on those disks. Both standards seek to improve a user's ability to move objects from one system to another. An optical disk interchange standard addresses the level of standardization required to support the use of an optical disk created on one system on another system, as is. In other words, the disk attributes such as size, formatting, read properties must be compatible across systems. 14. Will a standard
guarantee that Optical Disk media are interchangeable?
No, a standard does not guarantee interchange. Standards make it more likely that interchange will be possible. For example, there is no test that a drive will accept media that has been made with all variables set to the low side of the allowed range. There is one great purpose the standard provides - enables the user to determine which component is not in compliance with the standard, drive or media. 15. Do optical drives
usually work with only one standard?
Optical drives often have interfaces which comply with an industry interface standard (e.g. SCSI), and also often utilize optical disk cartridges which comply with several industry standards. For example, the IBM double-capacity multifunction optical drive reads and writes double-capacity (1.3 GB) and single-capacity (652 MB) optical disk cartridges, which are compatible with the following industry standards (Isn’t IBM out of this business now?) · 130 mm Optical Disk Cartridges, Capacity 1.3 Gigabytes per Cartridge, for Data Interchange, DIS ISO/IEC 13549, Type R/W · 130 mm Rewritable Optical Disk Cartridge for Information Interchange, ISO/IEC 10089, 1991, Format A · 130 mm Optical Disk Cartridge, Write Once, for Information Interchange, ISO/IEC 9171, Format A In large part, this occurred because IBM chose to provide backward compatibility to first-generation optical cartridge standards. 16. What is 2X, 4X? 5 1/4 ISO media was originally manufactured to store 652 megabytes per cartridge (326 MB per side). This is sometimes referred to as single-density media. The term 2X came about to describe media that stores twice the amount of data as the initial cartridge (2 x 652 MB = 1.3 GB). Also referred to as double density media. The term 4X continues on to describe media that will store four times the amount of data as the initial cartridge (4 x 652 MB = 2.6 GB). No. The optical storage industry is on track for improving the area density of storage with future generations of optical drives. To take advantage of these improvements, both new drives and new media must be purchased. Since most of these improvements are expected to double the storage density (for each generation), the cost of the new hardware and media can usually be easily justified. In addition, the previous generation of media is expected to remain readily available as long as demand for it continues, so that there would actually be a penalty to stockpiling media. 18. Does a multifunction
drive use multiple Optical Disk standards? Yes. Many vendors use multiple standards but the user may want to verify specifically which standards are supported by each product being evaluated. A few of the standards which are commonly supported by vendors selling multifunction drives are: · 130 mm Optical Disk Cartridges, Capacity 1.3 Gigabytes per Cartridge, for Data Interchange, DIS ISO/IEC 13549, Type R/W · 130 mm Rewritable Optical Disk Cartridge for Information Interchange, ISO/IEC 10089, 1991. · 130 mm Optical Disk Cartridge, Write Once for Information Interchange, ISO/IEC 9171 19. Can I implement parts of ISO 9660, ECMA 167, ISO/IEC 13346? Yes and no. To claim conformance to 9660, 167, and 13346 only the volume part of the standard is mandatory. However, to interchange data all parts of each of these standards are required. 20. What does extended capacity mean? Extended capacity is another name for 130 mm optical media that has increased storage capacity. Double density media (commonly referred to as 2X media) has 2.6 GB of available storage capacity and quad-density would have approximately 5.2 GB of available storage capacity. Most 130 mm storage technology vendors have agreed to a migration path where quad density 130 mm optical media and drives will be available towards the end 1997. |