Does Erase Free Space Degrade Hard Drive?

I've noticed with my macbook that erasing free space takes bloody ages, 2 hours for 1 pass, 18 for 7 pass, 3 days for 35 pass.
This seems like an awful long time to have your laptop sitting on and open let alone your disc spinning and writing. Does this process degrade, slow down or have any seriously harmful side-effects to your hard drive?

My question is simply, 3 days of nonstop writing to zero out free space from insecure trash empties (some people might have important goverment docs, I don't know) seems like long enough to burn out your drive in one single process, no?
No, not unless the drive is already perilously close to failure when you begin the process.
And with their awkward sleep with lid closed standard feature, you have to leave the laptop sitting open and running... 3 days, surely that'll cause some problems?
Are you concerned that running the computer with its display open is hazardous to its health? Nothing could be farther from the truth. It cools itself more efficiently with the display open than with the display closed. Apart from that, having the lid open or closed makes no difference at all.
Out of curiosity, what do you consider "awkward" about having the computer go to sleep when you close the display?
I agree with Michael that if one were to do a 35-pass erase of free space every week, or even every month, it would become a significant factor in the longevity of the drive. But doing it a small handful of times over the life of the drive — say perhaps once a year — would account for only an insignificant portion of the drive's total use/operation.

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    Stop blaming yourself. You're not an idiot and it's never the user's fault. It's always the designer's fault. Read "The Design of Everyday Things' by Donald Norman. It's a gerat book about how everyday things can be just difficult to use. He's been also a former Apple employee. Great reading!

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    When I move photos etc into the trash there is no increase in available space on the hard drive.

    If you've installed third-party software called "Disk Drill," I suggest you remove it according to the developer's  instructions. If you prefer to keep the software, refer to the developer for support. Otherwise, see below.
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  • What does erase free space do?

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    karena60 wrote:
    Can somebody explain how can I recover the speace I "freed"
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    MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   White 2 Ghz.
    MacBook   Mac OS X (10.4.7)   White 2 Ghz.

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    Copied from this link.
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