The most common reason is that the folder is open in another program and thus locked. There are a few reasons why you may not be able to delete a folder on your external hard drive. How do I delete a folder that won’t delete on my external hard drive? Finally, you can also format the external hard drive, which will erase all of its contents. Another way is to use the Terminal application to delete the files using a command. One way is to use the Finder application to delete the files manually. If you want to delete all files from an external hard drive on a Mac, there are a few different ways you can do this. Try deleting the file or folder again How do I delete all files from an external hard drive on a Mac? Click Apply and then OK to save your changes.ĥ. Select your username from the list of Users and Groups and then check the box next to Full Control under Permissions for User.Ĥ. Click the Security tab and then click Edit.ģ. Right-click on the file or folder you want to delete and select Properties.Ģ.

To fix this, you’ll need to change the permissions on the file or folder in question.

If you’re having trouble deleting files from your external hard drive, it’s likely due to a file permissions issue. Why can’t I delete files on my external hard drive Mac? Why can I not delete files from my external hard drive?

This will give you the ability to delete any file on your system. To do this, open the Terminal application and type “sudo rm -r /path/to/file”. If that doesn’t work, you may need to give yourself permission to delete the file. To fix this, quit any applications that are using the file, then try deleting it again. The most common reason is that the file is in use by another application and cannot be deleted. If you can’t delete files from your external hard drive on a Mac, there could be several reasons why.

Cannot erase external hard drive mac