Some apps do have a back up feature so for any of those, make sure to back up that data to your SD card. For most devices you can perform a factory reset by going to menu/settings/privacy. This guide gives three solutions to clear an SD card, and you can choose any of them to completely and securely erase an SD card. Wiping an SD card makes data on the memory card no longer recoverable, you should make sure important files have been backed up in advance. If you have any questions or better solutions, please feel free to contact us.
Isn’t it frustrating when your camera gets sluggish after you put the memory card back in? Or when you connect the card to a Windows computer after your Mac, and have to browse through odd-looking files like Spotlight-V100?
Both of these problems are caused by the service files OS X writes onto your memory card when you work with it on a Mac. Normally, when you ask someone how to clean an SD card, the answer you get is “just format it”. But what if formatting the SD card is not an option, because you only want those junk files gone, not everything you’ve got there? Well, looks like you’re going to need an SD card cleaner (we recommend CleanMyDrive 2, it’s free and works with all kinds of external drives).
In this post, we’ll show you how to clear SD card junk with a cleaner app, so that you don’t have to format your SD card. But first, let’s figure out what these troublemaker files on your card are.
What’s there to clean on an SD card?
After connecting your card to a Mac, you may have noticed some of these files on it:
- .DS_Store
- .Spotlight-V100
- .TemporaryItems
- .fseventsd
What are they? These are files the OS X creates as it works with your SD card, for various purposes. .DS_Store, for example, stores different folder data for the Finder, like how the icons are positioned. .fseventsd is a log file the system writes when files are deleted or modified. So, at some point they were useful to your Mac, but not anymore — and they are certainly useless to you. Even worse: they can corrupt your memory card’s performance and cause your camera to lag.
But the most annoying thing about these files is that they are hard to get rid of manually. Formatting the SD card helps, but if you don’t want to throw out the baby with the bathwater and delete your own files along with the junk — an SD cleaner app is the way out.
How to remove junk files with an SD card cleaner
External storage cleaner apps for Mac are not as common as they should be (someone please do something about that). But fortunately, we’ve got a free app that is tremendously helpful for SD cards and other types of external drives — CleanMyDrive 2. Here’s how you clean all the pesky junk files with it:
- Install CleanMyDrive 2 (it will settle in your menu bar for easy access).
- Click on the CleanMyDrive 2 icon in your menu bar. You’ll see all connected drives, including your SD card.
- Hit the Clean button next to your card.
Done. This will clear SD card junk and make the card run like new again. Even better: you can set the SD cleaner to remove junk automatically upon eject. To set up automatic cleanups, do the following:
- Open CleanMyDrive 2.
- Click on the little round icon next to your SD card.
- Enable Automatic cleanup.
That’s it. From now on, CleanMyDrive 2 will wipe out OS X service files every time you eject the SD card. You can forget about annoying .DS_Stores on your memory card, or the laggy camera after you’ve transferred pics onto your Mac. Get CleanMyDrive 2 for free and see how much an SD card cleaner can help. Seriously, it’s more useful that we’re telling you.
Diskpart is a Windows built-in tool for users to clean up disk, format drive, or convert disk for free. However, sometimes Diskpart may not work due to some errors. If the Diskpart command fails to execute your command, don't worry.
You can either follow fixes on this page to make Diskpart work normally again or choose a Diskpart alternative tool to resolve this issue on your own:
![Clean Clean](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/XMb4rmi7y3k/maxresdefault.jpg)
- How to Fix Diskpart Clean Not Working Error
- Fix 1. Reconnect the Target Device
- Fix 2. Check if Drive Is Being Occupied or Locked
- Fix 3. Unlock Drive, Remove Write Protection
- Fix 4. Clean Disk Using Free Diskpart Alternative Tool [Easiest]
- Fix 5. Clean Disk Using Diskpart Command
Among these fixes, EaseUS Partition Master can assist you in formatting, erasing your USB, SD Card, or drive with ease.
Case - DiskPart Clean Not Working Error
'Hi there, do you know how to clean up a whole disk or USB drive when the diskpart clean command is not working in Windows 10? I was planning to use the Diskpart to erase my external hard drive so to wipe out all data. But it won't work.
Instead, it prompts an error message, warning that 'DiskPart has encountered an error: Access is denied...'. How can I fix this error, any DiskPart alternative method that can help me fix this issue? '
Are you having the same error on your computer? You want to use Diskpart to format or clean a hard drive, USB, or SD card, but the command window warns that Diskpart has encountered an error.
So why is Diskpart not working? Mostly, the Diskpart not working error is caused by the following reasons:
- 1. Drive is occupied or being used by other programs.
- 2. USB or SD card is locked or write-protected.
- 3. Hard disk is encrypted by a third-party encryption tool.
With one of the listed problems on your device, Diskpart won't be able to execute any formatting or disk erasing command. As for the specific fixes, follow the next part, you can find all the detailed steps shown below.
How to Fix Diskpart Clean Not Working Error
Applies to: Fix Diskpart clean not working, cannot clean disk in Diskpart error in Windows 10/8.1/8/7, etc.
When Diskpart stops working or won't work for formatting or cleaning disk, follow the 5 fixes that you can apply to fix not working Diskpart on your computer immediately. Then, you can complete cleaning up disk or formatting drive, USB or SD card, etc. on your own.
Fix 1. Reconnect the Target Device to PC
Sometimes, when your hard drive or external USB, SD card is not correctly connected to the computer, Diskpart won't be able to execute any formatting or cleaning command lines. So your best choice is to reconnect the device:
Step 1. Unplug your USB, SD card from PC.
If it's a hard drive, reinstall it to your computer via a SATA cable and a power cable.
Step 2. Reconnect the target device to your PC again.
Step 3. Log in your computer as an Administrator.
Now, you can move to Fix 2 to check if the drive is currently locked or encrypted.
Fix 2. Check if Drive Is Being Occupied or Locked
Step 1. Keep the target device connect to your PC and open File Explorer.
Step 2.Try to open the device to see if you can access all data.
Step 3.Once the target device is accessible, follow Fix 4 or Fix 5 to clean the drive.
If the system warns that your device is being occupied by a running program or file, close the running program or opening file. Then move to Fix 4 or Fix 5 to execute the disk cleaning operation.
If you receive a notification, telling that your disk is write-protected, unlock or remove write protection from the device first with tutorials in Fix 3.
Fix 3. Unlock Drive, Remove Write Protection
![Clean sd card windows Clean sd card windows](https://www.cnet.com/a/img/4PunjHque9rbYR648wVMI8oq4I0=/1200x675/2016/12/13/c913dd30-3822-47a4-a311-ddbbe2b2b319/dsc0126.jpg)
Note that when a storage device is locked, encrypted, or write-protected, you won't be able to access nor make any changes to the drive. So the first thing to fix Diskpart not working error is to unlock, decrypt, and remove write-protection from your target disks.
You have four options:
#1. Unlock External USB/SD Card
Step 1. Connect the external USB or SD card to PC correctly.
Step 2. Change the Switch on USB or SD card to the Off-side.
Unlock SD card:
Unlock USB:
After this, you can run Diskpart clean command to clear the USB or SD card now. For an easier way, turn to EaseUS Partition Master as shown in Fix 4 for help.
#2. Remove Read-only State from Device
Device display as Read-only is a common issue that stops Diskpart from cleaning or formatting a storage device. If your disk shows as Read-only in Disk Management or says it's read-only, take the steps below to clear this state, making your drive accessible again:
Step 1. Keep the device connected to your PC correctly.
Step 2. Press Windows + R, type cmd and hit Enter to open Command Prompt.
Step 3. Type the command lines here and hit Enter each time to clear read-only state from your device:
- diskpart
- list disk
- select disk #
- attributes disk clear readonly
Replace # with the disk number of your target device.
Step 4. Type exit to close the program once the process completes.
#3. Remove Write Protection by Editing Registry Key
When a storage device is write-protected, you can follow the steps here to remove write protection by editing the registry key:
Step 1. Connect the write-protected device to PC.
![Clean up sd card android Clean up sd card android](https://cdn.diskinternals.com/media/thumbs/300_200_media_en_products_partition-recovery_change-path.png.jpg)
Step 2. Type regedit in the Run dialog and click 'OK' to open Registry.
Step 3. Navigate to: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESYSTEMCurrentControlSetControlStorageDevicePolicies.
Step 4. Double click 'WriteProtect' key and change the value to '0', click 'OK' to confirm.
After this, exit Registry and restart your PC. There, you should be able to access the drive and clean it via Diskpart clean command now.
Remove Writ Protection Tool
If you are not professional in computing management and not familiar with command lines, don't worry. EaseUS R&D team has promoted a fresh kit for helping you resolve the write-protection issue on your hard drive, external hard drive, USB or SD card, etc., devices.
EaseUS Tools M is a practical computer fixing tool that is safe and light-weighted. It's a perfect alternative to the command line.
Use this one-click tool to solve the write-protection issues on your own:
Step 1: DOWNLOAD and install EaseUS Tools M for free.
Step 2: Run EaseUS Tools M on your PC, choose the 'Write Protection' mode.
Step 3: Select the device which is now 'Write-Protected' and click 'Disable' to remove the protection.
#4. Decrypt Device using Third-party Tool
Note that if your hard drive, USB, or SD card is encrypted by a third-party software or encryption program, you will need to use the encryption tool to decrypt the drive.
![Contacts Contacts](https://www.androidpolice.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/fire-tablet-storage-hero-668x445.jpg)
Fix 4. Clean Disk/USB/SD Card Using Free Diskpart Alternative Tool
Best for: Windows beginners, all levels of Windows users;
Note that if you prefer an all-in-one disk cleaning tool, Diskpart is not the best shot. It's even too complicated for Windows beginners.
Here, we'd like to recommend you to try Diskpart alternative freeware - EaseUS Partition Master Free. It works as equivalently as diskpart in formatting devices, cleaning up and erasing data or changing file systems on your USB, SD card, or hard drive.
Follow to clean up your disk, USB, or SD card now:
Step 1. Launch EaseUS Partition Master, right-click the partition you want to erase data from, and choose 'Wipe Data'.
Step 2. In the new window, set the time for which you want to wipe your partition, then click 'OK'.
Step 3. Click the 'Execute Operation' button in the top-right corner, check the changes, then click 'Apply' to wipe the data on your partition.
After this, your disk is blank and you can apply the Create partition feature in this tool to create new partitions to save your data.
Besides, it even supports you to resize partition, create a new partition, delete or even command partitions for free on Windows 10/8/7/Vista/XP.
Fix 5. Run Diskpart Clean Command to Clean Drive/USB/SD Card
Finally, you should have fixed all the errors which stop diskpart from working in the system disk, external storage devices. And then, you can run a disk clean command in Diskpart to make it 100% working again:
Clean Disk via Diskpart Clean Command:
Step 1. Connect your device to PC.
Step 2. Press Windows + R keys, type cmd and hit Enter to open Command Prompt.
Step 3. Type the clean command lines here to wipe your disk and hit Enter each time:
- diskpart
- list disk
- select disk #
- clean or clean all
Replace # with your drive number.
'Clean' means to delete everything on your drive but files are recoverable.
'Clean all' means to erase your drive, data, both partitions and data will be unrecoverable.
Step4. Type exit to close the Window.
Conclusion
On this page, we explained the causes of Diskpart clean not working error, and provide the complete resolution to help you fix this issue. If you are with this error, reconnect your drive, and remove the write protection first.
Then, apply the easiest Diskpart clean alternative tool - EaseUS Partition Master Free to easily wipe the hard drive, clean everything on your drive in only a few simple clicks.
If you have more questions related to Diskpart clean, check the questions and answers listed here. Hope we can solve your doubts.
People Also Ask About Diskpart Clean
1. Does Diskpart clean erase data?
Note that Diskpart clean command is set to delete all partitions and data on the target device. Accordingly, the data that gets cleaned is recoverable. So the answer is no.
Diskpart clean command will not erase data. But the Diskpart clean all command will do.
2. How long does Diskpart clean take?
According to most users and EaseUS partition master expert, Diskpart clean is a very shot process. It only takes 1-2 minutes to delete everything from the drive.
But the clean all command in Diskpart will last longer, about 4-5 minutes or so. Because it will delete all the partitions on your target device and erase all saved files.
3. How do I format disk via Diskpart command?
Clean Sd Card Reader
If you want to format a hard drive, USB, or SD card using Diskpart, here is a simple guide that you can follow:
- 1. Connect target disk to PC.
- 2. Press Windows + R, type diskpart, and hit Enter.
- 3. Type list disk and hit Enter.
- 4. Type select disk # and hit Enter.
- 5. Type format fs=ntfs quick or format fs=fat32 quick and hit Enter.
- 6. Type exit and hit Enter.
How Do I Clean Up My Sd Card
Read More: Format USB Flash Drive using CMD.
How To Clean Up Sd Card On Mac
Now that you can apply diskpart to format a disk, clean up data in hard drive partition or change the file system of USB/SD card, etc. storage devices in your PC again.
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