How To Delete Files From External Hard Drive On Windows 11?

To delete files from an external hard drive on Windows 11, you can follow these steps:

1. Connect your external hard drive to your Windows 11 computer.
2. Open File Explorer by pressing Windows + E or by clicking on the "File Explorer" icon in the taskbar.
3. Navigate to the external hard drive where you want to delete files or folders.
4. Select the individual files or folders you wish to remove by clicking on them, then press Delete on your keyboard or right-click on the selection and choose "Delete" from the context menu.

If you encounter files or folders that cannot be deleted due to permission issues, ownership restrictions, or write protection, follow these additional steps:

• Change Permissions:

  1. Right-click the problematic file or folder, select "Properties."
  2. Go to the "Security" tab.
  3. Grant yourself (or your account) full control over the file or folder by selecting your user account and specifying the desired permissions.

• Remove Write Protection:

  1. Connect the external hard drive to another computer, if possible.

  2. Open Command Prompt in Administrator mode (Windows + X, then click "Command Prompt (Admin)").

  3. Run the following command:

     diskpart
     

  4. Enter the disk number corresponding to your external hard drive (list disk and select disk # where # is your drive number).

  5. Execute the command attributes disk clear readonly to remove read-only attribution on the drive.

  6. Exit diskpart using the command exit.

  7. Type exit in Command Prompt to close it.

• Take Ownership:

  1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator and enter diskpart.
  2. Identify the external hard drive's disk number using the list volume command.
  3. Type select volume [number] where [number] is the drive number corresponding with your external hard drive.
  4. Type assign to assign a drive letter if needed.
  5. Type take ownership /F: followed by <file_system_letter> /I: then <folder_name>, replacing <file_system_letter> with the drive's letter and <folder_name> with the directory name where the problematic file or folder is located.
  6. Close the Command Prompt.

• Forcefully Delete or Wipe the Hard Drive:

  1. To forcefully delete all contents, use the rmdir [folder_name] command (backslashes and quotes are required) replacing [folder_name] with the folder you want to remove.
  2. To wipe the entire drive, use third-party software like MiniTool Partition Wizard (refer to the mentioned search engine results for specific steps if needed).

Please verify the availability and accuracy of each method if you decide to remove data permanently, as the search results may not indicate the most recent and reliable delete file actions.