Disk utility - erase hard drive 7 times

[Vertigoo]

I don't know if my question has been asked before, but can' t you choose anymore to securely erase the hard drive using the seven times overwrite method?? If not, I think I will stick with OS X Yosemite. Can anyone answer this question please?

 

[MacRobert10]

You might want to see the note at the bottom of this link:

https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201949

More info:

http://arstechnica.com/apple/2015/0...st-beta-is-a-promising-heap-of-refinements/3/

See the stuff at the bottom of page 3 (should be in the link)

 

[MistrSynistr]

CCleaner for MAC will come out and allow you to do this soon for El Capitan I'm sure. I think it offers up to 25 pass overwrite.

 

[beebarb]

So let me get this straight, just because supposedly SSDs don't need secure erase (claim not yet verified), they are going to screw over everyone with traditional and hybrid disks that're uncomfortable performing such tasks in the terminal?

gg Apple, you managed to really irritate me.
I don't want to have to use a magnet and sledgehammer to render data on failing traditional disks unrecoverable.

 

[asaggynoodle]

So let me get this straight, just because supposedly SSDs don't need secure erase (claim not yet verified), they are going to screw over everyone with traditional and hybrid disks that're uncomfortable performing such tasks in the terminal?

gg Apple, you managed to really irritate me.
I don't want to have to use a magnet and sledgehammer to render data on failing traditional disks unrecoverable.

You're correct. SSD's use an Encryption Key (Can't remember the name), that is randomly generated for the time that the data exists on the SSD. If you delete the Key, even with the data inside still being there it makes no logical sense as it has no method to encrypt the data to even make sense of how the data is stored.

Basically, it's like having a Foreign traveler and a translator. If you kill the translator and kidnap the hostage to steal the information, it won't matter because you don't know what the foreigner is saying anyways. (Imagine that every person and translator has their own unique language).

You should just download something like Boot and Nuke and just Option-Run it during boot up off of a bootable USB stick with the ISO burned onto it. You can perform beyond DOD grade formatting there.

 

[flowrider]

As I reported in other threads, I downloaded the TechTool Pro Beta 8.03 this morning. I seems to be working fine on El Cap 10.11.1. It includes a setting for erasing a disk called "Wipe Data" that has options for the level of erasure you desire, sort of like the old Disk Utility.

Lou

 

[beebarb]

@asaggynoodle While I know I can download Boot and Nuke, I'd rather not have to do so, especially for an external disk, as one wrong move with a bootable utility like that, and I could erase my main disk in error.

There needs to be a way to do a secure erase within the booted OS X system.

 

[asaggynoodle]

@asaggynoodle While I know I can download Boot and Nuke, I'd rather not have to do so, especially for an external disk, as one wrong move with a bootable utility like that, and I could erase my main disk in error.

There needs to be a way to do a secure erase within the booted OS X system.

Oh, I was under the impression for some reason you only wanted to wipe your main disk.
At any rate, it's pretty well documented which drives are which.

 

[KALLT]

So let me get this straight, just because supposedly SSDs don't need secure erase (claim not yet verified), they are going to screw over everyone with traditional and hybrid disks that're uncomfortable performing such tasks in the terminal?

No, secure erase is still available for unencrypted HDDs. It has been relocated to the erase panel and will only appear when it can be used (it will not appear with SSDs and encrypted HDDs, both for reasons asaggynoodle stated. SSDs work differently and don’t need to be overwritten like regular HDDs):

 

[Lourdes]

Why would you want to a 7*overwrite? Data overwritten *once* is gone and not coming back, the myth that you have to make multiple passes has been utterly debunked.

It was a speculative theory that when physically disassembling a drive and using a magnetic force microscopy you might be able to see what had been written in some locations since writes were not always in precisely the same location. Note that seeing a couple of 1's and 0's != recovering any data.

It's nonsense and nobody has ever managed to do it, least of all on the drives of today which are thousands of times denser.

http://www.vidarholen.net/~vidar/overwriting_hard_drive_data.pdf
http://www.howtogeek.com/115573/htg-explains-why-you-only-have-to-wipe-a-disk-once-to-erase-it/
etc