disk utility wont erase DVD RW

Are you sure you have a DVD-RW and not a DVD-R?

I've had a similar problem, off and on for about four years. Tiger,
Leopard, now Snow Leopard. Disk utility (and command line
version) do not work. In the GUI, there is not an option for either
erase or quick erase when this happens.


The Mac sees the DVD-RW as empty, but would do nothing with it.
In four prior situations, the DVD-RW was "fixed" by using Windows
XP to erase/reformat it. Then it could be used with OSX.

With no XP systems nearby, I encountered another DVD-RW
that OSX could not deal with. I tried Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard,
on three different computers. I tried using a DVD/VCR to "initialize"
the DVD; it was happy, OSX was not. I tried using a consumer
VCR/DVD -- it was completely happy with "initializing" the disk for
recording but OSX was still not happy with it.

Versiontracker led me to a variety of programs. Most were just a GUI
for DiskUtility.

But using "simplyburns" the DVD became fully functional for reading, writing, and
re-writing with OSX.

http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/28245

Hi,

I had the very same problem: An iMac that was able to write to DVD-R/DVD+R/CD-R but unwilling to "touch" any RW media (tried Verbatim, Ricoh and Imation discs).

*I just solved it by resetting the NVRAM of my iMac as described here:*

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1379

If this is not solving your problem you may also try to reset the System Management Controller (SMC) as described here:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT3964



Regards,

Stephan.

Shaarooz, does the drive in your older MB actually write DVD+R DUAL LAYER DVD RW discs? I very much doubt it! Have a look under Apple Menu/About This Mac/More Info/ Disc burning for information about the formats which your drive is compatible with. Dual layer, yes, DVD RW, yes, but Dual Layer RW? I very much doubt it. The format had barely even been authorised at the time your MB was made. To the best of my knowledge even the latest MB's don't write to DVD RW DUAL Layer discs.

Cheers

Rod

(delete)

From what I can see there are currently no burners capable of writing to DVD+RW DL discs on the market at all that could be used in an MBP (or any other notebook)!

Cheers

Rod

same problem here: cannot erase DVD+-RW. Can write CD-RW, but again, cannot erase DVD-RW. However, it can erase DVD-RW-DL. Weird. I have already tried with several DVD + and - RW to erase them using Burn, DiskUtility, SimplyBurn: NOTHING.
What's going on?