To erase everything the USB Drive, most users are likely to delete or format the USB Drive. However, a simple deletion or formatting cannot wipe data from the device completely. And any advanced computer user can easily recover them using any data recovery programs. So, to completely wipe USB Drive clean needs extra operation. Today we will introduce three methods that can help erase data on USB devices permanently and securely.

How to format USB Drive with File Explorer ?

To format a USB Drive using File Explorer on Windows 10, use these steps:

1. Open File Explorer.

2. Click on This PC from the left pane.

3. Under the "Device and drives" section, right-click the USB Drive and select the Format option.

4. In the "Volume label" field, confirm a drive name that will apear in File Explorer. For example USBDRIVE.
5. Under the "Format Options" section, unchecked the Quick format option.

Note: The "Quick Format" option only deletes the file system table and the root folder, but the data may still be recoverable. If you do not check the option, a full format operation will be performed, and it will do a scan for bad sectors and writes zeros in all sectors deleting the data. As a result this process can take a long time, depending on the size of the drive

6. Click the Start button.
7. Click the OK button

Now formatting is start and it takes some time for fully wiped your USB Drive.

8. After Complete the formatting process Click on OK button.

Once you complete the steps, the USB Drive will be fully wiped.

Full Wiped UBS Drive using Powershell

To format a USB Drive using PowerShell commands, use these steps:

1. Open Start Menu and Search for PowerShell.

2. Click on Run as administrator option.

3. Type the following command to perform a quick format on the USB Drive and press Enter:

Format-Volume -DriveLetter <drive-letter> -FileSystem <file-system> -NewFileSystemLabel <drive-name> -Full

In the command, replace <drive-letter> with the correct letter reflecting the drive you want to format in my case drive letter is E, <file-system> for FAT32, or NTFS, and <drive-name> with the name you want the device to appear in File Explorer

After you complete the steps, PowerShell will wiped the USB Drive.

Full wiped USB Drive using DiskPart command in Command Prompt

1. Open Start Menu, Search CommandPrompt.

2. Click on Run as administrator option.

3. Type the following command to launch the diskpart tool and press Enter:

diskpart

4. Type the following command to view a list of the available drives and press Enter:

list disk

5. Type the following command to select the UBS Drive you want to delete and press Enter:

select disk <disk-number>

In the command, make sure to replace <disk-number> representing the drive you are trying ti format.

This example selects the USB Drive listed as disk number 1:

select disk 2

6. Type the following command to delete all the partitions on the storage and Enter:

clean all

clean all command full format your drive, and this command take some time .

7. Type the following command to create a primary partition and press Enter:

create partition primary

8. Type the following command to perform a quick format and press Enter:

format fs=<file-system> label=<drive-name> quick

In the command, make sure to replace <file-system> for your preferred file system, including "FAT32", "exFAT", or "NTFS", Also replace <drive-name> with the name you want to give the device.

This example formats the removable storage using the FAT32 file system and applies the "usbdrive" name:

format fs=FAT32 label=usbdrive quick

9. Type the following command to assign a drive letter and press Enter:

assign

You can append "letter=E" in the command to assign (in this case) "E" as the drive letter. Otherwise, the system will assign a letter automatically.

10. Type the following command to close diskpart and press Enter:

exit