Mac Data Eraser for Seagate Backup Plus

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Seagate Backup Plus is one of the popular portable hard drives. It's widely used among users, like Mac users. Normally, users will use it to transfer data or keep some data temporary or use it to back up data. Once the job is done, you may not need the data on the drive. If the data is sensitive, it's necessary to wipe the data completely to avoid data leakage. As a Mac user, do you know how to wipe Seagate Backup Plus on Mac?

Why do you need to wipe data on Seagate Backup Plus? Sometimes, the external drive would be lost or stolen. In such case, the data on the drive would also be stolen and cause loss for you. For example, if there are private information, like bank account information, business data, etc., then it will cause trouble for you if you lost the drive. Also, you may lend the drive to your friends or others sometimes. To avoid data breach in these cases, you need to erase the data after using the drive.

To wipe your data on Seagate Backup Plus on Mac, you first need a professional and secure data wiping tool. We suggest you use Donemax Data Eraser for Mac.With this software, you can use it on Mac and wipe data on internal hard drive, external hard drive, SSD, USB flash drive, memory card, and so on.

Why to Wipe Seagate Backup Plus on Mac?

There are multiple reasons why you would need to wipe or erase a Seagate Backup Plus drive on a Mac, moving from the most common to more technical reasons.

1. Format the Seagate Backup Plus drive for macOS

This is the most common reason. Seagate Backup Plus drives are typically pre-formatted for Windows (using the NTFS file system) out of the box. However, macOS can read from NTFS drives but cannot write to them by default. You'll be able to copy files from the drive, but you won't be able to save new files, edit existing ones, or use it for Time Machine. Wiping and reformatting the drive to a macOS-compatible file system like APFS (for SSDs and modern macOS) or HFS+ (for HDDs and older macOS compatibility) is essential. This gives you full read-and-write capabilities and allows the drive to integrate seamlessly with your Mac.

2. Resolve file system corruption and errors

Drives can develop errors over time due to improper ejection, power surges, or bad sectors. This can lead to strange behavior like files disappearing, the drive becoming read-only, or your Mac failing to mount it. File system corruption can make the drive unreliable and potentially lead to data loss. Wiping the drive and applying a fresh, clean file system format often resolves these software-level corruptions and restores the drive to a healthy, stable state.

3. Remove partitioning schemes (e.g., Boot Camp or Multiple Volumes)

You might have set up the Seagate Backup Plus drive with multiple partitions—for instance, one for Time Machine and one for general storage, or if you previously used it with a Boot Camp Windows setup. Wiping the drive allows you to remove all existing partitions and create a single, large partition, consolidating your storage space and simplifying management.

4. Switch the drive's purpose

The ideal file system can depend on how you use the drive. You might need to wipe it to change its primary function. For example, If you need to use the Seagate Backup Plus drive interchangeably between a Mac and a Windows PC, you would wipe it and format it to exFAT.

5. Perform a "Clean Slate" for troubleshooting

If the Seagate Backup Plus drive is behaving erratically and you have a backup of its contents, a full wipe and reformat can be a powerful troubleshooting step. It eliminates the current drive environment (including any hidden system files, caches, or permission errors) as the source of the problem.

6. Completely erase sensitive data before sale or disposal

If you plan to sell, give away, or recycle the Seagate Backup Plus drive, simply moving files to the Trash is not enough. The data is still recoverable with specialized recovery software. A secure wipe using professional software overwrites the entire drive with random data, making the original contents virtually impossible to recover. This protects your personal, financial, or confidential information.

Wipe Seagate Backup Plus with Disk Utility on Mac

The first method to wipe Seagate Backup Plus on Mac is using Disk Utility. This macOS Built-in tool is able to format the drive and remove all data from the drive. If you want to fix file system issues or change the file system of the drive, you can use this method to wipe the drive quickly.

Here is a simple guide about how to wipe Seagate Backup Plus drive with Disk Utility on Mac:

Step 1. Connect the Seagate Backup Plus drive to Mac and ensure it's recognized.

Step 2. Open the tool Disk Utility (from Applications → Utilities).

Step 3. Select the Seagate Backup Plus drive in Disk Utility and click Erase button at the top of the Disk Utility's window.

Step 4. In the popup window, set the name, file system and partition scheme for the drive. Click the Erase button to format the Drive quickly.

Please note that this method just format the drive and make it empty. However, it will not make the data unrecoverable. With data recovery tools, it's easy to get back the formatted data.

How to Wipe Seagate Backup Plus on Mac with Software?

In some special cases, you may want to wipe data permanently from Seagate Backup Plus on Mac. A simple formatting operation will not achieve that goal. You need a professional data erasure software to do the job. For example, you can use the top data wiping tool - Donemax Data Eraser for Mac.

Before you use the software to wipe data on Seagate Backup Plus on Mac, please first download and install the software on your Mac computer. Here is the download for the software:

Connect your Seagate Backup Plus to your Mac via USB connection. Then launch Donemax Data Eraser for Mac to wipe data on the drive. There are 3 options for you to wipe the data with this application. We will introduce each option for you in detail.

Option 1. Shred specified files. If you only want to wipe individual files or folders on Seagate Backup Plus, you can choose the first mode Erase Files/Folders. With this mode, it will shred the selected files or folders. If you only have a few files/folders to wipe, this mode can help you quickly.

Option 2. Wipe all data on Seagate Backup Plus. To get a totally clean drive like a new one, you can choose Erase Hard Drive option to wipe all the data on the disk. It will erase all the existing and deleted/lost data on the disk.

Option 3. Erase Deleted Data. After deleting some files, you may then want to permanently erase these files and ensure no way to recover the data. In such a case, you can use Erase Free Space option to help you. It can wipe any data in the free space on the disk. Then you can ensure all the deleted files will be wiped and not be recovered with any data recovery software.

Donemax Data Eraser for Mac is secure enough. It will wipe all the selected data or drive permanently. All the wiped data will not be recovered in any way. With the professional data wiping algorithms, it will sure to wipe data effectively. If you need to wipe data to avoid data leakage, feel free to download and have a try with this tool.

Conclusion

When formatting Seagate Backup Plus or erase it using Disk Utility on Mac, the data on the drive is not gone forever. It just remove all the data from the drive but the data is still recoverable.

If you want to wipe all data from the drive and make sure the data is not recoverable, you can use the software Donemax Data Eraser for Mac. The software can guarantee the data on the drive will be wiped permanently and no recovery software can get data back.