Last modified: Monday, November 24, 2003
Short for constant angular velocity, a technique for accessing data off of rotating disks. With CAV, the disk rotates at a constant speed regardless of what area of the disk is being accessed. This differs from Constant Linear Velocity (CLV), which rotates the disk faster for inner tracks. Disk drives use CAV, whereas CD-ROMs generally use CLV, though some newer drives use a combination of CAV and CLV. The advantage of CAV is that it is much simpler to design and produce because the motor doesn't need to change speed. In addition, CLV runs into problems for very high-speed CD-ROMs because there's a brief latency whenever the drive needs to change the rotational speed.
	Related Categories CD-ROMs Peripheral Devices Related Terms CD-ROM CD-ROM player CLV zoned CLV zoned-bit recording Shopping CAV Products Compare Products,Prices and Stores Shop by Category: Watches 67 Store Offers Sport and Outdoor 162 Store Offers Security Systems and Surveillance 100 Store Offers Clothing 94 Store Offers Lighting 77 Store Offers