Emptying the trash...

Discussion in 'Mac Basics and Help' started by sam10685, Jun 15, 2007.

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  1. sam10685, Jun 15, 2007

    sam10685 macrumors 68000

    sam10685

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2006
    Location:
    Portland, OR
    #1
    Been wonderin this for a while but haven't known how to word the question right. (And probably still will be confusing, but here goes...) Is there any difference in the way "Empty trash..." and "Secure empty trash" work? I always just use Secure because if I delete it, I don't have the software to get it back again and Secure empty trash makes me feel like it's being deleted all of the way-- thus, I feel like I'm getting more hard drive space back. Is that just a mis-conception?
     
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  2. EricNau, Jun 15, 2007

    EricNau Moderator emeritus

    EricNau

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2005
    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    #2
    Secure empty trash writes over the data to truly erase it.

    ...But you aren't getting any more free space that way - you're just ensuring that your data cannot be recovered.
     
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  3. emw, Jun 15, 2007

    emw macrumors G4

    emw

    Joined:
    Aug 2, 2004
    #3
    ...but to be clear, you shouldn't get "more hard drive space back" using Secure Empty Trash, it just makes it more difficult, if not impossible, to recover the deleted files.

    As an FYI, you can also erase free space with Disk Utility if you don't want to Secure Empty Trash all the time, or if you want to make sure to wipe out everything you've deleted.

    Edit: hmm. a late edit above... ;) great minds, I suppose.
     
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  4. EricNau, Jun 15, 2007

    EricNau Moderator emeritus

    EricNau

    Joined:
    Apr 27, 2005
    Location:
    San Francisco, CA
    #4
    Ya, after posting I reread the original post and realized I never answered the question! Oops. :eek:
     
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