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I can't erase/delete files on my external USB hard disk drive

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Problem

I can't delete files in Windows 7 Home Premium from my 500GB Western Digital Elements external USB hard disk drive. I can't find a Delete option and if I drag a file to the Recycle Bin, it won't go there.

Answer

This looks like a problem to do with permissions or file attributes. Many external hard drives are preformatted, and, because they are intended to store backups, are designed to make files difficult to delete. Some backup external hard drives even have a physical read-only switch that makes it impossible to write to or delete them.

Also, if the files were copied from CDs or DVDs, they may retain a read-only file attribute.

If there is no read-only hardware switch preventing deletion and you're using the administrator account (not a user account), you can reset the permissions in order to give full access to the files.

Microsoft Knowledge Base article 326549 called You cannot view or change the Read-only or the System attributes of folders in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, in Windows Vista or in Windows 7 - http://support.microsoft.com/kb/326549/en-uk - provides step-by-step instructions on "how to use the Attrib command to work around the inability to view or to remove the Read-only or the System attributes of folders in Windows Server 2003, in Windows XP, Windows Vista and in Windows 7." Following those instructions, a few clicks should restore the ability to delete the files.