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How to Erase Files Securely

33 Responses (Add) | Saturday, November 10th, 2007 at 9:40pm

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A community member wrote in to ask how to completely zero out data on his Mac before upgrading to Leopard. Fortunately, this feature is built right into OS X. There’s no need to install anything to completely get rid of files and folders.

We’ve talked before about deleting files from your computer. When you delete them, they aren’t really gone. They are moved to a different folder (recycler or recycle bin). It may be treated differently by the Operating System than a normal folder, but it is indeed right there still. In order to really delete these files on Windows, you’ll need to use something like the free Eraser program. It uses Gutmann’s Algorithm’s to completely remove all traces of a file from your computer, and overwrite the space that was occupied by the file.

In your Mac, you can use the Finder menu, and select “Secure Empty Trash”. When you use this command, it deletes all traces of files from your hard drive, preventing them from being recovered by anyone. It is good to note that you can NOT recover files once you’ve used this feature, so be SURE you want them to be gone permanently before using.

If you have only used Empty Trash (not Secure Empty Trash) to delete files before, free disk space will still be on your hard drive. To erase all free disk space, and thereby remove all traces of files that you deleted previously using the Empty Trash feature, you should use the Macintosh Disk Utility feature (located in the Applications folder) to remove this space as follows:

  • Open the Applications folder
  • Click the Utilities folder
  • Double-click Disk Utility
  • From the left-hand column, click the disk, volume, or image from which you want to erase free space
  • Click the Erase tab
  • Click the Erase Free Space button
  • Click the radio button in front of the 7-Pass Erase of Deleted Files option
  • Click the Erase Free Space button

If you see a system message that says you are running out of disk space, you can ignore it. When the utility is complete, your hard drive will have the same amount of free disk space available as before you ran the utility.

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33 Comments

Windows Vista Torrent

November 11th, 2007
at 5:18am

Tech InterviewsHow to Erase Files SecurelyHow to View Weather Maps in Google Earth There?s Nothing Wrong with Windows Vista Dog Pictures Wicket, the Internet Puppy DEFCON Game for Windows, Linux and OS X Favorite Sci-Fi Movies of All Time

The Opinions of Tyler S. Miller

November 15th, 2007
at 2:37pm

http://chris.pirillo.com/2007/11/10/how-to-erase-files-securely/Erasing files is a must if you want to reclaim space on your computer. But erasing securely is a different thing. Like Chris says in his blog post above, the Mac will delete everything securely, so there is no recovery. But for Windows, I use Eraser,

kevin

November 12th, 2007
at 3:05am

How to Erase Files Securely - Nov 10, 2007 How to View Weather Maps in Google Earth  - Nov 10, 2007 There’s Nothing Wrong with Windows Vista  - Nov 10, 2007 Dog Pictures  - Nov 10, 2007

The Tao of How

January 13th, 2008
at 1:17am

http://live.pirillo.com – A community member wrote in to ask how to completely zero out data on his Mac before upgrading to Leopard. Fortunately, this feature is built right into OS X. There?s no need to install anything to completely …How to Erase Files Securely

wacko506

November 10th, 2007
at 12:44pm

Thanks for the help Chris

chadt4

November 10th, 2007
at 12:45pm

Good Information Chris!

edavidburg

November 10th, 2007
at 12:55pm

Also, to zero out the entire hard disk, from the Disk Utility, select the volume to be erased, select security options, and you will be able to select to zero it out once, or use 7 or 35 pass.

johnaiton

November 10th, 2007
at 4:24pm

file shredder does a 35 pass delete

HEarl114

November 10th, 2007
at 5:36pm

I suggest east tec eraser. Its Excellent.

jesusy2k

November 10th, 2007
at 7:40pm

can you use this to hide child porn?

gold3c

November 10th, 2007
at 9:08pm

Wow that must take a while :P

johnaiton

November 10th, 2007
at 10:52pm

on files that are large (500 mb or over) – yeah

but i usually delete tons of files with it in minutes

vahnx1337

November 11th, 2007
at 12:26am

LOL, I think you might be able to use this to hide child porn. 10 steps ahead of you buddy.

xxx hentai 14yo trapped in a cupboard screaming for help cum rescue me xxx 15 16 17 18 doggy fuck anal canal

nikonluva959

November 11th, 2007
at 12:28am

OMG! what is the Linux situation??? this is going to drive me crazy!!! O_0

pyromaniacdave

November 11th, 2007
at 2:23am

woow chris, u used 2 tell us cool stuff!! this is nothing new 2 us!!

camarojay007

November 11th, 2007
at 7:50am

wow i remember when it was useful information…

NitroNinjaDotCom

November 11th, 2007
at 12:01pm

i have a question.why are you such a boring obnoxious tool?

TalesOfWar

November 12th, 2007
at 3:11am

This is new to some people, maybe they’re new to computers or just haven’t really known about completely nuking the drive before.

cartmandude14

November 12th, 2007
at 6:04am

i have a question, how come NitroNinjaDotCom is such a dick?

qwertymac93

November 12th, 2007
at 8:38am

i have, by far the best back ground EVER, ever see the flurry screensaver on osx? yeah, THATS my background.

suggestionofdoom

November 12th, 2007
at 7:37pm

This sight rocks.
Thanks Chris for the knowlege

hipocrit

November 12th, 2007
at 8:50pm

Dude, they’ve picked you as the best non-example of a good multimedia lesson in my class. I thought I’d let you know. Main reasons (at least for the you tube one I watched on adobe ) are the chat in the background you constantly interrupting, annoying sounds in background and the ads. Hoepefully you’ll think about some on this stuff, it’s all based on the boring but required teext (Multimedia Learning by Mayer).

this is my friends email so if you need to contact me post on your blog

Seanuk

December 11th, 2007
at 2:44am

I bet the FBI can get it!

File Eraser Tool

August 25th, 2008
at 12:15pm

What’s everyones average pass count that they use?

vish

September 4th, 2008
at 9:26am

very nice article…few of us know that formatting doesn’t erase data completely.to avoid data theft you should use Stellar Phoenix drive wipe software which erase data completely..more detail on drive-wipe.com

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