How to Clear a Flash Drive on PC or Mac

An easy guide to empty your USB flash drive

Written by Nicole Levine, MFA

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This wikiHow teaches you how to remove all of the files from a flash drive in Windows and macOS.

Method 1

Method 1 of 2:

1
Plug the flash drive into your PC. You can connect your flash drive to any working USB port on your computer.
2
Double-click This PC. It’s the computer icon on your desktop.
- 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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It’s under the “Devices and drives” header in the right panel. A drop-down menu will appear.^{[1]
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The Format window will appear.^{[2]
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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.^{[3]
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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.
This closes the window.

Method 2

Method 2 of 2:

1
Plug the flash drive into your Mac. You can connect your flash drive to any working USB port on your computer.
It’s on the Dock.
Click Applications in the left sidebar, or double-click Applications in the right panel.
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It’s in the left panel.^{[5]
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It’s at the top of the right panel.
8
Select a format. The default formatting option is OS X Extended (Journaled) should work for most people.^{[6]
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- If you want to erase all of the files and use the drive on a Windows PC, select MS-DOS (Fat) instead.
It’s at the bottom-right corner of the window. A confirmation message will appear.^{[7]
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This removes all of the files from your flash drive.^{[8]
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