Can’t Delete Files From External Hard Drive? Fix It Now!

I Can’t Delete Files From External Hard Drive

Permanently deleting useless files from external hard drives not only frees up drive space but also effectively prevents data leakage. However, you may encounter the problem of being unable to delete files like the following user:

Unable to delete folder from external hard drive. This is driving me nuts. This one external hard drive simply does not "allow" me to delete folders. Now, there is no error message. I click on the folder I want to delete and get the normal "delete dialog" about "recycling" files. Then, the dialog closes but the folder and all files remain on the drive like nothing happened.www.tenforums.com

Usually, external drive files may fail to be deleted due to the following reasons:

• You do not have permission to delete a certain file.
• The external drive is write-protected.
• The drive has a file system error.
• The drive is attacked by a virus.

Here we have collected several ways that are proven to be effective in resolving this issue. Just keep reading.

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What to Do When You Can’t Delete Files From External Hard Drive

Solution 1. Get the File/Folder Permission

If you do not have permission to delete the file/folder, you can follow the steps below to get permission.

Step 1. In File Explorer, right-click the file that cannot be deleted and click Properties.

Step 2. Move on to the Security tab, then click the Edit button.

Step 3. In the new window, click Add.

Step 4. Type Authenticated Users in the text box and click OK.

Step 5. Next, make sure the Authenticated Users name is selected, then check the Allow box next to Full control.

Step 6. Click Apply > OK.

Now, you can try to delete the file again and check if you can delete it successfully.

Solution 2. Remove Write Protection From the External Drive

If the external drive is write-protected, you may also be unable to delete its files. How to remove the write-protected attribute? Just follow the steps below.

Step 1. In the Windows search box, type diskpart and then right-click on it from the best match result to select Run as administrator.

Step 2. In the command line window, type the following commands. Press Enter after each command.

• list disk
• select disk x (x refers to the disk number of your external hard drive)
• attributes disk clear readonly

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Solution 3. Error Checking the External Hard Drive

As mentioned before, the corrupted file system can also trigger the external hard drive files not to be deleted. To repair the file system, you can run the error-checking tool.

Step 1. In File Explorer, move on to the This PC section.

Step 2. In the right panel, find and right-click the external hard drive, then select Properties from the context menu.

Step 3. Go to the Tools tab, and then click the Check button to detect and fix file system errors.

Step 4. Wait for the process to complete, then check if the “can’t delete files from hard drive” issue has gone.

Solution 4. Reformat the External Hard Drive

The final solution to fix not being able to delete files on an external drive is to format the drive. Formatting a hard drive deletes all data on the hard drive and allows you to set up a new file system. You can format an external hard drive from File Explorer.

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Step 1. In the This PC section, right-click the external hard drive to select Format.

Step 2. In the pop-up window, choose a file system, set up a volume label, check the Quick Format option, and click Start.

If you receive an error message saying Windows was unable to complete the format, you can use free hard drive formatter, MiniTool Partition Wizard, to format the external hard drive.

Step 1. Download, install, and run MiniTool Partition Wizard.

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Step 2. Select the partition that needs to be formatted, then scroll down to click Format Partition from the left panel.

Step 3. Click the Apply button in the lower left corner.

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Wrapping Things Up

In a nutshell, if you can’t delete files from external hard drive, you can try to get the file/folder permission, remove the write protection of the drive, check the drive for errors, and format the drive.

Before formatting the drive, you need to recover its data with MiniTool Power Data Recovery.

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Should you have any questions about MiniTool software, please contact us via [email protected].