11.2. Burning CDs and DVDs

11.1. How the Mac Does Disks

Apple shocked the world when, in 1997, it introduced the iMac without a floppy disk driveand proceeded to eliminate the floppy drive from all subsequent Mac models in the following years . Apple argued that the floppy disk was dead: It was too small to serve as a backup disk, and, in the Internet age, it was a redundant method of exchanging files with other computers.

These days, even Windows PC manufacturers seem to agree the floppy drive is gradually vanishing as standard equipment. So, for that matter, is the Zip disk, the SuperDisk (a high-capacity floppy), and Iomega Peerless drives (a hard drive cartridge system).

11.1.1. Disks Today

So what's springing up to take the floppy's place? Let us count the disks:

11.1.1.1. Hard drives and the iPod

Thanks to the Mac's FireWire or USB jacks , it's easier than ever to attach an external hard drive for extra storage. It would be hard to imagine a more convenient second hard drive than, for example, Apple's iPod, which is not only an outstanding MP3 music player but also doubles as a self- powered , extremely compact, bootable hard drive.

11.1.1.2. CDs

You wouldn't get far in today's computer world without a CD-ROM drive. Most commercial software comes on CDnot to mention the music CDs that the Mac can play so expertly (see Section 11.3.1).

CD-ROM stands for "compact disc, read-only memory"in other words, you can't freely add and delete files from one, as you can from a hard drive.

Yet most Mac models today don't just play CDs; they can also record them, thanks to a built-in CD burner . A CD burner can record onto either of two kinds of blank discs:

• CD-R . You can fill this type of disc with your own filesonce. (The R stands for recordable .) The disc can't be erased, although you can add to it (see Section 11.2.2.

• CD-RW . The initials stand for rewritable ; using Disk Utility (Section 10.26.10.1), you can erase one of these discs and rerecord it, over and over again. Of course, CD-RW and DVD-RW blank discs are somewhat more expensive than the one-shot kind.

11.1.1.3. DVDs

All current Mac models include a built-in DVD drive. You use it primarily for playing back DVD movies that you've rented or bought, but you may also occasionally use it for data DVDsthat is, DVDs that contain Mac files or software installers .

However, the latestand definitely the greatestkind of drive is what Apple calls the SuperDrive: a drive, actually made by a company like Pioneer or Sony, that can play and record DVDs (and CDs, too). If your Mac came with a SuperDrive, you can use blank DVDs as massive backup disks that hold 4.7 GB each.

If you've used iMovie to edit your home camcorder footage, you can also save them onto one of these DVDs for playback in standard home DVD playersthe perfect way to distribute your masterpiece to friends and family without the drastic sacrifice of video quality that would result in saving the movie onto a VHS tape.

The first generations of SuperDrive could record only onto so-called DVD-R and DVD-RW blank discs (note the hyphen). The latest SuperDrives, found in, for example, the Power Mac G5, can also record your files onto DVD+R and DVD+RW discs, a confusingly similar format that doesn't work in the original SuperDrives.

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Note: The latest Mac models can also record on dual-layer DVDs, which hold twice as much data (about 8.5 gigabytes) as a regular DVD. (A dual-layer disc still records on only one side, but at two different microscopic levels.) But iDVD 5 can burn them only if your burner is a specific model (the Pioneer A109), and the Finder can't burn them at all. And the blank discs are about $8 each, which doesn't make them especially cost-effective .

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11.1.1.4. Flash drives

The most recent invention is among the most convenient: tiny, keychain- sized flash drives or thumb drives , which plug directly into your USB jack and serve as low-capacity hard drives with no moving parts . Inside, they contain nothing but RAMpure memory.

Flash drives are fantastic, inexpensive gadgets that typically hold between 128 megabytes and 2 gigabytes. They work on any Mac or Windows PC, and don't require any drivers or special software installation. Ask for one for your birthday.

Figure 11-1. You may see all kinds of disks on the Mac OS X desktop (shown here: hard drive, CD, iPod, iDisk)or none at all, if you've chosen to hide them using the Finder Preferences command. But chances are pretty good you wont be seeing many floppy disk icons.

11.1.2. Disks In, Disks Out

When you insert a disk, its icon shows up in three places (unless you've changed your Finder preferences): on the right side of the screen, in the Computer window, and in the Sidebar (Section 1.2.1). To see what's on a disk you've inserted, double-click its icon.

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Note: You can make the Mac work like Windows, if you choose. For example, to open a single window containing icons of all currently inserted disks, choose Go Computer (which produces the rough equivalent of the My Computer window).To complete the illusion that youre running Windows, you can even tell Mac OS X not to put disk icons on the desktop at all. Just choose Finder Preferences, click General, and turn off the three top checkboxes"Hard disks," "CDs, DVDs, and iPods," and "Connected servers." Theyll no longer appear on the desktoponly in your Computer window. (You can stop them from appearing in the Sidebar, too, by clicking the Sidebar button in the Finder preferences and turning off the same checkboxes.)

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To remove a disk from your Mac, use one of these methods :

• Hold down the Eject key on your keyboard . Recent Mac keyboards, both on laptops and desktops, have a special Eject key ( ) in the upper-right corner. Hold it down for a moment to make a CD or DVD pop out. (If you don't have an Eject key, hold down F12 instead.)

• Drag its icon onto the Trash icon . For years, this technique has confused and frightened first-time Mac users. Their typical reaction: Doesn't the Trash mean "delete"? Yes, but only when you drag file or folder icons therenot disk icons. Dragging a disk icon into the Trash (at the end of the Dock) makes the Mac spit the disk out. (If you've dragged a disk image icon or the icon of a networked disk, this maneuver unmounts themthat is, gets them off your screen.)

  The instant you begin dragging a disk icon, the Trash icon on the Dock changes form, as though to reassure the novice that dragging a disk icon there will only eject. As you drag, the wastebasket icon morphs into a giant-sized Eject logo (which matches the symbol on the upper-right key of current Mac keyboards).

• Highlight the disk icon, and then choose File Eject ( -E) . The disk pops out.

• Control-click the disk icon . Choose Eject from the shortcut menu.

• Use the Sidebar . Click the button next to a disk's name in the Sidebar.

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Tip: Any of these techniques also work to get network disks and disk images off your screen.

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11.1.3. Startup Disks

When you turn the Mac on, it hunts for a startup disk that is, a disk containing a System folder. If you've ever seen the dispiriting blinking folder icon on a Mac's screen, you know what happens when the Mac can't find a startup disk. It blinks like that forever, or until you find and insert a disk with a viable System folder on it.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTION
The Eject Button That Doesn't

When I push the key on my keyboard (or the Eject button on my CD-ROM drawer ), how come the CD doesn't come out?

There might be three things going on. First of all, some file on the disc might be openthat is, in use by one of your programs. You're not allowed to eject the disc until that file is closed.

Second, to prevent accidental pushings, the Eject key on the modern Mac keyboard is designed to work only when you hold it down steadily for a second or two. Just tapping it doesn't work.

Third, remember that once you've inserted a disk, the Mac won't let go unless you eject it in one of the official ways.

On Mac models with a CD tray (drawer), pushing the button on the CD-ROM door opens the drawer only when it's empty. If there's a disc in it, you can push that button till doomsday, but the Mac will simply ignore you.

That behavior especially confuses people who are used to working with Windows. (On a Windows PC, pushing the CD button does indeed eject the disc.) But on the Mac, pushing the CD-door button ejects an inserted disc only when the disc wasn't seated properly, or the Mac couldn't read the disc for some other reason, and the disc's icon never appeared onscreen.

The Eject key on the modern Mac keyboard, however, isn't so fussy. It pops out whatever CD or DVD is in the drive.

Ohand if a CD or DVD won't come out at all (and its icon doesn't show up on the desktop), restart the Mac. Keep the mouse button pressed as the Mac restarts to make the disc pop out.

And if even that technique doesn't work, look for a tiny pinhole in or around the slot. Inserting a straightened paper clip, slowly and firmly, will also make the disc pop out.

11.1.3.1. Creating a startup disk

By installing the Mac OS onto a diskbe it a hard drive or blank CD or DVDyou can create a startup disk. Not all disks are capable of starting up the Mac, however (older external FireWire disks aren't, for example), and not all older Macs can start up from external FireWire drives.

11.1.3.2. Selecting a startup disk

It's perfectly possible to have more than one startup disk simultaneously attached to your Mac. That's the deal, for example, whenever you've inserted the Mac OS X CD into your Mac: Each contains a System folder, and each is a startup disk. Some veteran Mac fans deliberately create other startup disksusing DVDs, for exampleso that they can easily start the Mac up from a backup disk, or from a different version of the OS.

Only one System folder can be operational at a time. 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 11-2).

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Tip: If you're in a hurry to start the machine up from a different disk, just click the disk icon and then click Restart in the System Preferences window. You don't have to close the System Preferences window first.

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Figure 11-2. In the Startup Disk pane of System Preferences, the currently selected diskthe one that will be "in force" the next time the machine starts upis always highlighted. You also see the System folder's version, the name of the drive it's on, and its actual name.

11.1.4. Erasing a Disk

Mac OS X doesn't have an Erase Disk command at the desktop. When you want to erase a disk (such as a CD-RW disc), the only tool Apple gives you is Disk Utility, which sits in your Applications Utilities folder. This is the same program you use to erase, repair, or subdivide ( partition ) a hard drive.

Once you've opened Disk Utility, click the name of the disk (in the left-side list), click the Erase tab, and then click the Erase button.

You won't be able to do so, though, if:

• The disk is a standard CD-ROM, DVD, a previously recorded CD-R disc, or a disk elsewhere on the network.

• You're trying to erase the startup disk. You can't wipe out the disk that contains the currently running System folder any more than you can paint the floor directly beneath your feet. (To erase your built-in hard drive, for example, you must start up from the Mac OS X DVD.)