A quick search on Google tells me something about :
GigaRec™ allows high capacity storage of up to 900 MB on a 700 MB CD-R disc. With this advanced feature, you can increase the maximum writing capacity up to 30%.*
or worse :
http://pcworld.about.com/news/Apr152003id110273.htmNew PlexWriter Premium CD-R/RW fits 1GB of data onto a standard disc.
Melissa J. Perenson, PCWorld.com
When CD-RW drive speeds reached 52X, the race cooled--until now. Plextor's PlexWriter Premium CD-R/RW drive, released this week, offers the first promising innovations seen in a while.
In addition to hitting maximum write speeds of 52X for CD-R and 32X for CD-RW, the $129 internal IDE drive offers four features that make it stand out in an otherwise-crowded market: 1GB disc capacity, security, quiet operation, and diagnostics.
CD-RW on Steroids
Unlike ordinary CD-RW drives that can fit up to 700MB on a standard disc, the PlexWriter Premium packs up to 1GB of data on a CD. This is achieved using Plextor's GigaRec feature, which "uses a brute-force approach to push more data into the same space" on a disc, says Howard Wing, Plextor's vice president of sales and marketing.
This technology differs from previously announced schemes for cramming more data on a CD, namely Sony's Double Density discs and Calimetrics' MultiLevel technology. Neither format got off the ground, in part because each required proprietary media in order to achieve the higher capacities. Furthermore, those discs were not backward-compatible with other drives.
"There's an important distinction between this and the MultiLevel technology," says Wolfgang Schlichting, research director of removable storage at IDC. "There's no additional hardware cost or media cost involved. If there's no additional hardware or media required, I think users will be interested in using it."
Instead of reinventing the wheel, Plextor is controlling the drive's laser to burn deeper pits of data onto an ordinary CD.
"We had such a satisfactory margin in how we burn a disc using the drive that we were able to increase the bit density from 20 to 40 percent above the standard CD disc. That yields roughly a gigabyte of storage on a 700MB disc," Wing says.
Setting a Standard?
Of course, doing so violates the Orange Book specification, the standard that defines rewritable CDs, first announced in 1990.
