Fix Can’t Delete Files from USB or External Hard Drive on Mac

If you can’t delete files from USB on Mac, you can check the 8 solutions below to fix the issue.

8 Tips to Fix Can’t Delete Files from USB/HDD on Mac

Tip 1. Restart Your Mac, Reconnect the Drive to Mac

If you are unable to delete files or folders from a USB flash drive or external hard drive on your Mac, you can restart your Mac and try again. You should also make sure that the drive is well connected to your Mac computer. You can disconnect the drive and reconnect it to delete files again.

Tip 2. Make Sure the File Is Not in Use

If you meet the “File in use” error when trying to delete a file, the file may be opened or used by another program. Make sure to close the file. Close all open applications on your Mac and try to delete the file again. If you don’t know which program is using the file, restart your Mac and it should terminate all programs.

Tip 3. Check for File Permission

If you can’t delete files from USB on Mac, you can check if the file is read-only.

1. Right-click the file and select Get Info.
2. Expand the “Sharing & Permissions” section.
3. Check if you have the permission to delete the file. Change the privilege to “Read & Write”.

Tip 4. Check If the Disk is Write-Protected

If the USB flash drive or external hard drive has been enabled write protection, you are unable to delete files on it. Remove the write protection of the drive.

1. Right-click the USB flash drive or external hard drive, and select Get Info.
2. Expand the “Sharing & Permissions” section.
3. Change the permission of the drive to “Read & Write” status.

Tip 5. Fix Can’t Delete Files from an NTFS Drive on Mac

You can check the format of the drive in Disk Utility to see if it is in NTFS format. Mac has limited support for NTFS-formatted drives. It only lets you read files on the drive but not write, edit, or delete files on the NTFS drive.

To enable Mac to write, edit, or delete files on the NTFS drive, you need to use a professional NTFS for Mac software.

BuhoNTFS, a top free Mac NTFS tool, helps you mount NTFS drives read and write on your Mac with one click.

Tip 6. Repair Errors on the USB or External Hard Drive

If the hard drive is corrupted or damaged, you may be unable to edit or delete files on it. You can use Disk Utility to repair a corrupted hard drive.

1. Click Spotlight Search and search for Disk Utility to open it.
2. Select the target USB or external hard drive in the left sidebar and click the First Aid button in the toolbar.
3. Click Run to start checking and repairing errors on the drive.

Tip 7. Force Delete the File That Won’t Delete with Terminal

If you can’t delete a file from a USB or external hard drive, you can force delete the file on Mac with Terminal.

1. Launch the Terminal app on Mac via Spotlight Search.
2. In the Terminal window, type the command rm -f . Remember to add a space after “f”.
3. Then you can drag the target file that cannot be deleted into the Terminal window. It will automatically add the file name and path after the command.
4. Press Enter and it will force delete the file from the drive.

Tip 8. Format the USB or External Hard Drive on Mac

If you still have problems with deleting files on the external drive, you may reformat the drive for reuse. Please be noted that formatting a drive will erase all data on it, so you should copy the needed data to another device before you continue.

1. To format a drive on Mac, you can launch Disk Utility via Spotlight.
2. Select the target USB flash drive or external hard drive from the left panel.
3. Click the Erase button at the top.
4. Select a file system format, e.g., exFAT, FAT32, or APFS. Choose GUID Partition Map scheme.
5. Click Erase to start formatting the drive to exFAT, FAT32, or APFS on Mac.

Conclusion

This post provides 8 solutions to help you fix can’t delete files from USB or external hard drive on Mac. Hope it helps. To find more tips and tricks about Mac and iPhone, you may visit Dr.Buho official website.