How do I erase an encrypted TimeMachine drive on Mountain Lion if I've forgotten the password?

Question

My question is similar to this question. I have a USB drive that contains an old encrypted backup. I don't remember the password and don't care about loosing the backup - I just want to be able to use the drive. When I select the volume on the left, I only see two tabs: "First Aid" and "Partition". I don't see an "Erase" tab.

Answer 1

Just found the answer here. Basically, from the terminal, type:

sudo diskutil cs list

You'll get a list of your drives and a bunch of related info. Look for the one you want to format and grab its Logical Volume Group's UUID. It should look something like this:

Logical Volume Group XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX

Then erase the drive by executing the command:

sudo diskutil cs delete XXXXXXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXXXXXXXXXX

Now you should be able to see the drive and format it using Disk Utility.