How to Clear a Flash Drive on PC or Mac

This wikiHow teaches you how to remove all of the files from a flash drive in Windows and macOS. Plug the flash drive into your PC. You can connect your flash drive to any working USB port on your computer.

Method 1 of 2:

Windows

Plug the flash drive into your PC. You can connect your flash drive to any working USB port on your computer.
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Double-click This PC. It's the computer icon on your desktop.
1. If you don't see this icon, press ⊞ Win+E to open the File Explorer, then double-click This PC in the left sidebar.
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Right-click your flash drive. It's under the 'Devices and drives' header in the right panel. A drop-down menu will appear.
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Click Format…. The Format window will appear.
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Click Start. It's at the bottom of the window. A confirmation message will appear, letting you know that all data on the drive will be erased.
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Click OK. Windows will now remove all of the data from your flash drive. You'll see a message that says 'Format Complete' once the drive is cleared.
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Click OK. This closes the window.

Method 2 of 2:

macOS

Plug the flash drive into your Mac. You can connect your flash drive to any working USB port on your computer.
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Open Finder
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. It's on the Dock.
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Open the Applications folder. Click Applications in the left sidebar, or double-click Applications in the right panel.
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Double-click the Utilities folder.
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Double-click Disk Utility.
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Select your flash drive. It's in the left panel.^{[1] X Research source}
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Click the Erase tab. It's at the top of the right panel.
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Select a format. The default formatting option is OS X Extended (Journaled) should work for most people.^{[2] X Research source}
1. If you want to erase all of the files and use the drive on a Windows PC, select MS-DOS (Fat) instead.
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Click Erase…. It's at the bottom-right corner of the window. A confirmation message will appear.^{[3] X Research source}
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Click Erase. This removes all of the files from your flash drive.