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.