How to format a Mac Drive in Terminal

Here is a few sample examples of how to format a drive in Terminal.

Click Applications > Utilities > Terminal.

Always run Diskutil list. This will show you the list of the drives on that computer which will help you identify which drive name is needed to for the DiskNoteID at the end of the terminal command.

Formatting a Disk to Mac OS Extended Journaled (JHFS+) from Terminal in Mac OS X

diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ DiskName /dev/DiskNodeID

Continue reading “How to format a Mac Drive in Terminal”

How to format a USB Drive to keep its File System on a Mac

If you have ever got a large amount of data you want to wipe from a USB stick on a Mac you have 2 options select all and delete the files on the pen stick or format the pen stick.

The issue with just deleted the files from the pen stick the actual data is still stored on the pen stick until you empty your recycle bin. The worst thing you can do is eject the drive without doing that causing the pen stick to not remove the data from the drive. This is a very common feature on a Mac not so much on a Windows PC however it does happen.

Continue reading “How to format a USB Drive to keep its File System on a Mac”