TMO Quick Tip – Erasing a CD-RW or DVD-RW

Every Mac made today can burn CD and CD-RW (rewritable CDs) discs, and if your Mac has a SuperDrive, you can burn DVD and DVD-RW discs, too. The problem with reusing a rewritable CD or DVD is that Apple didn’t exactly make it easy to figure out.

If you want to erase a CD-RW or DVD-RW so that you can reuse it for other data, here’s what to do:

• Place the CD-RW or DVD-RW you want to erase into your Mac.
• If there are any files you want to keep that are on the disc, be sure to copy them to your hard drive.
• Launch Disk Utility. It’s in Applications > Utilities > Disk Utility.
• Select the CD or DVD you want to erase in the column on the left.
• Click the Erase tab. The Quick Erase box is checked by default. Using Quick Erase to prepare the disc for reuse takes less time.
• Click the Erase button to erase the disc.
  Use Disk Utility to erase rewritable CDs and DVDs.

  Once a CD-RW or DVD-RW is erased, you can use it again just like a new disc. Keep in mind that rewritable discs have a limited life. It’s probably not a good idea to use them for long term file archiving, and you should never erase and reuse them more than about 100 times.

  Don’t miss the best of The Mac Observer

  Set us as a preferred source and our Apple reporting ranks higher in your Google Search results and Discover feed — one tap, no account changes.

  
  
  Add as a preferred
  source on Google
  

  Or get it by email