Utility to offer Mac users safe fast erasing of optical discs

August 23, 2005

Mac users who use Mac OS X may know about the inconvenient process of having to launch the Disk Utility, select the correct volume and click erase to wipe their CD-RW or DVD-RW, not to mention the risks of accidentally erasing the wrong volume. Well, Ivo van Willigen offers a way round this with his freeware QuickErase utility. This works by simply launching the utility and choosing between a quick or full erase in the pop-up dialogue.

Besides offering a very quick way to erase a rewritable disc, this utility effectively helps avoid users from accidentally erasing the wrong volume such as a 2nd hard drive or other removable disk, since the utility strictly only works with optical discs. This utility can also be set up on the Toolbar of Finder Windows for easy access.

As their name implies, rewriteable discs'”more commonly known as CD-RW and DVD-RW discs'”can be reused, unlike standard CD-R and DVD-R discs that can be burned only once. However, to reuse a rewriteable disc, you have to first erase it. In Mac OS X, this means inserting the disc, launching Disk Utility, selecting the disc in the list of volumes in Disk Utility, and then clicking the Erase button in the Disk Utility toolbar.

I don't know about you, but to me it seems like a hassle to have to open Disk Utility to erase a rewriteable disc. After all, I can burn a disc directly in the Finder, so why can't I erase it? Evidently, Ivo van Willigen agrees, because his free QuickErase 1.5 lets you erase rewriteable discs without leaving the Finder.

The full source article can be read here.

At least for Mac users, this means no more accidentally erasing the wrong disk by mistake, especially for novice users or those in a hurry to wipe their disc. The QuickErase utility can be obtained here.

Source: Macworld