My flash drive won't let me delete or add files to it

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Level 3

622 points

My flash drive won't let me delete or add files to it

I use a flash drive to bring work between my Mac at home and the Mac at work. It has a lot on it, but it is not full. I can open it and get files from it, but I can't delete files from it or add any more. I tried to duplicate it on a desktop and it started and then stopped saying I didn't have permission finish the operation. I have tried the "Move to trash" menu on 3 different Macs. One, a PPC G4 with Leopard, another a Core two duo with Leopard , and a 2011 MBP with Snow Leopard.

It is a 4GB Lexar drive.

Any help sure appreciated.

Posted on Mar 3, 2012 7:02 PM

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Answer 1

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a brody

Level 10

83,047 points

Mar 3, 2012 7:11 PM in response to Forestman

Probably best if you formatted the drive with your G4. That would wipe the drive, but guarantee the data is readable on both machines. Use Disk Utility to erase and format it. It won't be bootable across all the machines, but at least it is usable. Most are formatted only for PCs, and some may be only be formatted for newer Macs.

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Answer 2

fane_j

Level 4

3,697 points

Mar 3, 2012 9:26 PM in response to Forestman

Forestman wrote:

I can open it and get files from it, but I can't delete files from it or add any more.

The drive is probably formatted as NTFS (default Win file system). Without additional software, Mac OS X can only read NTFS. You need to re-format the flash drive with Disk Utility. If you're only going to use it with Macs, format it as JHFS+ (Mac OS Extended Journaled). If you're going to use it with Macs and PCs, format it as FAT32 (MS-DOS FAT). Formatting it will destroy all data presently on the drive, so back it up first.

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Answer 3

Mar 4, 2012 1:11 AM in response to fane_j

If you first started using this Flash drive on your work Mac, it could mean you were granted read-write rights on this machine only (check with your system admin at work), but I think fane_j is right, it's probably just a matter of formatting it under the right file format: FAT32 is readable (and scriptable) in all platforms, and unless you're going to manipulate very big files (over 2Gb each), you'll do fine on all kinds of computers. And like fane_j pointed out, back it up first!

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