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I have a Verbatim Store 'n' Go drive which by default comes with software in a partition which password protects the drive. I want to erase this partition, as it only works on Windows (I'm having to look at it now through a virtual machine on my Mac).

I've tried using KillDisk to totally wipe the whole thing, but it doesn't seem to work, and this password-protecting partition always remains intact.

Is there any program which will completely wipe a flash drive, no questions asked? Or is there a way to do it through the Verbatim software? I have the password and everything, I just can't find a way to fully format it.

Cheers.

4 Answers 4

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Windows can also do this with the diskpart utility. You'll want to delete all the partitions on the drive, then zero out the drive, and finally create a new partition and format it.

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  • +1 for helping me fix my flash drive with this exact process
    – eqzx
    Feb 9, 2010 at 2:40
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A quick search shows that the drive you mentioned might have U3 on it. You can use the Mac version of the U3 removal software to get rid of it.

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Pop the drive in your Mac and run dd with the input as /dev/zero to fill it with zeros:

you'll probably need to mount it first:

mount /dev/sda1 /mnt

then wipe it:

dd if=/dev/zero of=/mnt

change the drive location accordingly.

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  • Hi. It appears to be already mounted: "/dev/disk3s0 on /Volumes/V-Secure (cd9660, local, nodev, nosuid, read-only, noowners)". When I try: "dd if=/dev/zero of=/dev/disk3s0" I get "dd: /dev/disk3s0: Resource busy". If I "sudo -s" and "cd /Volumes/V-Secure", I can view the files in the V-Secure folder, which do the password protection. Not sure if I can delete them - if I can, will that work?
    – Anonymous
    Nov 23, 2009 at 20:57
  • It should wipe it. Make sure you aren't in the directory while formatting it and no devices are accessing it (eg. it's open in finder)
    – user1931
    Nov 23, 2009 at 21:02
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I would recommend gparted. It has a really easy to use GUI and has never had any trouble with anything, even if I couldn't get it to work with anything else: http://www.brunolinux.com/01-First_Things_To_Know/Windows_Tools_-_Gparted.html

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