External Drive Locked, will not erase?

Hi, yes you can use for example:

diskutil list (and find out the /dev/disk#)

diskutil unmoundDisk  /dev/disk2

diskutil unmoundDisk /force /dev/disk2 (or with force if needed)

diskutil eraseDisk AFPS MyDiskName /dev/disk2

diskutil eraseDisk FORMAT DRIVE_NAME /dev/disk#

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

diskutil eraseDisk APFS DiskName /dev/DiskX

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

diskutil eraseDisk JHFS+ DiskName /dev/DiskX

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

diskutil eraseDisk HFS+ DiskName /dev/DiskX

Formatting a Disk to MS-DOS fat32 from the Command Line in Mac OS X

diskutil eraseDisk FAT32 DiskName /dev/DiskX

Formatting a Disk to ExFAT from the Command Line in Mac OS X

diskutil eraseDisk ExFAT DiskName /dev/DiskX

Again, any of these commands erase the entire target disk and obliterates any data on it.

See more details in this links:

https://easyosx.net/2022/08/29/erase-a-macs-hard-drive-using-the-terminal/

Jefferis Peterson wrote:

I have removed harddrives from an older mac (2004) that I disposed of. I am trying to erase or access the drive which I have in a NewerTech dock. The drive is visible but when I try to Get Info there is a custom setting that cycles in Fetching mode and never completes. I have tried erase and reformat but I am not allowed to do that either. Are there any terminal commands I could use and run permissions on the external, not the internal drives? Been searching online but can't find a tutorial. The drive keeps saying I don't have sufficient permissions to do anything.

Jefferis Peterson wrote:

I have removed harddrives from an older mac (2004) that I disposed of. I am trying to erase or access the drive which I have in a NewerTech dock. The drive is visible but when I try to Get Info there is a custom setting that cycles in Fetching mode and never completes. I have tried erase and reformat but I am not allowed to do that either. Are there any terminal commands I could use and run permissions on the external, not the internal drives? Been searching online but can't find a tutorial. The drive keeps saying I don't have sufficient permissions to do anything.

If the drive is from a 2004 Mac, there is a good chance it isn't functional anymore. Can you see what is in the drive? Not sure why you are trying to erase it, do you still want to use it? I wouldn't, it sounds unreliable. If you can't erase it but want to prevent access to its contents, you can take a sledgehammer to it. I know someone who used to take old drives out into the desert and use them for target practice. Or you can use a drill to destroy it. I am serious here, the sledgehammer takes about 30 seconds, but you could spend hours or days trying to figure out how to erase it via software.

In Disk Utility, choose Show All Devices from the view Popup Menu, select the device (left-most outdated name), and then Erase.

Already tried that. Permissions error.

Drive is probably dead.

yes it should be unmount

Don't know if this will help but you might check "Get Info" and see if you have Read & Write privileges at the bottom.