Switching to the Mac: The Missing Manual, Tiger Edition

chapter 8: hardware on the mac 223

Only one System folder can be operational at a time, though. So how does the Mac

know which to use as its startup disk? You make your selection in the Startup Disk

pane of System Preferences (Figure 8-10). Use it to specify which disk you want the

Mac to start up from the next time you turn it on.

Erasing, Formatting, and Initializing

When you want to erase a disk (such as a CD-RW disc) in Mac OS X, use Disk Utility,

which is located in your ApplicationsÆUtilities folder.

You can use this program to erase, repair, or subdivide (partition) a hard drive, or

any other kind of disk.

To erase a CD-RW or DVD-RW disc, open Disk Utility, click the Erase tab, click the

name of the CD (in the left-side list), and click the Erase button.

Burning CDs and DVDs

If your Mac contains a CD-RW drive or an Apple SuperDrive (a drive that plays and

burns CDs and DVDs), you’ve got yourself the world’s most convenient and elegant

backup system. It’s like having a floppy disk drive, except that a blank CD holds at

least 450 times as many files—and a blank DVD about 3,250 times as many files—as

a floppy disk.

You can buy blank CDs very inexpensively in bulk via the Web—$20 for 100 discs, for

example. (To find the best prices, visit www.shopper.com or www.buy.com and search

for blank CD-R.) Blank DVDs are more expensive—about $25 for 50 (at www.cdrd-

vdrmedia.com, for example)—but ...