I have purchased a new MacBook Pro, and wanted to use my WD My Passport External Drive for Back up. It is chock full of back ups from the old MacBook Pro. When attempting to erase the old files, I first received a “Failed” message stating some files are locked, read only, unsharable. I was instructed to get those files, and unlock them. Have no idea which, or how. How do I scrub this external drive? Any advice would be very much appreciated! Thanks, Philmb.
I tried it again, and it worked. “Operation Successful”.
The easiest way to erase any storage drive on Mac is by using Disk Utility feature. But sometimes, Mac Disk Utility can’t erase the hard drive due to various reasons. However, the issue can be fixed using below DIY methods:
- Erase Mac Hard Drive by Enabling ‘Show All Devices’
- Use First Aid to Repair Drive before Erasing
- Use Recovery Mode to Erase Mac Hard Drive
- Erase Data using BitRaser File Eraser
Further, you can also check the below link for detailed steps to be followed in each method above:
Hope it will help!
I was able to find the fix on the apple community and it did work for me:
This should work;
1 Turn off the Mac
2 Turn it on, and immediately press and hold Command + R until you see the Apple logo.
3 Once in macOS Recovery, choose to Disk Utility.
4 Select “View” > “Show All Devices”
5 IMPORTANT: Select the LaCie in External Section, NOT Internal.
6 Click Erase, and use APFS and GUID
7 Click Erase again.
8 Once done, click the Apple Menu (top left) > Restart. This will put you back into macOS.
