Uninstalling Tails using macOS

To uninstall Tails from a USB stick, and use it for something else, you have to format it.

The content of the USB stick is lost in the operation, but an attacker might still be able to tell that Tails was installed on that USB stick using data recovery techniques.

  1. Start on macOS.

  2. Make sure that the USB stick that you want to uninstall is unplugged.

  3. 打開磁碟工具.

    A list of all the storage devices on the computer appears in the left pane of the window.

  4. Plug in the USB stick that you want to uninstall.

    A new device appears in the list of storage devices. This new device corresponds to the USB stick that you plugged in. Click on it.

  5. In the list of storage devices, verify that the device corresponds to the USB stick that you want to uninstall, its brand, its size, etc.

    You might overwrite any hard disk on the computer.

    If you are not sure about which device to choose, stop proceeding.

  6. To reset the USB stick, select the Erase button in the top middle.

  7. 在確認的對話視窗中，按下清除鍵以確認。

  8. In the Erase dialog, if you want the USB stick to also work on Windows and Linux, specify:

    • Format: MS-DOS (FAT)
    • Scheme: Master Boot Record

  9. Click Erase.

如果清除操作失敗，請試著利用文字命令操作來格式化 USB 隨身磁。

Formatting the USB stick using the command line

  1. 電腦上拔除 USB 隨身碟。

  2. Open the Terminal utility from Applications ▸ Utilities.

  3. Execute the following command.

    diskutil list

    如果它傳回一個系統上的儲存設備清單，例如像：

    /dev/disk0
 #:                     TYPE NAME         SIZE      IDENTIFIER
 0:    GUID_partition_scheme             *500.1 GB  disk0
 1:                      EFI              209.7 MB  disk0s1
 2:                Apple_HFS MacDrive     250.0 GB  disk0s2
 3:                      EFI              134.1 GB  disk0s3
 4:     Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP     115.5 GB  disk0s4

  4. Plug in the USB stick that you want to uninstall.

  5. Execute again the same command.

    diskutil list

    你的 USB 隨身碟會出現在清單上的一個新設備。檢查 它的容量大小是否符合你的USB 隨身碟

    /dev/disk0
 #:                     TYPE NAME         SIZE      IDENTIFIER
 0:    GUID_partition_scheme             *500.1 GB  disk0
 1:                      EFI              209.7 MB  disk0s1
 2:                Apple_HFS MacDrive     250.0 GB  disk0s2
 3:                      EFI              134.1 GB  disk0s3
 4:     Microsoft Basic Data BOOTCAMP     115.5 GB  disk0s4

/dev/disk1
 #:                     TYPE NAME         SIZE      IDENTIFIER
 0:   FDisk_partition_scheme             *8.0 GB    disk1
 1:                Apple_HFS Untitled 1   8.0 GB    disk1s1

  6. Take note of the device name of your USB stick.

    In this example, the USB stick is 8.0 GB and its device name is /dev/disk1. Yours might be different.

    You might overwrite any hard disk on the computer.

    If you are not sure about the device, stop proceeding.

  7. Execute the following command to safely eject the USB stick. Replace device with the device name found in step 6.

    diskutil unmountDisk device

  8. Execute the following command to format the USB stick. Replace device with the device name found in step 6.

    sudo fdisk -iy device

  9. You can try to uninstall the USB stick again using Disk Utility from the beginning of this page.