1/13/2024 0 Comments Quick disk wipeIf you really want to be sure your data is wiped, some developers - including those sharing views on Stack Exchange - suggest the only way to totally erase the data on an external storage device is to take a hammer (or other destructive tools) to it. Securely erasing external storage devices using an app Click the Eject icon to the right of the device in the Finder or Disk Utility windows before you remove the device.The further to the right you move the slider, the higher the level of security will be. If you had sensitive data previously on the device, click on the Security tab and then choose a security level.Select the default GUID Partition Map (GPT) scheme.You should also use this format if you may share the drive with Windows PCs. For external drives, it is recommended you format in ExFAT. In the drop-down window, under Name, type a name for the drive.In the sidebar, click on the USB drive you want to format and then choose Erase from the top toolbar.Go to Applications, select Utilities, and double-click on Disk Utility.How to format an external device using MacOS You can eject the device after you see the “Format Successful” pop-up message.A full format will take longer but will perform a scan and do a much better job of ensuring files are erased. A quick format removes files but doesn’t scan to verify that everything has been properly cleaned. Right-click on the drive you wish to format.How to format an external device using Windows Just make sure you do not erase your internal hard drive it is an easy mistake to make and there is no going back. Windows and MacOS operating systems come with an in-built format option that can erase everything from an external storage device. They all have pros and cons and work in a variety of ways including:īut first, back to formatting. We’ll give you plenty of examples of these below. However, it’s not a fail-safe option as some data recovery tools are designed to overcome a write-zero pass.Īnother option is to use a dedicated secure data deletion software. This might be okay for some uses and we’ll show you how to do it below. This performs a write-zero pass which fills the storage space with zeros. To wipe data from an external storage device, you can try using the formatting feature built into the Windows and MacOS operating systems. Two ways to wipe data from your external storage device However, TRIM only works on internal solid-state drives, not on external devices. When you delete a file, a TRIM command immediately removes all reference to that file.
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