Empty trash or empty trash safe?

in the finder one can choose between: empty trash or empty trash safe?
can somebody explain me what is the difference?
thnx, patrick

Excalibur25 wrote:
Will "secure empty trash" completely erase all emptied files even if you did not use this feature to erase files from trash using just "empty trash"?
No. If they are already emptied, the only way to make sure they are gone is to go to Disk Utility (/Applications/Utilities), click on "Macintosh HD" (or whatever your disk is named), click the "Erase" tab, and click "Erase Free Space". Note: During this process you may see a message that your startup disk is full. This is normal. What Disk Utility does is creates a large file, with all 0s then secure erases that. It will make recovery of any deleted files impossible.
Good luck!

Similar Messages

Clearing Jtree w/ empty model safe?

I know that you can clear a JTree by setting the root node to null
((DefaultTreeModel)getModel()).setRoot(null);But what becomes of all the model nodes you left behind? Assuming the root node is unreachable at that point, does that guarantee the entire tree is available for GC. Is there a safer way to dispose of the entire model?
TY
Batkins

It should clear all references to the nodes, but there is a bug - the tree doesn't clear its cache of expanded tree node and keeps a reference.
If you replace JTree with CustomJTree in the example below, the system out changes to null (as in GC'ed).
There is also [6472844|http://bugs.sun.com/bugdatabase/view_bug.do?bug_id=6472844], but not sure if it is the same problem.
There is no leak if you use tree.setModel(new DefaultTreeModel()); instead of setting the root of the current model to null.
public class TestTree {
    private static JTree tree;
    public static void main(String[] args) {
        EventQueue.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
            public void run() {
                DefaultMutableTreeNode root = new DefaultMutableTreeNode();
                Object collectMe = new Object();
                WeakReference<Object> reference = new WeakReference<Object>(collectMe);
                root.add(new DefaultMutableTreeNode(collectMe));
                DefaultTreeModel model = new DefaultTreeModel(root);
                tree = new JTree(model);
                model.setRoot(null);
                collectMe = null;
                root = null;
                System.gc();
                System.gc();
                System.gc();
                System.out.println(reference.get());
    public static class CustomJTree extends JTree {
        public CustomJTree(DefaultTreeModel model) {
            super(model);
        @Override
        protected TreeModelListener createTreeModelListener() {
            return new CustomTreeModelHandler();
        protected class CustomTreeModelHandler extends JTree.TreeModelHandler {
            @Override
            public void treeStructureChanged(TreeModelEvent e) {
                super.treeStructureChanged(e);
                if (e != null && e.getTreePath() == null) {
                    // the default JTree does not clear the cached expanded paths
                    // when the root is set to null (meaning the event path is null)
                    clearToggledPaths();
}

Start Up in Safe Mode - Empty Trash Afterwards?

Hi!
Did a Retrospect clone backup. Started up in Safe Mode to stop indexing before backup. Per an article I found throgh Dr. Smoke: "Starting up in safe Mode moves to the Trash all font caches normally stored in /Library/Caches/com.apple.ATS/(uid)/ , where (uid) is a user ID number such as 501."
Should I trash the caches moved to the Trash? I believe upon restart new ones were created.
Thanks!
pcbjr

upon restart new ones were createdYep. Empty away!

Empty trash not working in safe mode

eemptied cache into trash. Booted in safe mode. Now empty trash in safe mode not clearing the cache trash. Help needed. Thx.

Why would you even want to empty the Trash in Safe Mode? You should do that in normal mode, I suspect yo don't quite understand what Safe Mode is for, please read Apple's OS X: What is Safe Boot, Safe Mode?

I get the beach ball of death when I empty the trash on my new 10.7 Mac. Even in safe mode

When I attempt to empty the trash I get the progress bar with message on how many items to empty and I get the barber pole lines but it never really starts to empty. I just have the beach ball of death. Everything else on the MacBook Pro comes to a halt (if you wait about 5 minutes an app selected to quit might quit). You can click on the X to stop emptying trash and it says it's stopping but it keeps showing the marching progress bar and the beach ball keeps spinning.
Running 10.7. 8 gigs ram 2.0 ghz i7. 15".
The only way to shut down is force quit holding down the power key. Tried it in Safe Mode with same results.

I had the same problem.
Your advice solved my problem.
Thank you for the original post. And the two updates.
I nominate you for "15 Points." 5 for your helpful answer. And another 10 because it was correct.
Apple's Support Community needs more people like you.
If I had posted a question and no one answered, I'd say, "the **** with it."
Instead, you came back - not once but twice - to provide updates.
Again, thank you.

Secure Empty Trash not 100% safe

Recently I use finder to enter directly into Firefox's cache files and move all the files into the Trash. Next I use Secure Empty Trash.
After that, I used Data Rescue II to see what i can find.
I am very surprised to find most of the images that i have securely deleted.
I know the best way is to use Disk Utility's erase free space function, but if Secure Empty Trash is going to write the data 35 times over, and still can't get the job done.
Then using Erase free space's 35 times write-over isn't completely safe too?

Normally when a file is deleted insecurely, the data isn't deleted at all - the only thing that is removed is the reference to the data in the file catalogue. Overwriting a file even once (let alone 35 times) should prevent recovery by programmes like the one you mentioned that are designed to detect unlinked files and create new catalogue entries for them. Given the above, a few possibilities come to mind that could account for your observations.
One is that the files you recovered were not the ones you thought you deleted. For example, working with "TextEdit.app", any time a previously saved document is modified, an invisible "autosave" copy is created on the hard drive, intended to preserve any modifications in case the programme or computer crashes. This copy is removed insecurely once the changes are manually saved. If the original is then securely erased, it will be unrecoverable. However, data recovery programmes can easily recover the remnants of the multiple intermediate "autosave" files. I have no idea how "FireFox" works with cache files, but perhaps what you recovered was remnants from previous times you visited the sites that were cached in the files you securely deleted.
A second, less likely possibility is that your files were recoverable due to a design flaw introduced in Leopard's version of "Secure Empty Trash" (I haven't tested recently so I don't know if the issue has since been addressed). It is possible to configure it so that files are not securely deleted, even when selecting the option. However, such a configuration would not be a random occurrence - basically, a user would have to set it themselves, although malware or a malicious person with access to your account could do the same...
A third possibility, perhaps related to the second, is that in Leopard, regardless of whether the over-writing stage of "secure empty trash" succeeds or fails for any reason, the process will still continue to the unlinking stage, in effect deleting insecurely. Prior to Leopard, if over-writing failed, the file would not be unlinked, which had at least two benefits: i) since the file was never insecurely deleted, it would not be necessary to initiate a time consuming "erase free space" procedure to ensure that the data was destroyed; and ii) the very presence of the file serves as feedback to the user that the procedure has failed, unlike in Leopard where it fails silently.
Either way, using "erase free space" shouldn't be affected by these issues. If the file has been deleted (i.e. copies do not still exist in a hidden cache file somewhere), then overwriting "free space" should prevent basic recovery software from restoring it, assuming the procedure is allowed to run to completion.

I'm really so frustrated with videos lagging, I'm about to throw my Macbook Pro out the window. It's really becoming that bad. I've reinstalled Flash, I've tried emptying the trash in safe mode, everything. And my connection on the internet video blows.

It's worse than dialup, videos constantly freeze up and lagg for minutes. It takes me nearly a half hour to see a 4-minute video. I've heard that it can also be a quicktime addon that I can see, but cannot delete. Sorry, but I'm so ******* frustrated. I don't have a lot of money and when I bought this, I just wanted it to run right. It's been a tough year on me and this hasn't helped.
I have a
macbook pro 15", Mid 2012
8 GB
Software is mac osx lion 10.7.5
If anyone can help me fix this problem, you'd be my ******* hero. I'm not very tech savy... but I'd appreciate any help on this.

Sounds like you have a corrupt cache file
Unistall Flash, run the #12/#13 Step here, then reinstall Flash
How to install/uninstall Flash, fix problems
Step by Step to fix your Mac

2TB Ext. Hard Drive is corrupted?, error code -50 and then error code -35 when i try to empty out my trash

okay so a few days ago i received and email for one of my colleagues to do some final editing to a music video. the folder contained 2 videos a rough chops and the main which was about 2-3GB which i dragged on to my external hard drive . and at the time i was trying to install a trial version of parallel lines and me being a newbie to the software i didn't know i need windows installments for it to run lol but yeah... so i was just getting frustrated with the software i kept installing it uninstalling it and then i was thinking my the problem might be because my MacHD space is low (less then 40GBs on my MacHD), so.. i installed it on my hard drive where all my important files are (I'm a graphic designer and do light video editing) video projects and many photoshop projects form 2007 and logs and just a bunch of important files in my hard drive. so because i was so frustrated with the software i wasn't thinking and i installed it on my external 2TB hard drive. and when i realized parallel wasn't working i gave up, uninstalled the program form the hard drive and for some reason when i did that and i tried opening the video my friend had email to me and for some reason it did load up but a few seconds maybe about 10sec in the video is froze and closed my media app (VLC) and when i tried opening other video files it would freeze every few minutes but those specific files i had drag in last were not playing after at least 5 secs and eventually didn't open at all so i restart my computer login and now i get scared i see that my MacBook Pro isn't reading my external hard drive so i search threw forums... i unplug from the wall plug my external hard drive back in my computer and it loaded up but when i opened my external hard drive all my files had that plank white paper icon on my folders (because i have everything organized but subject when you open then drive folder. so... i go in to my projects and nothing, i open my edited photos and nothing... my hart feels like its about to drop and i keep opening files and there is nothing in them, but in "get info" of my drive it shows that there is filled so i go to "disk utility"... i "verify disk" passes ..."repair disk" doesn't past.... i look it up in forums... so i reboot my computer and go to the safe recovery menu. go threw the same ting "disk utility"... verify, pass... repair, pass... so now i feel relieved. i login files in the ext. hard drive load up i tried again to open the files and same thing happens... so now I'm thinking its the files i drag the files to the trash and try to empty and its gone i reboot the computer and my drive didn't load up so i tried unplugin it and back in... drive comes up i notice theres trash.. i tried emptying it and i get the error code -50. and no files are popping up on my external drive and i try to repair/unmount disk and the verify disk doesn't pass and when i click repair disk it doesn't past and another error code pops up -35.... so i felt my drive alone for a few days and yesterday i go the files deleted from the trash and now I'm not getting any codes but when i try to unmount.verify/repair the disk. keeps letting my tits need to be repaired so i click the repair button another error unable to unmount volume to repair...
what do i do? my files still don't show up. and I'm very sorry for the long paragraph but i have to be detailed for you to understand my situation

Read this.

Help! Kernel panic when I empty my trash.

I have 500GB disk. Unknowingly, I have filled it up. Now I only have 12GB left. I tried to clean up by removing some of my old iMovieProject file. I deleted a 20GB file and now the computer just panic when I try to empty the trash. It asks me to reset the computer. When it comes up again, it asks if I want to report the crash to Apple. Then at the top of the panic report I read something that says "Transaction too big".
I guess I cannot delete a 20GB file when I only have 12 GB free space.
In MS Windows, I can do SHIFT-DELETE to remove a file without going thru the trash can. Can I do the same in Mac OS.
I need disk space, but emptying trash causes panic. Help! I am in a deadlock situation.

The problem is that I misplaced my Installation CD.
Tough without a Tiger Disk, but try fsck...
To use fsck, you must run it from the command line. Unlike using your mouse to open an application to do something, you'll need to type a text command at the prompt (#) to tell fsck what to do. The Terminal application (/Applications/Utilities) and single-user mode are two examples of command-line interfaces in which you can type such commands. To use fsck:
1. Start up your computer in single-user mode to reach the command line. Hold CMD+s keys down at bootup. Note: If necessary, perform a forced restart as described in the Emergency Troubleshooting Handbook that came with your computer. On desktop computers, you can do this by pressing the reset/interrupt button (if there is one) or holding down the power button for several seconds. On portable computers, simultaneously press the Command-Control-power keys. If your portable computer doesn't restart with this method, you may need to reset the Power Manager.
2. At the command-line prompt, type /sbin/fsck -fy
3. Press Return. fsck will go through five "phases" and then return information about your disk's use and fragmentation. Once it finishes, it'll display this message if no issue is found: ** The volume (nameofvolume) appears to be OK  If fsck found issues and has altered, repaired, or fixed anything, it will display this message: *** FILE SYSTEM WAS MODIFIED ***   Important: If this message appears, repeat the fsck command you typed in step 2 until fsck tells you that your volume appears to be OK (first-pass repairs may uncover additional issues, so this is a normal thing to do).
4. When fsck reports that your volume is OK, type reboot at the prompt and then press Return.
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), off the HD & use Disk Utility from there to Repair Permissions, reboot once more.
Is there a way to make my external drive to be the startup disk temporarily while I repair the internal disk?
Is it Firewire or USB?

Unable to empty trash with data from Time Machine Drive

Hi there,
Cause of the current issue:
I am hoping the experts can help me with this one. I have an external hard drive which is used for my Time Machine Backups. Recently there has been an error on the backup to this drive on occasion. This error only occurs when the system does the back up, and appears only periodically, never when I do the back up manually. One of the threads I read to solve this issue is to delete some older backup files from your time machine drive, and all is good. This worked for awhile.... but now a new problem:
New Problem:
I have been able to empty all of the trash save one particular set of folders. So the trash always appears with content.
The structure of the trash content appears as such...
Macintosh HD
+-Users
+--<username>
+---Library
+----FK6T0KGc9y4KBB <-- This changes each time I try to empty the trash.
The library folder always has the time/date of the last time I tried to empty the trash.
What I have tried:
1. I have tried to empty the trash Securely. No good.
2. I have tried the terminal command : sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash with no success
3. I have tried this terminal command : sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/* with no success
4. I have tried just plain old Empty Trash. But I get the message "This operation cannot be completed because the item 'FK6T0KGc9y4KBB' is in use.
Any thoughts, recommendations?

Hey thanks for the help anyway VK.
I tried that command and no go either.
Last login: Fri Jul 25 08:13:39 on console
iMac:~ tmlohnes$ sudo rm -rf /Volumes/Time\ Machine\ Backups/.Trashes/501/*
Password:
rm: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.Trashes/501/2008-03-28-160634/Macintosh HD/Users/tmlohnes/Library/8xMlmPGUHzilET: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.Trashes/501/2008-03-28-160634/Macintosh HD/Users/tmlohnes/Library: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.Trashes/501/2008-03-28-160634/Macintosh HD/Users/tmlohnes: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.Trashes/501/2008-03-28-160634/Macintosh HD/Users: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.Trashes/501/2008-03-28-160634/Macintosh HD: Directory not empty
rm: /Volumes/Time Machine Backups/.Trashes/501/2008-03-28-160634: Directory not empty
iMac:~ tmlohnes$
I am wondering, would it make sense to try this same command if I were to do a safe boot?
What about formatting the external hard drive and starting fresh?

I recently thought I was updating my Safari browser. When completed, I put all those little files that were on the desktop into the trash. Now my trash is saying it can't be emptied because there are locked files and I don't know how to unlock them

I recently thought I was updating my Safari browser. When completed, I put all those little files that were on the desktop into the trash. Now my trash is saying it can't be emptied because there are locked files and I don't know how to unlock them or get them out of my trash and they keep multiplying. And to make matters worse, I tried renaming them as pdf files thinking that might do the trick.

oh boy ! I'd ask you if you knew what kind of files they were or where they came from, but I don't think you could help me a bunch. Try going to the Utilities folder and running Disk Utilities. If you want to empty the Trash and it won't empty, go to the finder and choose "secure Empty trash". Worse case scenario-you may have to reinstall Snow Leopard, but I don't know what else to suggest. If you have a DVD of Snow Leopard, boot up from that, and reinstall the OS. This will not touch the stuff you have on your Hard Drive, then you can update from 10.6 to 10.6.8, otherwise Onyx? Maybe those files are part of the OS which needs them to keep running. if you hold down the Shift key on reboot, you can reboot in Safe mode and maybe you can take the files out of the trash that way
good luck
John B

Super stubborn files in Trash - won't empty!

Hi all,
a few days ago i deleted 2 files from my windows partition by dragging them strait to the trash in osx.
Since than, the trash won't empty!
I found quite a few ultimate trash guides, and I've tried EVERYTHING -
1. secure empty trash says "The finder can't complete the oparation because some data in "" can't be read or written (error code -36)".
2. forcing empty by holding the option button - nothing.
3. using the commands in the terminal (sudo, rm...) - nothing.
4. the files don't appear in the terminal when i use the ls command (enabeling viewing of hidden files)
5. repairing hd permissions - fixes quite a few errors but trash still wont empty.
6. checking the disk through windows 7 via bootcamp - nothing (files dont exist)
7. 3rd party apps - nothing (i tried about 5 different programs).
8. i even tried restoring my system via time machine - files are still there!!
Please help, what else must i do???
Thanks,
Daniel.

*Trash Problems*
If trash can't delete because an item is busy, try restarting the computer.
If trash won't delete because an item is locked, try holding down the option key when emptying the trash.
Try booting to Safe Mode (hold down the shift key while booting, restart may take a long time but let it go), sometimes just doing that works. Restart normally.
Reading
[You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash in Mac OS X|http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1526]
[Solving Trash Problems|http://www.thexlab.com/faqs/trash.html]
[How To Fix Stubborn Trash and Why it Won't Delete|http://www.osxfaq.com/Tutorials/LearningCenter/HowTo/Trash/index.ws]
[rccharles: Discussion on trashing problem files with Terminal commands|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=9168842#9168842]
[Mini-tutorial: Force-deleting stubborn or problematic files in Mac OS X...|http://reviews.cnet.com/8301-13727_7-10328342-263.html]
[Trash immediately emptying and permanently deleting file when you drag a file to it|http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=11390063]
*Utilities for emptying trash*
[Trash It!|http://www.nonamescriptware.com/?page_id=5]
[DropNuke|http://divnull.com/blog/products/software>
[Super Empty Trash 2.3|http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/16727] - Simple AppleScript applet that will empty the Trash with administrator privileges
[What's Keeping Me|http://www.hamsoftengineering.com/products/wkm/wkm.html] - lists files open and applications that are using them

My startup disk keeps saying it is full but I have deleted as much as I can and emptied the trash......what do I do?

My startup disk keeps saying it is full and has done for a few moths. I have been through and deleted as much as I can, transferred movies to an external drive and emptied the trash, but it keeps coming up as full again after a while even though I haven't loaed anything else on......what do I do? It is so short of space now that it is saying there isn't enough memory to run some applications?? HELP!! I am new at all this stuff.

It sounds like a runaway process is filling up your volume.
Boot in safe mode. First, disconnect all wired peripherals except keyboard, mouse, and monitor, if applicable, and remove all aftermarket expansion cards. The instructions provided by Apple are as follows:
Be sure your Mac is shut down.
Press the power button.
Immediately after you hear the startup tone, hold the Shift key. The Shift key should be held as soon as possible after the startup tone, but not before the tone.
Release the Shift key when you see the gray Apple icon and the progress indicator (looks like a spinning gear).
The login screen appears even if you usually log in automatically. You must know your login password in order to log in. If you’ve forgotten the password, you will need to reset it before you begin.
Safe mode is much slower to boot and run than normal, and some things won’t work at all, including your login items.
Use a tool such as the one linked below to explore your volume and find out what's taking up the space:
OmniDiskSweeper - Products - The Omni Group

How to empty the trash

hi
how to empty the trash, i have try many times but the files still there
Thanx

You can't empty the Trash or move a file to the Trash
Solving Trash Problems
How To Fix Stubborn Trash and Why it Won't Delete
Restart with shift key, so you do a Safe Boot and try.
Safe Boot, Safe Mode
Boot in Safe Mode
You don't need Onyx.

Empty Trash Taking Too Long

I am running Mac Tiger Intel on an iMac Core Duo. After moving 683 files to the trash,I get the notice that my imac is in the process of emptying the Trash bin, but after an hour nothing is happening in the progress bar, not one file is deleting so I turn off the computer with the physical button, then I try rebooting, get nothing but the turning icon beneath the grey Apple logo. The I try booting into Safe Mode holding the Shift key again the turning icon. Then I try running Applejack from the Command "S" prompt, again the same thing, that is where I am now, the icon has been turning for the better part of an hour. Because this is a Mac is the computer continuing the process of emptying the Trash before it boots up again, so shall I just let it run it's course, no matter how long it takes or is there some way I can boot up, begin the "emptying" process again? I am not much of a "techie" so can you please give me some simple way of booting into my computer, so I begin the trash empty process again? I am writing this from my backup G5. Thanks so much!! Ken.

Your filesystem has become corrupted. A new drive can go bad. It's common. There is even an acronym for ti -- DOA.
With your startup dvd, run disk utiltiy.
I suspect disk corruptions.
verify & repair your startup drive
To verify & repair you file system on the startup drive, you will need to run disk utility from you installation DVD.
This article will tell you how to get to disk utility. Once in a disk utility, you can go and attempt to recover the disk.
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1417
To repair your startup drive, you will need to run disk utility from your startup DVD.
Mac OS X 10.4: About the utilities available on the Mac OS X 10.4 Install DVD
http://support.apple.com/kb/HT2055
How to run disk utility from your startup DVD.
Insert your startup DVD into your reader. Power down your machine. Hold down to the c key. Power on your machine. This will bootup your startup DVD.
This will bring you to a panel asking you for your language. Pick your language.
You you come to the Install Mac OS panel. Do not install.
Click on Utilities menu item. This will give you a pulldown list of utilities.
Click on the disk utility.
You are now in disk utility. Pick your disk. Click on repair it should be on the lower right of the panel.
Once the repair completes successfully, you should update your permissions.

Empty trash or empty trash safe?

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