User`s guide

CD-ROM discs

If you connect your PowerCD to a Macintosh computer, you can use

CD-ROM discs.

What is CD-ROM?

A CD-ROM disc is like a huge, locked floppy disk. A CD-ROM disc gives

you access to large amounts of information, however, you cannot save

information onto CD-ROM discs. ROM stands for “read-only memory,” which

means that you cannot “write” information onto CD-ROM discs.

A wide selection of CD-ROM discs is available for education, entertainment,

and business. One disc can hold over 650 megabytes of information—the

equivalent of 270,000 pages of text, up to eight hours of speech or music

(depending on the sound quality), hundreds of high-resolution color images,

or a combination of text, sound, and graphics.

File formats

Not all CD-ROM discs store information in the same way. Your computer

must be able to understand the file format in order to use the disc.

Macintosh computers can use CD-ROM discs with these standard file

formats:

m HFS (Hierarchical File System)—the standard file format used by the

Macintosh.

m ISO 9660—the International Standards Organization’s file format for

CD-ROM discs. This format has been adopted by many CD manufacturers

to make their discs compatible with a variety of computers. It is also the

format used by Photo CD discs.

m The High Sierra format, which is part of the ISO 9660 format.

Your PowerCD can also work with the CD-ROM XA file format if you install

the necessary software on your Macintosh. To find out the availability of

software for additional file formats, contact the publisher of the disc you want

to use.

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