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/

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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.

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.

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?

I need help...just lost about 20gigs of HD space

Hi folks...I installed three programs....Handbrake, Mactheripper and ffxmpegx, and i copied a movie to my desktop (temporarily) all in all...about 1 gig. A few hours ago...I realized though that I'm missing about 28 gigs of HD space.
My question is the following.
is there a program or feature on the mac, that will allow me to see which programs are taking up the most amount of space? For example, my pc, has the 'add/remove programs' section, which also states program sizes.
If anyone can help, i'd appreciate it. Thanks

Hi George
Your post didn't mention, do you use FileVault?
I've seen a number of these 'disappearing space' issues caused by a feature of FileVault: it doesn't recover disk space when you delete anything unless it's plugged in to an AC outlet.
Note I said 'feature' not 'bug'. The sparse file (which is what FileVault stores the encrypted profile in) can only be shrunk to recover space while you are logging off or restarting. It could be catastrophic to interrupt this process, so it won't offer to do it while the machine is not plugged in.
If you do use it, try plugging in the laptop then either restarting or just logging out. When it asks if you want to recover space, agree & let it run.
Peace
Greg
PowerBook G4, 17, 1.67 Mac OS X (10.4.3)

My Secure Empty Trash not working?

I click on Trash & open it, then I click on secure empty trash and open that, next an option to empty locked items appears, and I click that.
It appears to start deleting unwanted files for a brief moment, then stops and the files remain in the trash, taking up much needed space.
Could anybody please help me so I can dump this trash and get started collecting the next load?
Thanks

HI,
Goto Finder > Help > type in Trash...
From Finder Help Trash...
" Empty the Trash
Command (⌘)-Shift-Delete
Empty the Trash without any warning or when it contains locked files
Command (⌘)-Shift-Option-Delete
Hold down the Option key, and then choose Finder > Empty Trash "
Hope this helps...

How do I make trash not do a "Secure Empty Trash"?

Here is what's happening to my Trash whenever I move a file to it for deletion. Ever since I changed the Trash settings to "Secure Empty Trash", and I securely empty the trash when it only have 1 or 2 files in it, it comes up saying there's like 20. when there isn't...so help?
OR Could someone tell me how to chnage the Trash settings so it is just "Empty Trash".
Thankayou.

Uncheck "empty Trash securely" in Finder > Preferences > Advanced tab.
Regards,
Captfred

Secure Empty Trash fails

When trying to Secure Empty Trash if it contains locked files I select the "Remove Locked Items" option but the action fails and the trash isn't emptied. It can be emptied using the "Remove Locked Items" option and just using the normal empty trash option.
Additionally it reports locked files in trash which on examination via "Get Info" are unlocked - these can't be securely emptied either but again can be using Empty Trash.
It seems therefore that there might be a problem with secure empty and files which are or have been locked.
I did a clean install of Yosemite and transferred user files back from a Time Machine backup. All went perfectly - no other issues.
I have tried new files i.e. ones created under Yosemite rather than Mavericks - no difference.
I have repaired permissions via disk utility and reset home directory permissions and ACL's which has made no difference. It happens on more than one account.
Anyone else experienced this or could try it for me?
Thanks

I've bumped this as I'm still having problems and wonder if someone could try and secure empty trash with a locked file in it and see what happens. I've created a new account and the same thing happens.
If someone could create say a simple text file, lock it via the "Get Info" option and then delete it to trash. Try to secure empty trash and see if the "remove locked items" works and the trash is emptied and the locked file removed.
Much appreciated if someone could do this
Terry

Secure Empty Trash difficulty

Recently I reinstalled Panther (10.3.9) using the Archive and Install method. This created a folder called Previous System.
Since this folder was using up hard drive space without apparently contributing anything to the workings of the new system I trashed it.
Since the Trash already contained a number of small files that I needed to wipe securely, I clicked on Secure Empty Trash.
With Secure Empty Trash chugging along at a snail’s pace (about one item per second) the Trash was still not emptied some ten hours later. I dragged what remained of the Previous System Folder out of Trash and Secure Emptied the remaining Trash contents.
Parts of this Previous System could not be trashed, securely or not. This was mainly the old Library. So I still have a GB or more wasting space on the hard drive.
I have two questions arising out this little exercise:
1. The Secure Empty Trash is a good feature. Why was it not designed to selectively deal with trashed files? Trashed files are often quite large and may not be particularly sensitive. They may not require the Secure Empty Trash treatment, but Secure Empty Trash lumps them in with other files that DO need to be securely wiped. So time is wasted.
It indicates perhaps that two trash bins are needed. One for everyday stuff that empties normally, and one for stuff that needs to be securely wiped.
2. Why can’t I totally trash the Previous System Folder?
Maybe there’s ways around both of these problems?
eMac Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Jack,
Your thoughtful questions deserve some expert answers, but all I have to offer you is a link to Solving Trash Problems, by Dr. Smoke.
;~)

Secure Empty Trash Hung Up

I selected "Secure Empty Trash" and the process started. It shows only six files to be deleted. However, it has hung up on those six files, now sitting there doing nothing for over an hour. It won't let me cancel the empty command. It won't let me delete anything else while it's running. It won't let me shut down the computer in a normal fashion.
How can I get out of this?
Thanks.
Charley

No. It's not necessary, since you've solved the problem.
See these:
Basic Tutorials on using a Mac,
Mac 101: Mac Essentials,
Anatomy of a Mac,
MacFixIt Tutorials,
MacTips,
Quick Assist, and
Take Control E-books.

Secure Empty Trash vs Empty Trash, Hangs and Advanced Finder Pref.

I've had my intel-based iMac for a couple of weeks and I've been getting a frequent hanging trash problem that causes me to restart my Mac far too often. Restarting the iMac fixes it but I don't know what the problem is to begin with. It seems to happen when I have over 10MB in the trash and I choose "Secure Empty Trash."
While I'm on the topic of "Secure Empty Trash," won't "Empty Trash" do the same thing SECURELY since I've previously checked it off in my Finder Preferences? Is the "double selection" of secure empty trash part of the problem (i.e. selecting it when I go to empty the trash as well as having it selected in my finder preferences)? Any and all help is appreciated.

Yes it's the same if you choose Secure Empty Trash from the Finder or if you have it selected in the Finder advanced preferences. The thing is electing to Secure Empty the trash may take a lot longer to empty because it does either a 7 pass or 35 pass write over the files and that can take a long time to do for large files.
As a test it took me just over 3 minutes to Secure Empty a 175MB file.
Something you should do though seeing as you've had to forcefully shut down your iMac a few times is Run Disk Utilities. Open up Applications/Utilities/Disk Utility select your hard drive on the left and under the First Aid tab click on Repair Disk Permissions then Verify Disk.
George

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.

My secure empty trash keeps stopping and saying 'I do not have permission to trash" I ahve checked the file info and there is no tick in the locked box also the files are from a memroy stick

My secure empty trash stops and will not let me empty the trash. It says; I do not have access to some of the items. I have clicked continue, but it will not empty them. I have tried looking at the files in the trash box and the file info does not have the "locked box" ticked. Any suggestions please.

Open Terminal.app(/Applications/Utilities/Terminal) and type
sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash
Be careful all of files in the trash are deleted with above command.

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 empty trash hangs Lion and fans roar like crazy

I have lion and thought they would have fixed this.
just as the title says. what gives?

that happens because "Secure empty trash" requires your computer to embark on a CPU-intensive process of overwriting the data you want to be securely destroyed. Depending on how much stuff you have in your trash, this could require a lot of processor power and could take a long time.
So unless it's absoutely essential that you 100% safely trash your stuff, I would suggest you normally only use the vanilla flavour "empty trash". In any case, after trashing, as you continue to use the computer, whatever was trashed will get gradually mangled up over time and will be impossible for anyone to get to, if anyone ever does.

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

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