| Have you ever tried to delete files from your USB | | | | 1) Plug the USB drive into your Mac |
| flash drive in OS X, only to find that you haven't gained | | | | 2) Delete the files you no longer need, using Finder |
| any free space on your flash drive? It's not a glitch or | | | | 3) Open Terminal (located in Applications --> Utilities) |
| a bug, it's just that OS X works a bit differently than | | | | 4) Type in "cd /Volumes" (without quotes) |
| Windows. There are two ways to permanently delete | | | | 5) Type in "ls" (without quotes) to get a list of items |
| files from your flash drive. | | | | attached to your computer |
| The easiest way to permanently delete files from your | | | | 6) Find your USB drive's name in the list. Let's say it's |
| flash drive is to: | | | | called "USBdrive" |
| 1) Plug the USB drive into your Mac | | | | 7) Type in "cd USBdrive" |
| 2) Delete the files you no longer need, using Finder | | | | 8) When you delete a file on your USB drive, OS X |
| 3) Clear the trash | | | | creates a folder called ".Trashes" (the dot symbolizes |
| The disadvantage of this method is that it will also | | | | "hidden"). So to delete all hidden files, type in "rem -r .*" |
| erase files in the trash can on your computer's hard | | | | (without quotes) |
| drive. | | | | 9) Respond with "y" if asked to confirm the delete |
| It is possible to permanently delete files ONLY from | | | | If all that sounds too confusing, just go with the first |
| your USB drive, but it's a lot more complicated, and it | | | | method of clearing the trash. It's a much easier way to |
| requires previous knowledge of Terminal. Here's how | | | | delete files from your flash drive in OS X. |
| to do it: | | | | |