Two Easy Ways to Format USB Flash Drive and Wipe Data under Mac OS
updated on 2017-10-28 to Mac Data Erasure
"Hi, I will give my USB flash drive to my classmate. However, I have stored GBs of very sensitive data on the USB flash drive. Is it possible to use a tool on my Mac to format the USB flash drive and permanently erase all the data information. I mean the data is permanently lost, can't be recovered by data recovery software." – John Denner
For Mac users, it could be more difficult to format a USB flash drive under Mac OS because there is no quick format tool on the Mac. However, it is possible and actually very easy to format a USB flash drive on Mac and erase all the data on the USB flash drive under Mac OS. We will show you two easy ways to format USB flash drive on Mac and help you to permanently erase data on the USB flash drive under macOS or OS X.
Two Easy Ways to Format USB Flash Drive and Wipe Data under Mac OS
Since you can't format a hard drive on Mac just like you format a hard drive on Windows, you need third-party tool to help you.
I Format USB Flash Drive with Mac Disk Utility
Disk Utility is a built-in application in your Mac system. When you open it, it shows all the hard drives and external devices on your Mac. Just select the USB flash drive and erase it with disk utility. The Disk Utility application allows you to erase the data on the USB flash drive and it will format it to new file system. Of course, you can decide the erase pass. But whether you select 1 pass or 7 passes, the data still can be recovered by some powerful Mac data recovery applications like Magoshare Data Recovery for Mac.
This is the easiest way to format your USB flash drive and wipe all data under Mac OS. It is very simple. Just find the Disk Utility application on your Mac, then run it to erase your USB flash drive. The concern is that the erased data may be recovered by data recovery software. So, we recommended the solution 2.
II Format USB Flash Drive on Mac with AweEraser for Mac
AweEraser for Mac is a powerful Mac data eraser. It offers three data erasure modes. One of these modes allows you to easily format USB flash drive and permanently erase all the data on the USB flash drive. After installing AweEraser for Mac on your Mac computer, you need to connect your USB flash drive with your Mac. Then run AweEraser for Mac on your computer, you will see the three data erasure modes. Just choose "Erase Hard Drive".
You will see all the hard drives and external devices on your Mac. Select your USB flash drive and click on "Erase" button. AweEraser for Mac will format your USB flash drive and permanently erase all the data on the USB flash drive. Please note that the erased data will be lost forever, can't be recovered by any data recovery software or manual data recovery service. AweEraser will shred all the data information and overwrite the disk space with zero. This is the securest way to format your USB flash drive and erase all data on the USB flash drive under Mac OS.
