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How To Erase Files From a CD-RW Disc in Windows XP

Article ID: 306641 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q306641

SUMMARY

If your computer is equipped with a CD recorder that supports CD rewritable (CD-RW) discs, you can erase and then reuse the rewritable disc. This article explains how to erase files from a read and write CD in Windows XP.

How to Erase Files From a CD-RW Disc

To erase files from a CD rewritable disc:

Double-click the My Computer icon on your desktop.
In My Computer, right-click the CD recording drive, and then click Open. Windows displays a temporary storage area where files are held before they are copied to the CD. Files or folders that are located in the temporary storage area are listed in the Files Ready to Be Written to the CD box.
In the CD Writing Tasks pane, click Erase this CD-RW. The Welcome to the CD Writing Wizard dialog box is displayed. After you click Next, the Erasing the CD dialog box is displayed and the progress bar displays the progress of the process.
When the process is finished, you receive a message in the notification area and you can use the CD-RW disc.Note: Not all CDs are erasable. If the CD that you are using is not erasable, for example, then this feature is not available.

Troubleshooting

You can erase and reuse CD-RW discs; however the disks may not play in other devices (such as audio CD players).

To resolve this issue, use the CD recorder to back up information on CD-R discs. These disks can be written only once, but you can play CD-R disks in most CD players and CD-ROM drives.