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This section provides an overview of RM's policy for
specifying and sourcing optical drives, covering CD ROM, DVD
and CD RW devices.
Why does RM have a policy?
In very rare
circumstances some high speed optical drives (48X or higher)
can become dangerous when used with CDs containing small
cracks. The CD can shatter, and in exceptional circumstances
fragments of broken CD could be expelled at high speed through
the front cover of the drive: This could cause serious
injury.
RM have assessed the susceptibility to this phenomenon of
drives from many manufacturers. Our results have suggested
that certain models from certain manufacturers are potentially
unsafe. We have therefore defined the process by which RM
will specify and source its optical drives, ensuring that all
drives we supply will minimise any risk to our customers.
Do other PC suppliers have similar policies?
RM
readily makes public our experience of the
safety implications where optical
drives are operated with cracked CD media. This experience has required RM to re-assess the way we
specify our optical drives, and we are happy to share this
specification process with our customers.
Other manufacturers may or may not have similar policies;
it is their decision as to whether these are made available to
their customers.
What does the policy cover?
The policy
covers:
Firmware - the embedded drive "software" that controls how
the drive operates
Crush
Resistance - the resistance of a
drive to shattering a cracked CD
Egress Resistance - the resistance of a drive to expelling CD
fragments
Selection &
Validation Checklists - checklists
for selecting drives and ensuring their safety
How does the policy work?
The detailed policy
defines how RM assesses susceptibility of optical
drives to shatter cracked CDs and to potentially expel CD
fragments.
The policy details the requirement for the firmware of all
drives to be capable of being updated to a 40X maximum speed.
At 40X, it is highly unlikely that the drive rotational speed
would be sufficient to shatter a cracked CD.
Optical drive manufacturers provide RM with comprehensive
evidence as to how their drive will avoid shattering cracked
CDs, and how it will contain fragments if such an event were
to occur. The production of this evidence must comply with the
testing regime advised by RM. Providing the drive
manufacturer can supply evidence that the drive will not
shatter cracked CDs at speeds greater than 40X, the drive can
be supplied in that state. If evidence is not provided, the
drive will be supplied to the customer configured to operate
at no more than 40X speed.
If evidence is not provided by the drive manufacturer RM
will, at its discretion,
perform the tests on behalf of the manufacturer. At
all stages in the specifying and sourcing of optical drives,
RM will take every precaution to ensure that our customers are
supplied drives that operate reliably and minimise the risk of
injury from CD shatter.
How does the policy affect me?
The policy will
have no significant detrimental effect upon the performance of
the optical drives you obtain from RM. For example, when
testing the effect of reducing a CD ROM's speed from 52X to
32X, we have found only a 2% increase in the installation time
for MS Office 2000, a negligible amount.
As an RM customer you can be reassured that the optical
drives you receive will be specified to significantly reduce
the risk of injury if they are used inadvertently with cracked
CD media.
Where can I find the detailed policy?
The full
policy document
The related validation
test for this policy
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