I have one of the earlier 1.6 CRTDI engines (2010) and was wondering what the difference is between it and the newer 1.6 engine? Is it hardware or just software/ mapping?

Your 2010 engine will be an EA189 unit - the one which is impacted by the "cheating" scandal.

 

All diesel engines in the Mk3 Octavia are from the newer EA288 family.  This design is an evolution of the EA189: as VW describes it in this PDF, "this new generation of diesel engines was based on the existing EA189 engine family"

I have one of the earlier 1.6 CRTDI engines (2010) and was wondering what the difference is between it and the newer 1.6 engine? Is it hardware or just software/ mapping?

 

It represents changes to both - like iriches says, they based the engine on the EA189 but they have changed some of the layout regards turbos, EGR setup, filters etc and added variable valve timing. They say it is more "modularised"...

 

Although it is about the 2.0 EA 288 diesel, this video is not bad for a quick summary of the changes from the EA189 to the EA288 (igore the bit about urea / AdBlue exhaust treatment - the 1.6 doesn't have it):

 

https://youtu.be/kLAb1wpzz9g