DVD RW is an abbreviation for Digital Versatile Disk Re-writable. It supports multiple erase and write options, in addition to numerous reads, similar to the CD- RW, all difference is in the amount of data that can be stored. One can also say the DVD- RW’s are similar to the DVD- R, but they are manufactured in a different way enabling them rewritable. We basically have two types of DVD RW’s, the DVD+RW and the DVD-RW. Originally, depending on the brand, DVD drives only worked with one of the two types of DVD- RW. Now most DVD drives from leading manufacturers support both. Storage space offered in the DVD- RW is around 4.7 Giga Byte when compared to the older CD- RW coming with just 700 MB.
Reformatting DVD-RW in Windows
Reformatting DVD- RW is very simple. First insert the DVD- RW in your computer then click Start, launch My Computer and then right-click the DVD recording drive listed. Click Open. Your Windows Operating System will display a temporary storage area where files are held before they are copied to the DVD. Now yoou can click the Erase this DVD-RW option, which you can find under the DVD Writing Tasks section. This will launch the DVD Writing Wizard, follow the instructions to reformat the disk.
Reformatting DVD in Mac
To start reformatting DVD- RW in your Mac, insert the DVD-RW to your optical drive and click the Finder, located in the Toolbar. Now select Applications from the Finder menu. and double click the Disk Utility within the applications menu to launch it. Click on the Erase option provided and highlight the DVD-RW disk in the Disk Utility menu. Finally click on the Erase button by the Erase tab to initiate the reformatting. Wait till the process is completed and you have reformatted your DVD- RW.