While my iMac can read the SSD and show all the files, I can't work out how to delete them. They won't be dragged into the Trash and Disk Utility doesn't see the drive to allow me to reformat it. I have managed to get rid of the files by the simple expedient of borrowing an neighbour's Window 11 laptop - his Windows 10 desktop wasn't able to open the drive. Since he may not be there next time I need to do this (it stores items saved on a TV) I would like to know if I can clear them using my iMac.
Perhaps it is formatted as NTFS, which is the default filesystem for modern versions of Windows. I believe the built-in support for NTFS in macOS is still read-only by default, which would explain why you can see the files but not delete them.
I can't think why you would not be able to see the drive in Disk Utility, however, nor why a Windows 10 machine would not be able to read it. So maybe there is something else going on.
There are third-party applications that allow writing to NTFS-formatted drives (for example). I don't have any experience with them, so I can't give a recommendation.
(There is, apparently, experimental support for writing to NTFS built into macOS, which can be enabled by editing a configuration file, but experimental filesystem support is not something you want to go anywhere near!)
Thanks for the explanation Andrew. It is likely to be a long time before I need to empty the drive again, and perhaps by then I will be able to do it on my Mac!
Thanks for the explanation Andrew. It is likely to be a long time before I need to empty the drive again, and perhaps by then I will be able to do it on my Mac!
Michael Corgan 