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As convenient as online storage is, in many cases storing data on a flash drive or SD card is the best choice, and of course many mobile devices use SD cards to store much of their data. Sometimes you'll need to erase these cards, perhaps to use them in another device or simply to remove unwanted data. This can be especially important if you have sensitive business data on the card, such as customer contact information. It is possible to erase an SD card using a Mac; however, you may need to decide what format and possibly what security options you want.
My external hard drive for my MAC (my passport essential 3200bmv) was stolen and later recovered by the police. The criminal erased all of my data and used it on his own computer for his files on.
Erasing Data
Typically when you erase data, it still does reside on the device, whether it's a computer, cell phone or SD card. That data is simply marked as deleted, and the device is free to write over it in the future. Until that happens, the data still exists, and someone could potentially 'resurrect.' Therefore, simply selecting files and folders on your SD card and pressing the 'Delete' key is not the best way to delete data from a disk. Instead you can format the card, which marks all data as deleted, and it also has security options available for thorough data removal.
Disk Utility
In Mac OS X, the Disk Utility software helps you manage disks on your computer, whether they're internal hard drives, USB drives or SD cards. You find the Disk Utility by clicking 'Applications' in the dock, and then clicking 'Utilities,' then 'Disk Utility.' You can use this utility to safely remove disks, burn DVDs and erasing entire disks. Formatting drives is also available in the Disk Utility, which marks all data on that drive as deleted and prepares the drive for future use. Normally formatting an SD card doesn't require much time, though if you want apply security options to the format, the process may extend.
Formatting
Within the Disk Utility, you can format your SD card by clicking it in the left-hand pane and then clicking the 'Erase' tab. Within the 'Format' menu, you can select a specific format, which controls how data is stored on the card. If you will only be using this card on Mac computers, you can use the 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)' option. If you plan to use the card on other devices, such as smartphones or digital cameras, you should use the 'MS-DOS (FAT)' option. Then you can type in a name in the 'Name' text box if you would like to rename the disk. When you click the 'Erase' button, the formatting begins.
Security Options
You can also set up the Disk Utility format process to thoroughly remove data by clicking 'Security Options' before you begin the format. Your choices are 'Zero Out Data,' '7-Pass Erase' and '35-Pass Erase.' Each provides more thorough data removal but is also more time-consuming. Depending on the size of the SD card, formatting it with one of these security options available could require up to several hours. Normally you do not need to perform any of these because a basic format should be acceptable unless you must ensure the data is irrecoverable.
References (2)
About the Author
A lover of technology in all forms, Matt Skaggs began writing professionally in 2010, specializing in Windows computers and Android devices. His writing has appeared on many websites providing a plethora of technology information and tutorials. In 2008 Skaggs graduated from Bob Jones University with a Bachelor of Arts in humanities.
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Skaggs, Matt. 'How to Erase SD Cards Using a Mac.' Small Business - Chron.com, http://smallbusiness.chron.com/erase-sd-cards-using-mac-59498.html. Accessed 22 October 2019.
Skaggs, Matt. (n.d.). How to Erase SD Cards Using a Mac. Small Business - Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/erase-sd-cards-using-mac-59498.html
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What is the best file system for USB or external hard drive on Mac?
Windows and Mac OS X use different file systems. Windows uses NTFS and Mac can't write files to volumes with NTFS format.
So, if you want to use a USB flash drive or an external hard drive with NTFS format on Mac, you should first reformat the devices to the Mac OS Extended file system. It is the best way to ensure full Mac compatibility of a new external hard drive or flash disk.
Usually, FAT32 which can be read and wrote on Mac is recommended for maximum compatibility. And if you need to transfer files larger than 4 GB between Macs and Windows computers, exFAT or MS-DOS (FAT) is better.
How to format USB flash drive or external hard drive for Mac
But how can you format USB flash drive or external hard drive for Mac? Don’t worry! This page will show you two ways to do this job:
Format USB or external hard drive for Mac using Mac disk utility
Format USB or external hard drive for Mac on Windows PC using third-party USB format tool
Format USB or external hard drive for Mac on Windows PC using third-party USB format tool
![Osxdaily Format An External Hard Drive Or Usb Flash Drive For Mac Os X Osxdaily Format An External Hard Drive Or Usb Flash Drive For Mac Os X](/uploads/1/2/6/2/126289117/607642288.jpg)
Now, you can follow these two solutions to format any hard drive, flash drive, USB drive, SSD or any other external storage drive so as to make them work on your Mac now.
Method 1. Format USB or external hard drive for Mac using Mac Disk utility
Windows offers users built-in disk management tool to create, delete, resize, merge and format partitions. You can try the following steps to format USB or external hard drive for Mac with Disk Utility on Mac.
- 1. Connect the USB or external hard drive to your Mac computer.
- 2. Launch the Disk Utility by clicking 'Applications' > 'Utilities'.
- 3. Locate and click on your USB or external hard drive in Disk Utility and then click on 'Erase'.
- 4. Next to 'Format', click the contextual menu and select 'Mac OS Extended (Journaled)'.
- 5. Reset the drive name and click 'Erase', confirm the operation on the next pop-up window.
- Wait for the process to complete and then you'll get compatible HFS+ file system on your external hard drive or USB, which will make your device compatible and workable on your Mac.
Method 2. Format USB or external hard drive for Mac using third-party USB format tool on a Windows PC
If you need a simpler format tool to format USB or external hard drive to FAT32 to make them work on Mac, you can apply a third-party format tool to format them on Windows PC. EaseUS partition software is a popular disk partition management tool which is available for all hard disk related jobs such as format disk partition, extend system partition, settle low disk space problem.
Now you can try it to format USB or external hard drive on your Windows PC by following the steps below. If you stored important data on the USB or external hard drive, you can try this tool to convert NTFS to FAT32 without formatting.
Step 1: Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition on your external hard drive/USB/SD card which you want to format and choose the 'Format' option.
Step 2: Assign a new partition label, file system (NTFS/FAT32/EXT2/EXT3), and cluster size to the selected partition, then click 'OK'.
Step 3: In the Warning window, click 'OK' to continue.
Step 4: Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-left corner to review the changes, then click 'Apply' to start formatting your external hard drive/USB/SD card.
After this, you can connect your external hard drive/USB to Mac computer and use it to save data by then.