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Deleting files and empyting the trash can

M

mackaveli

macrumors regular
Original poster
im roughly new to the Mac and i know in windows if you delete files you can recover some of the files sometimes. I want to make sure that does not happen and i want to delete the file permantely*. is doing Secure Empty Trash Enough?

Also i was just using regular empty trash because im always just right clicking on the trash bin in the dock and clicking empty trash.

I just want to make sure i have as much space as possible on the HDD and want to know the correct way of doing it.

Thanks
 
Just doing a normal "Empty Trash" deletes files pretty effectively - they're a real pain to recover. "Secure Empty Trash" will obliterate them... but it takes longer.
 
jsw said:
Just doing a normal "Empty Trash" deletes files pretty effectively - they're a real pain to recover. "Secure Empty Trash" will obliterate them... but it takes longer.
Click to expand...

Actually when you just do an Empty Trash all that happens is that the database that keeps track off where your files are deletes the entry for the file. The data is still on the drive. It can then be written over when needed. However, if the file doesnt get written over it can possibly be recovered.

To most people this is not recoverable. But to a nerd like me (who may or may not have🙄 accidently borked a partition table on a linux system they use) you can recover a whole partition let alone a file. From my experience doing IT with Windows (although this applies to any file system) I can often recover files eaten by floppy disks. While the floppy may have corrupted the data, Word creates temp files and deletes them when you close the file you are working on. I often can recover the temp file that Word creates when working on a Document and end up with a fairly recent version of the Document.

When you do a secure empty trash, random garbage data is written over the file and then the entry is deleted from the database. I would recommend this if you are working with confidential data.
 
jsw said:
Just doing a normal "Empty Trash" deletes files pretty effectively - they're a real pain to recover. "Secure Empty Trash" will obliterate them... but it takes longer.
Click to expand...
How do you do "Secure Empty Trash"?
 
In Finder, in the Finder menu, just select "Secure Empty Trash".
 

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AdamR01 said:
Actually when you just do an Empty Trash all that happens is that the database that keeps track off where your files are deletes the entry for the file. The data is still on the drive. It can then be written over when needed. However, if the file doesnt get written over it can possibly be recovered.
Click to expand...

Ahh brilliant. I've always wondered the difference between the two. Thanks for clearing that up.
 
There is also the "Erase Free Space" in Disk Utility that writes zeros over all of the extra hard drive space (aka anything that once was deleted but still exists, in some form, on the drive). You can choose between one pass, seven passes, or thirty-five passes of zeros.
 
MacHarne said:
There is also the "Erase Free Space" in Disk Utility that writes zeros over all of the extra hard drive space (aka anything that once was deleted but still exists, in some form, on the drive). You can choose between one pass, seven passes, or thirty-five passes of zeros.
Click to expand...

I noticed this option in MainMenu (brilliant app) a few weeks ago. Sounded a bit dodgy so i stayed well away.

I take it that it's safe enough then if its an option from Disk Utility?
 
Hmmm.. How DO you recover 'deleted' information?
That would've helped one time I deleted some of my video, realising I still needed it. lol
 
epepper9 said:
Hmmm.. How DO you recover 'deleted' information?
That would've helped one time I deleted some of my video, realising I still needed it. lol
Click to expand...

There is a number of third party software out there that can do the job for you. Some of it can get pretty pricey, and you should have an external or networked drive that you can save files to (as you don't want to save information you are recovering back to the same drive, hence possibly writing over what you are trying to save). It can also reconstruct files from external media(memory cards and usb drives and the like).

I found these two, both offer trials that let you play around with them before buying which is nice since they are both like $90US.

FileSalvage
DataRescue
 
EGT said:
I noticed this option in MainMenu (brilliant app) a few weeks ago. Sounded a bit dodgy so i stayed well away.

I take it that it's safe enough then if its an option from Disk Utility?
Click to expand...

Do you even need to ask with Apple? 🙂 Of course it's perfectly safe. If you've been deleting sensitive files without using "secure empty trash", this covers your ass-- any remnants of insecurely deleted files will be shredded.
 
rainman::|:| said:
Do you even need to ask with Apple? 🙂 Of course it's perfectly safe. If you've been deleting sensitive files without using "secure empty trash", this covers your ass-- any remnants of insecurely deleted files will be shredded.
Click to expand...

Nice one 😎
 
I have a quick question.

When I try to delete a blank, empty folder it gives me this message. There is nothing in the folder. Everything else but the folder deleted normally.

Any thoughts 😕
 

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joepunk said:
I have a quick question.

When I try to delete a blank, empty folder it gives me this message. There is nothing in the folder. Everything else but the folder deleted normally.

Any thoughts 😕
Click to expand...

'Get Info' on the folder in question and make sure under General, that 'Locked' is unchecked. Also is that .htm file giving you trouble as well(from the screenshot)? You'll want to do the same for that file to make sure it it gets unlocked as well so that you can delete it.
 
tag said:
'Get Info' on the folder in question and make sure under General, that 'Locked' is unchecked. Also is that .htm file giving you trouble as well(from the screenshot)? You'll want to do the same for that file to make sure it it gets unlocked as well so that you can delete it.
Click to expand...

Should have mentioned that it is unlocked. As for the file, haven't got a clue as to what it was. I am pretty sure that the file has been deleted or something. Any attempted searches resulted in finding nothing. If this little folder can't be resolved then I could probably use it as a regular folder for something. Thanks for the advise.
 
joepunk said:
Should have mentioned that it is unlocked. As for the file, haven't got a clue as to what it was. I am pretty sure that the file has been deleted or something. Any attempted searches resulted in finding nothing. If this little folder can't be resolved then I could probably use it as a regular folder for something. Thanks for the advise.
Click to expand...

Are you getting the locked .htm file message everytime you try deleting the folder? If you are perhaps maybe the .htm file got hidden somehow inside the folder and it making it impossible to delete the folder?
Maybe try using Terminal to 'ls -la' inside the Folder in question to see if there are any hidden files?
 
MacHarne said:
There is also the "Erase Free Space" in Disk Utility that writes zeros over all of the extra hard drive space (aka anything that once was deleted but still exists, in some form, on the drive). You can choose between one pass, seven passes, or thirty-five passes of zeros.
Click to expand...

I tried that once and it removed all of my fonts from indesign 2.0 😱
 
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