How to Completely Erase an External Hard Drive
An external hard drive connects to a computer through a port that communicates with the operating system (OS) in much the same way an internal hard drive does. Completely erasing all of the files from an external hard drive does not disturb the formatting required to interact with the computer's operating system (OS). Hidden files require a more thorough procedure than just dragging all of the files in an external hard drive to the Trash, the OS of the computer providing for this need with built-in software. The external hard drive is not compromised at any time by having all of its files erased.
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Instructions
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Completely Erasing The External Hard Drive's Files On A Mac
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Plug the data cord from the external hard drive into an appropriate port on the Mac---this will be a USB or Firewire port, depending upon the construction of the external hard drive.
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Insert the Mac OS X installation disk into the disc slot on the side of the Mac (if the Mac uses a disk tray, eject the tray, put the Mac OS X installation disk onto the tray and then close it). Wait for the icon of the Mac OS X installation disk to appear on the desktop.
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Double-click the icon of the Mac OS X installation disk to open its window on the desktop. Double-click on the "Install Mac OS X" icon that is inside of the window to bring up the installation window.
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Click on the "Utilities" button at the lower left corner of the window. Enter the password for the Mac in the "Password" text field of the pop-up window that appears. Click the "OK" button to close the pop-up window.
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Select "English' from the list presented in a new window that appears on the screen. Click "Continue."
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Go to "Utilities" at the top of the screen. Select "Disk Utility" from the drop down menu. Wait anywhere from a half minute up to three minutes for the Disk Utilities program to load.
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Select the icon of the external hard drive in the left column of the Disk Utility program's main screen. Click on the "Erase" tab at the top of the screen. Click on the "Erase" button at the lower right corner of the screen. Click "Erase" on the pop-up window that appears.
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Wait as a progress bar appears at the bottom of the screen and fills in from left to right. Quit the Disk Utility program once the progress bar has completely filled in. Quit the installation program. Drag the icon of the Mac OS X installation disk from the desktop to the Trash. Remove the disk from the side slot or from the ejected disk tray (close the disk tray afterwards).
Completely Erasing The External Hard Drive's Files On A PC
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Select the Disk Defragmenter program that's included with Windows from the "Start," "All Programs," "Accessories," "System Tools" pop-up menu.
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Select the name of the external hard drive from the list presented in the window that appears on the screen. Click the "Defragment disk" button at the lower right corner of the window. Wait as a progress indicator on the right side of the name of the external hard drive goes from "0" to "100" percent. Quit the program when the progress indicator reaches "100."
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Eject the disk tray of the DVD drive. Place the Windows installation disk onto the disk tray. Close the disk tray.
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Restart the PC. Tap a key on the keyboard after the PC restarts. Wait for the Windows installation screen to appear.
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Choose "Clean installation" from the list of choices presented on the screen. Click the "Continue" button to move through screens until you come to one that has formatting the hard drive on it.
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Select the name of the external hard drive from the list presented on the screen. Click the "Continue" button.
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Wait as a progress bar on a new window fills in from left to right as the external hard drive is reformatted and all the files erased from it.
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Click the "Continue" button on the bottom of the screen after the progress bar is completely filled in. Quit the Windows installation program. Eject the disc tray. Remove the Windows installation disc and close the disc tray.
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Tips & Warnings
Backing up the external hard drive first will guarantee that you have access to any file that you decide later should not have been erased.
