Caddy (hardware)

In computer hardware, a caddy is a container used to protect an

's jacket.

Its use dates back to at least the

hard-coating technology

to prevent scratches and do not need a caddy.

Caddies may be an integral part of the medium, as in some DVD-RAM discs, or separately attached.

Examples

Caddies date at least to the Capacitance Electronic Disc, which used a caddy from 1981 to protect the grooves of the disc.^[2]

Some early

and the caddy when in use, then the reverse when finished.

Drives that used the caddy format required "bare" discs to be placed into a caddy before use, making them less convenient to use. Drives that worked this way were referred to as caddy drives or caddy load(ing), but from about 1994 most computer manufacturers moved to tray-loading,^[3] or slot-loading drives.

The same system is still available for more recent formats such as DVD-RAMs but is not common.

The PlayStation Portable, UMD disc is a similar concept, using a small proprietary DVD-type disc, in a fixed unopenable caddy as both a copy protection and damage prevention measure.

The

type disc instead, also in a fixed unopenable caddy.

References