Does secure empty trash save disk space?

Secure empty trash takes so much longer than just emptying the trash. Is secure empty trash just used to prevent files from being recovered, or does it actually save disk space on the iMac?

I am aware that everyone said that it doesn't save any disk space, because I read through the thread.
HOWEVER.
I had gotten down to 500 mb of disk space and was going crazy trying to delete photos and movies.
Finally I read about the secure delete, tried it. It took 24 hours, and then i hat 36 free gigabites.
THIRTY SIX GIGS OF MEMORY THAT I DIDNT HAVE BEFORE.
Only thing is I have no idea why, because everyone else says that it doesnt clear space.

Similar Messages

Does Secure Empty Trash Accomplish the same task as Running disk util to wipe free space

Does using the secure empty trash option accomplish the same task as running disk util to eliminate free space from old deleted files? I'm currently running the 7 pass deal on my late '12 iMac. Says its gonna take 7 hrs. Can I use safari or iTunes while the Big Mac works its magic?

Does using the secure empty trash option accomplish the same task as
running disk util to eliminate free space from old deleted files?
No.
Finder > Empty Trash just tells the file system that those areas on the drive are now available for overwriting with new data. Data deleted off hard drives can be recovered if this method is used before it's overwritten with new data with special software.
Finder > Secure Empty Trash runs a 7x pass military approved overwrite only on the deleted files in the Trash, works for hard drives only.
Disk Utility > Erase Free Space creates a huge file that takes the remaining free space on the volume selected and either writes zeros or 7x pass, then confirms it and then removes the file. Takes a long time to complete, do not interrupt.
This can be used if one forgets to use Secure Empty Trash or wants to scrub caches or other files that don't necessarily go to the Trash for user deletion, such as program files that self delete and download cache files etc.
Only works for hard drives and there is no recovery possible for nearly all users. Those with special expensive magnetic equipment can possibly recover data off a zero pass, but not off a 7x overwrite.
The zero erase free space can be also be used to pre-eliminate potential unknown bad sectors on hard drives before wanted data is written to them, thus preventing future issues with data retention on hard drives.
Disk Utility > Erase - (not moving the slider) will erase all data on the volume or partition selected, including wanted data. It just tells the file system the deleted data is ready for overwriting. Thus can be recovered using special software before it's overwritten on hard drives only.
Disk Utility > Erase w/Security Option - (or moving the slider from the left) will secure erase all data on the volume or partition selected, including wanted data.
It can vary on the operating system version used from zero pass, to 3x overwrite, to 7x overwrite to 35x overwrite (old version for days past of smaller drives, don't use on newer larger drives as it will take weeks to finish.)
Secure erase methods are used to secure erase private data off of hard drives only, doesn't work for SSDs.
For secure data deletion off a SSD or any flash media, it's NSA advised to grind it into a fine powder.
How do I securely delete data from the machine?

What exactly does "Secure Empty Trash" do?

There's very little technical detail on the web about this. I'd like to understand exactly what secure empty trash does.
What method does it use to overwrite?
How does it deal with temp files?
Why does it take so long?
Why, when there's only one file in the trash, does it always claim it's erasing 9 files?
What other files is it erasing in addition to the visible trash contents?
Can it work across network connections and external drives?
Has the method changed in Leopard?
etc.. etc..
Feel free to get all technical, if you know the answers!
Thanks!

What method does it use to overwrite?
It writes over the files with 0's.
How does it deal with temp files?
Not sure what you mean. It treats any file in the trash the same. Could you elaborate?
Why does it take so long?
Because it has to first write over the item with 0's, then delete the item.
Why, when there's only one file in the trash, does it always claim it's erasing 9 files?
What other files is it erasing in addition to the visible trash contents?
It's a bug.
Can it work across network connections and external drives?
Yes.
Has the method changed in Leopard?
Not that I know of.

Why does SECURE EMPTY TRASH take so long (several days)?

I am using OS 10.3.9. I didn't empty the trash for quite a while, and several days ago clicked SECURE EMPTY TRASH. The emptying process began but has not finished even now! Does it take THAT much longer when one uses SECURE EMPTY TRASH? I see that the little message window for Trash says:
Item to delete: 114,158 This number hasn't gone down now for several minutes.
Several times I have stopped the Empty Trash process to shut the computer down or just because I wanted to stop it, but it seem to me that after "Emptying the Trash" has been going on for so long, it ought to be finished by now. I welcome any sunlight you can shed on this. Thank you.
— Lorna in Southern California

When you choose to Secure Empty Trash, the system
must overwrite the area where those items area a
minimum of 7 times for it to be considered secure.
When you have that many files in the Trash, this can
take quite some time.
So, unless you have something that is confidential in
the Trash, your best option is to Empty Trash
normally.
Mulder
If my answer helped solve your problem, please
consider awarding some points. Why
Reward Points?
OK, and thank you. You have answered my question; I now won't be worrying that something is awfy. The Secure Empty Trash is still emptying and it is down to about 77,000 items. I have clicked the YES, MY QUESTION HAS BEEN ANSWERED button and I appreciate your reassurance.
— Lorna in Southern California

Time for Secure Empty Trash and Free Disk Space

Hi Forum,
Can anyone give me a guesstimate of how long secure empty trash would take or can take? I have 290 items and its been there for about an hour.
Also, if I choose to free disk space, how long approximately would this take? Is it worth doing this? I have 40gb "free" now.
Thanks.
S

it's not necessarily the number of files, but more the total size of all the files combined. But lets just say it dose take a while to do. you really only need to use secure empty trash on files of a sensitive nature. Such as financial information (credit card numbers, back information, social security numbers)
Also by spending all that time writing to the hard drive, over and over. Witch is what secure empty trash dose. your reducing the life span of your hard drive. Like car tires your hard drive is only good for so many miles.
I ones secure emptied trash on a GB worth of data. I remember it takings hours. I ones tried scrubbing a whole hard drive, after two days I stopped it because I didn't realize it was going to take so long. That being said it doesn't take too long to scrub a few files that are a few MB in size.

I clicked on secure empty trash and just lost about 40GB of disk space...

I had something in my trash that wouldnt delete when I clicked Empty Trash because it said it was in use.
I looked up on here on noticed people said just to click on Secure Empty Trash when i did that.
The Secure Empty Trash was starting to freeze up half way so I just clicked on cancel.
I then looked at my Hard Drive space and noticed that I went from 180GB to 140GB.
Can anyone help?

Try this to find your missing space...
OmniDiskSweeper...
http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidisksweeper/download/

Does Using Secure Empty Trash Put Stress on My Hard Drive?

Whenever I empty my trash I use Secure Empty Trash even if it's not for sensitive files. Are there any benefits to using this feature - does it free up better hard drive space for new files to be saved to than just Empty Trash? And does it put a lot of stress on my hard drive as it works harder emptying trash this way? I'm using an early 2008 15" MacBook Pro with Leopard 10.5.8 but will soon be upgrading to Snow Leopard.

If you are secure deleting very large blocks of files, as you've already seen, sure it does put more stress on the system - takes much longer, has the HD doing a lot of writes to disk, produces more heat, ramps up the fans, etc.
To what extent that ultimately makes in the lifespan of the drive is hard to say - depend how often you use secure delete, and on how much data at a time. Secure deleting a handful of personal files at a time seems pretty trivial to me, but routinely secure deleting thousands of files taking up Gb's of disk space may cause a drive to fail earlier than it otherwise might.
Basically, I only use it when I am deleting personal data files that I specifically want to be unrecoverable (eg. I have a copy of my will on my MBP, whenever I have made changes in my will, I have secure deleted the old version as I do not want it to be recoverable, same thing for old tax records outside the statute of limitations for the IRS to poke back into).

"Secure Empty Trash" Didn't Clear Space on HD

How can I reallly clear the space formerly occupied by BackUp files?
When I used "Secure Empty Trash" after putting lots of BackUp files in the Trash, there was no change in the amount of available HD space. I have about 10GB of applications and files on a 60GB HD, so there should be about 45 GB of free space, but there's only 4 GB available.
FWIW, I've Repaired Permissions (only a few were necessary) and Restarted to no avail. I've used "Secure Empty Trash" to remove another file, and it worked just fine!
So how can I clear the part of my HD that I asssume is written with random 0s and 1s left by "Secure Empty Trash", not real files?

John:
Thanks for hanging in there with me! As you knew it would, WhatSize worked.
It identified the old Backup files (that the Finder didn't) and transferred them to the Trash. I used Secure Empty Trash delete them. This time it worked correctly and I have space for Backups again, thank-you very much!
If you have any idea why it didn't work the first time, I'd appreciate knowing it. I've never used it before, so I don't know if it has a repuitation for being buggy or otherwise problematic.
The name "WhatSize" was a little misleading.... I initially thought it would just do what the Finder's View > Show View Options > Calculate all sizes command does. Some of the comments on the Version Tracker site supported that idea, so as the stubborn Dutchman that I am was reluctant to do something that might make matters worse.
I also never considered the possibility that using Secure Empty Trash (as I had) would convert files into hidden files..... especially since I've never had such an experience in uising standard Empty Trash in 25+ years of Apple II and Mac use.
As you expected, I have learned that lots of HD space is devoted to hidden files (that once were visible in the "old days", if I'm not mistaken).
In any case, I very much appreciate your wisdom and willingness to keep replying when I didn't take your suggestion! Thanks!
Cheers!!
Dick

I have 139 items in my Trash, When I click on secure empty trash to erase them it wants to erase 1309 items. Does anyone know what may be going on?

I have 139 items in my Trash, When I click on secure empty trash to erase them it wants to erase 1309 items. Does anyone know what may be going on?

If your erasing packages or programs, they appear like a file, but are actually folders with more files and folders inside.
For instance right click on your Pictures/iPhoto Library and "show package contents" inside is more files and folders of files.

Why does secure empty the trash take so long to perform?

When I empty the 'secure trash' folder, it takes hours to perform what use to take seconds or minutes to do.

Try deleting less at one time.
Unless you're trying to get rid of malware/dodgy software, there's not really much point in using 'secure empty trash' if what you're worried about is someone recovering your deleted files. Experts can still recover stuff even after that.
The only way to get rid of your data securely is to overwrite the entire disk several times with zeros (Disk Utility has a function for this, and it will take a long time.).
And if its really confidential, put the disk in an incinerator or a blender , the only 100% surefire method.

Why Does Leopard Take an Eternity to Secure Empty Trash

Hi Gang
With regard to Leopard 10.5, in a Single 1.8 G5, I researched this a bit, and forgive me but, it's hard to believe I'd have to resort to 3rd party 'Super Trashers', just to get the job done.
After comparing the time it took 5 small files to empty in Leopard as compared to 1,500 Video Files in Tiger, it was astounding!
Sooo... here's what I've done (so far); with respect to the System Drive and 2nd internal storage drive 'Sharing & Permissions', I clicked on 'Get Info' and made sure that everything is now set to 'READ & WRITE'
I don't know if this will make any difference - we'll see ...
Any other ideas?
Thanx
Mike

Thanx guys
Whatever the reason, I've convinced, (at least in my particular case), there is a DEFINITE difference between my two systems. Secure Empty Trash in Leopard is problematic.
Since I don't have anything important in this particular system, I'm willing to do a fresh install of Leopard. But as I said, there was already a fresh install performed in this 160 Gig 2004 system drive.
I'll stick with Tiger in my other system. This is where I have all the applications I need for the documentary. I treat this system with loving care. The other G5, (with Leopard), is used for other supplemental back up tasks. But again, performing Disk Permissions is 3 times as long, and Secure Empty Trash NEVER completes itself. (I realize one has nothing to do with the other)
I've heard of other 3rd party applications getting the job done, (info on the forum). Anyone know which one works best?
http://www.nonamescriptware.com/?page_id=5
http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html
Thanx
Mike
http://www.ww2survivorstories.com/

Hi, Question about secure empty trash. I moved some Time Machine backup files to the trash from an external hard drive. Now I can't secure empty trash. It starts, finds 74,003 files, and does nothing. The external hard drive shows it's empty, but it isn't

I moved some time machine backup files from an external USB hard drive to the trash. Tried secure empty trash. It counts 74,003 items, then just sits there. The external hard drive window shows it's empty, but the info pane says it only has 50G of memory left. I left the secure empty trash on over night. It did nothing. Ideas?
Thanks,
Ron

Relaunch the Finder, then from the Finder menu bar, select
Finder ▹ Preferences ▹ Advanced
and uncheck the box marked Empty Trash securely. Try again to empty the Trash.

Secure Empty Trash just gets stuck

Secure Empty Trash doesn't work. it just gets stuck/crashes. Why is this?
10.9.5 mavericks

from Apple docs worked for me. Mine was \\\\\\\.\\\ derived from installing Windows.
If there are several locked files in the Trash, you can unlock them all at the same time at the command line. Follow these steps:
1. Open Terminal. It's located in /Applications/Utilities.  Type: chflags -R nouchg  Note: Type one space (not pictured) after nouchg in the line above, so that it ends in "nouchg ". Do not press Return yet. 
2. Double-click the Trash icon in the Dock to reveal the contents of the Trash. If necessary, arrange the Finder window so that a portion of the Terminal window is still visible.
3. Press the Command-A key combination to select all files in the Trash.
4. Drag the files from the Trash to the Terminal window.  Note: This automatically enters the pathname for each file. This eliminates the need to individually empty multiple Trash directories, particularly when multiple disks or volumes are present. 
5. Press Return. No special text message will be shown indicating that the command was successful.
6. Empty the Trash.
If the Trash does not empty or if you see a message in Terminal that says "usage: chflags [-R [-H | -L | -P]] flags file..." you most likely did not type the text in step 2 as indicated or did not leave a space. Repeat the steps if this happens.

Secure emptying trash when getting privilges message

Hi folks,
Any help much appreciated.
I decided the other day to use my Iomega Screenplay HD as a backup for my mac. Because it is NSCF (or whatever it is) I knew I'd have to re-format it in Fat32. I copied the contents of the HD to my Mac with the intention of writing it all back once the HD had been formatted.
However when I read up about formatting this HD I discovered that once it had been formatted to Fat32 I would not be able to use the screenplay function any more (it comes in handy). So I decided not to format it and pick up a different HD to use as a backup.
So anyway here's my problem. I copied 48gb of data to the Mac that I no longer want there (as I already have on the screenplay HD). So I moved it to the trash. I then hit the secure empty trash button (Im under the impression this is better as it completely clears valuable space on the mac's HD). However it will not delete. I keep getting the message "The operation cannot be completed because you do not have sufficient priviliges for some of the items".
As I said, I would like to completely delete all these files as they are 48gb and are taking up room I can really do with. From what I can gather holding command and hitting delete will get rid of the files from the trash but they will still be on the computer taking up space.
I've tried googling but am not getting anywhere. If someone can help I'd be much appreciated.
Cheers.

Just emptying the trash does only delete directory paths, but that is all that is required to completely release the disk space. As far as the system is concerned that space is empty and available.
It is theoretically possible, under some conditions, to scan the empty space on a disk and reconstruct files that were once there. The purpose of Secure Empty Trash is to make that impossible by scribbling over the empty space. But if nobody goes to the trouble and expense of scanning for deleted files, then it makes no difference whether empty blocks contain random bit patterns or the remnants of old files. With ordinary Empty Trash, the space is as free and available as it will ever be.

Difference between "Empty trash" and "Secure Empty trash"

Hi everyone,
Today I used the "Secure Empty Trash" function by pressing the options key while "right clicking" on the trash. And in the message it said that if I empty the trash that way, I won't be able to recover the data. Which is what I wanted and is ok. But then the way it's said makes you think that if you don't do it that way then the normal "Empty Trash" doesn't really empty the trash and gives you the possibility of take the data back even after emptying the trash.
I know some programs can help you do that. Either they recuperate the data after being installed separately or it's a sort of backup program like some by Norton on Windows were basically it backs up the Windows trash. But my question is, when they say with the "Empty Trash" message that you can recuperate the data, does it mean with one of those external programs or is there a hidden folder somewhere on Mac OS X where I can find all the stuff that ever went in my trash ?
Thanks for your help !

emptying the trash the normal way, deletes the reference of where the files exist on the hard disk, and shows the space these files occupy as empty space, now its deleted, and you can use whatever space these files used before deleting them, but you can use some pro apps that recover lost data, specially in case of mistaken deletion, as long as the sectors these files used on the hard disk were not used to store on by other data.
while emptying the trash securely, does the same of normal emptying but it makes an additional step of over writing the sectors of the hard used by these data an amount of times, so its impossible for pro apps that recover data to read anything was stored on the hard disk after secure deletion.

Does secure empty trash save disk space?

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