Optical and electrical methods of information recording on chalcogenide gla
ssy semiconductors are compared. It is shown that techniques based on a rev
ersible glass-crystal phase transition are similar for the optical and elec
trical cases and the main mechanism of phase transition is determined by th
ermal heating. It is supposed that the known advantages of optical and elec
trical information recording by short pulses are possibly related to the ex
istence of a wide power range of pulses recording without damage, compared
with the appreciably narrower range at longer pulse durations.