I don't know what I did to my external HDD on Windows XP several years ago, that I couldn't delete files and folders. Surprisingly, I thought I can delete it using Mac but it didn't work! I tried running on safe mode but to no avail. I tried command prompt, not the ordinary command prompt but the one from PowerShell interface.



I was able to delete a few stubborn files using the command "remove-item file or folder -force".

I was still left with a lot of stubborn files so I tried this AOMEI Partition Assistant. Just choose "Shred Files" and you are good to go.