Resetting a USB stick or SD card using Linux
Download Tails 0.23 March 19, 2014
  1. Using GNOME Disk Utility
  2. Resetting a Tails device from itself

Using GNOME Disk Utility

You might overwrite any hard drive on the computer. If at some point you are not sure about which device to choose, stop proceeding.

  1. Make sure that the USB stick or SD card that you want to reset is unplugged.

  2. Choose Applications ▸ System Tools ▸ Disk Utility to start GNOME Disk Utility.

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

  3. Plug the USB stick or SD card that you want to reset.

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

  4. In the right pane of the window, verify that the device corresponds to the device that you want to reset, its brand, its size, etc.

  5. To reset the device, click on the Format the drive button.

  6. In the popup window, choose Master Boot Record from the Scheme drop-down list. Then click on the Format button.

  7. In the confirmation dialog, click on the Format button to confirm.

  8. To make sure that all the changes are written to the device, click on the Safe Removal button in the right pane.

Resetting a Tails device from itself

If Tails is your only Linux system, you can generally reset a Tails USB stick or SD card directly from that device while running Tails.

  1. When starting Tails, add the toram boot option in the boot menu. For detailed instructions, see the documentation on using the boot menu.

  2. If Tails starts as usual, follow the instructions for resetting a USB stick or SD card using Disk Utility.

    If the system fails to start, that means that the computer does not have enough memory for this operation mode. Try with another computer, or find another Linux system, such as another Tails device, to do the reset from.