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<email>gnome-doc-list@gnome.org</email>
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<desc>Remove all of the files and folders from an external hard disk or USB flash drive by formatting it.</desc>
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<revision pkgversion="3.2" date="2011-10-07" status="candidate"/>
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<desc>Remove all of the files and folders from an external hard disk or USB
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flash drive by formatting it.</desc>
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<include href="legal.xml" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude"/>
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<title>Wipe everything off a removable disk</title>
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<p>If you have a removable disk, like a USB memory stick or an external hard
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disk, you may sometimes wish to completely remove all of its files and
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folders. You can do this by <em>formatting</em> the disk - this deletes all
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of the files on the disk and leaves it empty.</p>
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<p>If you have a removable disk, like a USB memory stick or an external hard
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disk, you may sometimes wish to completely remove all of its files and
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folders. You can do this by <em>formatting</em> the disk - this deletes all
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of the files on the disk and leaves it empty.</p>
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<title>Format a removable disk</title>
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<item><p>Open the <app>Disk Utility</app> application from the <gui>Activities</gui> overview.</p></item>
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<item><p>Select the disk you want to wipe from the <gui>Storage Devices</gui> list.</p>
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<note style="warning"><p>Make sure that you have selected the correct disk! If you choose the wrong disk, all of the files on the other disk will be deleted!</p></note></item>
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<item><p>In the Volumes section, click <gui>Unmount Volume</gui>. Then click <gui>Format Volume</gui>.</p></item>
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<item><p>In the window that pops up, choose a file system <gui>Type</gui> for the disk.</p>
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<p>If you use the disk on Windows and Mac OS computers in addition to Linux computers, choose <gui>FAT</gui>. If you only use it on Windows, <gui>NTFS</gui> may be a better option. A brief description of the <gui>file system type</gui> will be presented as a label.</p></item>
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<item><p>Give the disk a name and click <gui>Format</gui> to begin wiping the disk.</p></item>
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<item><p>Once the formatting has finished, <gui>safely remove</gui> the disk. It should now be blank and ready to use again.</p></item>
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<p>Open the <app>Disk Utility</app> application from the <gui>Activities</gui>
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<p>Select the disk you want to wipe from the <gui>Storage Devices</gui> list.</p>
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<note style="warning">
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<p>Make sure that you have selected the correct disk! If you choose the wrong
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disk, all of the files on the other disk will be deleted!</p>
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<p>In the Volumes section, click <gui>Unmount Volume</gui>. Then click
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<gui>Format Volume</gui>.</p>
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<p>In the window that pops up, choose a file system <gui>Type</gui> for the
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<p>If you use the disk on Windows and Mac OS computers in addition to Linux
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computers, choose <gui>FAT</gui>. If you only use it on Windows, <gui>NTFS</gui>
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may be a better option. A brief description of the <gui>file system type</gui>
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will be presented as a label.</p>
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<p>Give the disk a name and click <gui>Format</gui> to begin wiping the disk.</p>
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<p>Once the formatting has finished, <gui>safely remove</gui> the disk. It
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should now be blank and ready to use again.</p>
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<note style="warning">
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<title>Formatting a disk does not securely delete your files</title>
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<p>Formatting a disk is not a completely secure way of wiping all of its
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data. A formatted disk will not appear to have files on it, but it is
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possible that special recovery software could retrieve the files. If you
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need to securely delete the files, you will need to use a command-line
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utility, such as <app>shred</app>.</p>
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<p>Formatting a disk is not a completely secure way of wiping all of its
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data. A formatted disk will not appear to have files on it, but it is
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possible that special recovery software could retrieve the files. If you
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need to securely delete the files, you will need to use a command-line
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utility, such as <app>shred</app>.</p>
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gnome-help/C/disk-format.page
