The operational details of stand-alone CD-ROM copiers are similar to those of automatic CD copiers. The only difference between the two is the difference between the CD and the CD-ROM.
CD-ROM means CD-Read Only Memory (ROM). No additional data can be written on these CDs once they are recorded. The recording of CD-ROMs is done by the vendor and is known as stamping. However, the data from these CDs can be written on other blank CDs using a CD-ROM copier, provided the necessary software is available.
CD-ROM copiers work on the technology called "pits and hills." CD-ROMs are coated with an organic layer of dye. When the CD-ROMs are written, the data is encoded on them by burning specific parts of the organic dye coating. These parts are called pits and the remaining parts are called hills. While burning, a laser head reads the pits and hills and then burns the corresponding regions on the blank CDs. This results in the same data getting transferred onto the blank CDs.
The CD-ROM drives are rated with a speed factor relative to music CDs: 1x or 1-speed provides a data transfer rate of 150 kilobytes per second in the most common data format. For example, an 8x CD-ROM data transfer rate would be 1.2 megabytes per second.
CD-ROM copiers may be attached to a computer or they may be stand-alone. Stand-alone CD-ROMs have a hard disc of their own. These CD-ROM copiers are designed in a tower format. Stand-alone CD-ROM copiers may allow several CDs to be burned at once and may contain as many as 2 to 16 unitary drives and can have speeds as high as 52X.
So, if the requirement is to copy a master CD into several CD-ROMs, a high-end stand-alone CD-ROM copier may be the best solution.