imcoolikethat1
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Q: How to make disk utility erase usb disk fast

I put in my cheap 3.7GB Universal Serial Bus (USB) into my eMac and i open up disk utility. But when i get to the erase tab and name my drive, i click erase, i press okay to confirm that i want to erase it and then it is on the partitioning part of the erase and it is stuck in the same place and will stay there all day and not make any progress. Is there anyway to skip this so that i can skip this or an app that will erase my usb because i need it for school.

 

Thanks You Guys.

Andrew.

Mac OS X (10.4.11)

Posted on May 3, 2014 9:28 AM

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imcoolikethat1

Q: How to make disk utility erase usb disk fast

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  • by Allan Jones,

    Allan Jones Allan Jones May 3, 2014 9:53 AM in response to imcoolikethat1
    Level 8 (35,054 points)
    iPad
    May 3, 2014 9:53 AM in response to imcoolikethat1

    cheap 3.7GB Universal Serial Bus (USB)

     

    Could be a clue. There are reports of some cheap USB thumb drive not being Mac-friendly. Does it have a brand showing? Did the thumb drive ever work on that Mac in the past? Tried it on any other Mac?

     

    What does Disk Utility report for teh formatting of the thumb drive?:

     

    Screen shot 2014-05-03 at 9.51.04 AM.png

    Can you confirm what kind of eMac you have? Early models had USB 1.1; later ones had USB 2.0. Some cheap USB drives can't clock back to USB 1.1.

     

    Please use this Apple article to indentify what eMac variant you have by serial number, but DON'T post your serial number here, just the eMac Model name you find in the chart:

     

    http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2395

  • by imcoolikethat1,

    imcoolikethat1 imcoolikethat1 May 11, 2014 5:16 AM in response to Allan Jones
    Level 1 (0 points)
    May 11, 2014 5:16 AM in response to Allan Jones

    My variant is SCH.

    My eMac has firewire 400 on it and mini vga.

  • by BDAqua,

    BDAqua BDAqua May 11, 2014 11:29 AM in response to imcoolikethat1
    Level 10 (123,506 points)
    May 11, 2014 11:29 AM in response to imcoolikethat1

    Tough to say where the problem is, but seems the Flash Drive is suspect.

     

    More info on your eMac...

     

    http://www.everymac.com/systems/apple/emac/specs/emac_1.42.html

  • by K Shaffer,

    K Shaffer K Shaffer May 14, 2014 6:25 PM in response to imcoolikethat1
    Level 6 (14,279 points)
    Desktops
    May 14, 2014 6:25 PM in response to imcoolikethat1

    Should you face a situation where you need to erase a USB quickly, instead

    of using Disk Utility, just drag all  the content you do not want to the Trash,

    and Empty it before you eject the USB flash drive or other device.

     

    By dragging only the content to Trash, and Empty, you do not need to reformat.

    This saves some time/trouble. Sometimes you may have to reformat one of

    these, from my experiences with cheaper ones, by then they may have failed

    already and don't know it yet.

     

    Even though the older eMac has USB1.1, later has 2.0, even a Drag to Trash/

    Empty may take a little time; but no where near the time it may take to attempt

    to erase using Disk Utility.

     

    A USB flash drive nor a SSD should ever be secure erased and some makers

    say not to do it (where zeros overwrite content) as that isn't good.

     

    If you are the only user of a flash USB drive or thumbdrive, then the fast way is

    the best. In the case of a cheap and non-durable one, you could physically

    destroy it when done; if it doesn't do that all by itself.

     

    Hopefully the adventure has been worthwhile...