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MS DOS fat 32 formatted hard drive not deleting files properly.

I've bought a 500GB external hard drive to use between my Mac and my TV. I formatted it to MS DOS fat 32, as it's the only format that will allow me to use the device between the two. However, this format is not allowing me to delete files off the hard drive properly. If i delete a file from the drive, and look in disk utility it still tells me that there is the same amount of used space on the drive.


I dont have the same problem when the hard drive is formatted to exFAT but then im not able to use the device on my TV, which is mainly what i bought it for. I've also had the same problem with two different 32GB flash drive formatted in the same way.


Am i missing something? Is there a way I should be deleting files differently on this format that will actually clear space on the hard drive without me having to erase the whole thing through disk utility every time?

MacBook Pro (Retina, 13-inch, Late 2013)

Posted on Feb 9, 2016 1:53 AM

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MS DOS fat 32 formatted hard drive not deleting files properly.

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