How to Wipe a USB Drive and Permanently Delete Files from a USB Flash Drive

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Tracy King 

Last updated on April 22, 2024

In order to clear the USB flash drive, some users may delete files or format the USB drive. However, simple deletion or formatting does not completely remove the files. Formatted files can be easily recovered with professional data recovery software. Thus, you may encounter privacy leakage issues.

When you need to get rid of an old USB flash drive or give away one that was used to store sensitive files, the safest way is to erase the USB drive to permanently delete everything on it. Other reasons you might need to erase a flash drive include:

• Your USB drive is showing the wrong total size after you delete all files.
• You need to remove viruses from your USB drive.
• Your USB flash drive or external hard drive is having issues.

Here are the solutions on how to wipe a USB drive and permanently delete files from a USB flash drive.

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Option 1: How to Use a Data Erasure Tool to Wipe a USB Drive [Back to Table of Contents](#1)

The safest way to wipe a USB flash drive is by using a reliable disk management tool. Tools like BitWiper offer an all-in-one solution to thoroughly erase all data from the USB drive, preventing any information leakage or recovery.

• Wipe operating system drives and data drives.
• Delete partitions (including those for the operating system and others).
• Destroy files and folders.

Now download the disk management software, and follow the steps below to easily erase your USB drive.

Warning: The next step will erase the contents of your USB drive, so back up anything important first. Also, be very careful to select the correct drive, or you may accidentally format the wrong USB drive and lose data.

Step 1: Launch the BitWiper tool and select “Wipe Disk”.

Step 2: Select the external (or USB, SD card, or other removable) drive you want to wipe and click Next.

Important: Make sure you select the correct external drive. The data is irretrievable once it's erased.

Step 3: Choose an erasure method according to your security level and erasure speed, then click “Next”.

Step 4: Confirm the warning and select "Clear."

Step 5: Wait for the process to complete.

Erasing the USB drive deletes both partitions and data. After the data wipe, the USB drive will only have unallocated space. To reuse your USB flash drive, simply format it and recreate a new volume using a partition management tool software.

Option 2: Erase the USB flash drive from the Command Prompt

If you're tech-savvy, you can still use the Command Prompt to erase and format your USB drive. Follow the full steps below.

Step 1: Open the Start menu, search for "cmd." Right-click on the "Command Prompt" shortcut that appears, and then select "Run as administrator."

Step 2. Clean the USB drive using the Diskpart command. In the Command Prompt window, type each of the following commands one by one, pressing Enter after each:

These are commands to be used in the Command Prompt for disk management. Here's an explanation: 1. `diskpart`: Launches the Disk Management utility. 2. `list disk`: Displays a list of all disks connected to the computer. 3. `select disk #`: Selects the disk you want to work with, where '#' should be replaced with the actual number of your USB drive. 4. `clean all`: Deletes all partitions and data on the selected disk, preparing it for new formatting or partitioning operations. Note that this command permanently removes all information on the disk, so use it with caution.

If everything went well, you should see the message DiskPart successfully cleaned the disk. Now, you should see that the USB drive has no partitions. You can create a new partition on it from Disk Management in Windows 11/10/8/7.

Conclusions

To completely remove all the contents from a USB drive that can't be recovered, you need to wipe the USB drive. You can use either the Partition Master or Command Prompt tool as shown above to erase a USB flash drive or other memory card. Remember, simply deleting or formatting a USB won't delete the files.

Frequently Asked Questions on How to Format a USB Drive

There are some questions about how to wipe a USB drive and delete files permanently. You may continue reading for more help.

1. Will formatting my USB delete the data and completely wipe it clean?

Formatting is the process of preparing a storage device like a USB for first use, creating a new file system. Formatting will delete everything from the USB drive. But it doesn't overwrite the data. You can use a tool like the Data Recovery Wizard to recover data from any formatted USB drive.

How do I format a USB drive on a Mac?

To delete files from a flash drive on a Mac, follow these steps:

1. Insert the USB storage device into your Mac. 2. Go to "Finder" > "Applications" > "Utilities," and then launch Disk Utility. 3. Click on the USB flash drive in the left-hand panel. Click the "Erase" tab. 4. Enter a device name and choose a format. Then, click "Erase" to clear the USB drive. 5. Close the Disk Utility window and eject the USB drive.

3. How to format/clean a USB without using the Erase tool?

Unlike “Wipe,” data can be recovered after formatting the USB using this method. Here are three common ways you can try:

• Format the USB drive safely with a USB formatting tool
• Format the USB drive in File Explorer
• Format a USB flash drive in Disk Management

Read the article to learn about the best USB formatting tools: