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Normal computer disk drive diode???

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deluxe247

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Hello.  :)

This is probably a really dumb question, but here goes... I have seen Green laser diodes, red, yellow, orange…and now Blu-Ray! And like I said…this will sound stupid, but what about the diode in your average computer disk drive? Can it be used as a laser? Even if it’s a clear (not visible light) laser, could you pump allot of power through them? (500mw – 1w? ::)) I’m guessing you can’t…only because they would be everywhere! (These diodes must cost only pennies..)  Everyone is freaking out about 4x, and 6x Blu-ray diodes, but what about the 52x diode In my computer? :eek: :-?
Hehe… there it is.

Thanks for looking. ;D
 





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Murudai

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Uh, normal disk drive diode? Please elaborate?

Anything related to a CD is just a 780nm, near IR diode. It can't do much, certainly not 500mW.
DVD's are red, 650nm, and if you have a DVD burner you could push it to 300mW realistically.

And Blu-ray, well, I'm guessing you don't have a blu-ray computer drive :)
 
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deluxe247

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Yeah, I'm talking about normal disk diodes...Like the ones you find in everyday computers that only read/write on CDs. I understand the energy being released from the diode would probably not be visible, but would it still be powerful? Would it instead be an invisible laser beam? And the reason i say "more powerful" is because, as blu-ray diodes increase (2x, 4x, 6x...) they are getting MUCH more powerful and can handle MUCH more MWs...Anyways...I have a 52x normal disk drive diode in my computer. Does that mean you could pump allot more power through it? the 4x, 6x, 30x only means read/write speeds...But seeing that as the x speed increases on the blu-ray, more power it seems can be pumped through them.

What does this mean for normal disk diodes? Could they burn things. Would they just produce and invisible beam?
 
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deluxe247

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Wait? So DVD diodes are red??? All DVD diodes? SO this is why red lasers are the cheapest, because DVD drives have been getting more and more powerful, yet cheaper at the same time.

Please tell me if I'm wrong hehe :D
 
potatorage

potatorage

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All DVD diodes are red, that is the required wavelength to read/write to DVDs. CD burners require much less energy at a higher speed to read/write, since the little dots are spaced much further. You could push a CD burner diode to maybe 80mW max.
 
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Murudai

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deluxe247 said:
Wait? So DVD diodes are red??? All DVD diodes? SO this is why red lasers are the cheapest, because DVD drives have been getting more and more powerful, yet cheaper at the same time.

Please tell me if I'm wrong hehe  :D
Click to expand...

Quite possibly ;)


Okay, I think you're getting confused. The 52x and 4x etc. disk speeds aren't proportional to power. That's just how fast it can read/write from the disk, doesn't show how powerful the diode is :)

Though faster spinning drives will tend to have more powerful diodes than slower spinning drives of the same disc type. But you can't compare different technologies. A 40x CD diode isn't as powerful as a 6x Blu-ray diode.
 
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deluxe247

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This actually brings up yet another question? Why are RED lasers still so expensive? Yes, I know they are much cheaper than green and blu-rays, but DVD diodes must be DIRT cheap! Even for the BEST!

What keeping people from easily making 500mw red lasers? Overheating issues?
 
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Murudai

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Pump a red DVD diode to 500mW and it's gonna break, unless it's a freak diode. You can't just give them super heatsinks and cooling and expect them to work at 10 amps, lol! While we're at it, lets overclock our computers to 20GHz :D

As for the cheapness of diodes, it's a constantly evolving technology. They're always bringing out newer, better diodes to make the drives go faster, so the price is still there.
 
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deluxe247

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(Because i don't know how to quite people in the little box...)

"Though faster spinning drives will tend to have more powerful diodes than slower spinning drives. But you can't compare different technologies. A 40x CD diode isn't as powerful as a 6x Blu-ray diode. "


Then why are the 2x blu-ray diodes not nearly as powerful as the 6x. And what makes a Blu-ray diode so much more powerful than a normal dick drive diode? To be able to read and write at 52x, disk diodes must have some power to them. I take it from what you said it would be pointless to make a laser (even if is invisible) with a CD drive diode. They would not be able to produce a focused laser bean such as a DVD diode. :-?
 
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deluxe247

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Hehe, my computer actually is running on 16 Ghz :D ;D

Not exactly ::)

Quad core each clocked at 4Ghz ;) :D ;D
 
maxkillz

maxkillz

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the X of a drive doesn't really mean the actual read and write speed as compared to other types of drives. a 2x cd is twice as fast as the first CD drive. the 1x DVD drive reads and writes at a much faster speed than the 1x CD drive and the 1x Blu-Ray reads faster than the 1x DVD.

they are different systems and are measured differently. a 22x DVD is much faster than a 52x CD not too sure on blu-ray but I think the 8x is about the same as the 22x DVD
 
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Murudai

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Thanks maxkillz for that explanation. I knew there would be a more technical reason, I just didn't know it :)


And no, you do not have a 16GHz computer. That's one of my pet hates, people who think multiple processor cores make their computer go faster. It doesn't :) It means you can do more things at the same time, but it does not mean you can process single things at a faster speed.

Here's an analogy I read about. Think of a processor as a truck, and the speed of the truck is the processor speed. So we have a truck going 100km/h, single core. Quad core is 4 trucks going 100km/h. You wouldn't say that's 1 truck going 400km/h, that's silly. But it does allow you to move 4 times as much stuff than a single truck :)
 
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deluxe247

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Haha i already understand that!  ;D

Thats why i said "Not exactly"

I just do MANY things at once. I have 3 flat screens and usually have TV going on one, internet on another, and Microsoft word on the 3rd doing school work  :D

I just said 16Ghz for fun, that's what all 4 cores total to.

And "Pet Hates"  :-? hehe I have never heard it said that way. What country are you from  ::) We say pet peeves (USA)  ;D ;D

Anyways...Back to the diodes...

I am assuming that a 2x DVD diode is faster than a 2x CD because DVDs are a newer type of disk that hold more information...This also includes Blu-ray. Bluray disks hold MUCH more information that a DVD disk....So a 2x Bluray write speed is actually much faster than a 2x DVD write speed. Does this mean that a 6x blu-ray diode could pump out more MWs that a 6x DVD diode?
 
maxkillz

maxkillz

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yea I believe the 6x blu-ray is about a 200mW diode or so and the 6x DVD is like 100 or 80 or something like that i know the 16x DVD runs about 200-250mW
 
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