Support for disc autoloaders is available in limited licenses of DiscJuggler Professional Edition and DiscJuggler.NET. Autoloaders are well known for ability to record and duplicate multiple discs without requiring operator intervention after a task has begun.

A disc autoloader consists of one or more writing drives that are able to accept blank recordable discs from a stack for consecutive loading into their trays. In addition to the accurate duplication of the source discs which are often interspersed with blank discs, DiscJuggler handles the task of controlling the autoloader robotics so that blank media are correctly loaded into the writing drive, defective discs discarded, and successful duplicate discs removed after recording.

Autoloaders are normally a combination of a drive section with one or more writing drives and a robotic section. The writing drives are usually available with a FireWire or SCSI interface to communicate with the host computer while the robotic section can either use a RS-232 (serial) or USB interface.

DiscJuggler supports sequential autoloaders. Sequential autoloaders are serial loading devices, that load discs only off of the input stack and into the drive section. From the drive section, the discs can only go to an output stack or to a reject bin, but cannot be cycled back to the input stack.

The scope of this documentation does not include a detailed description of the autoloader functionality. For more information on how to set-up and operate your autoloader, please refer to the documentation provided by the autoloader manufacturer.

This chapter is subdivided in four major sections.

• Autoloader Setup Tips
   

• Copying Discs with Autoloaders
   

• Batch Printing
   

• Autoloader FAQs