Problem while securely emptying trash

When I first got this laptop I would securely delete things and it would work fine. But for a long time now, when I securely delete things a question pops up that says "the operation cannot be completed because the item 'recovered files' is in use." Then it asks if i want to "stop" or "continue." I always hit continue and it works fine. I don't know if this is really a problem with my laptop but i know for a fact that it didn't always do this. So is there something i can do so that it will just smoothly delete the files without a popup question??
thanks for your help.
-chris.

i found this freeware which looks pretty promising, if you don't care to have to quit your apps or empty recovered files at all. http://www.versiontracker.com/dyn/moreinfo/macosx/29227 i would give that a try. good luck Sherry

Similar Messages

Problem with secure empty trash

I'm having trouble to secure empty trash. So basically I have a hard drive plugged in and because the space is getting really little I wanted to empty the trash so that I would have more space in the hard drive. But everytime I'm in the middle of the process it is never done because "The operation can’t be completed because you don’t have permission to access some of the items.". I tried to go to the disk utility to change the permission but the option is unavailable. Can someone please help me out? There's only 16GB left in my hard drive and I really need more space since it's storing too much trash right now. Thanks!
p.s. my hard drive is 320 GB spectra flash.

Please see my other post of the same nature.
Thanks to Hypen, WMP is GONE GONE GONE

Secure Empty Trash is RAM-hog, or something...

All I want to do is secure empty trash some files larger than 700 MBs and when I do this, everything lags. I open activity monitor (slowly) and cpu is at 100 %. I try to stop the secure empty trash. nothing. So I relaunch Finder, secure empty trash again, again cpu at 100 %. Anyone had this problem?

secure empty trash works by overwriting the existing data 7 times in addition to unlinking it. this does seem to occupy the CPU quite heavily on my computer. also doing it with a 700MB file will take A LONG time. I would stay away from it unless there is an extremely compelling reason to use it.
Message was edited by: V.K.

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.

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

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

How do I override "error code -61" when attempting to put things in the Trash? Cannot empty Trash or use Secure Empty Trash.

How do I override "error code -61" when attempting to put items in the Trash? Cannot empty Trash or use Secure Empty Trash. I have a MacBook OS X 10.5.8

The reason why some of the files are blocking the trash from emptying is because of specific ".app" files from third party companies like Adobe products. Not the user files or the various help documents but instead the actual mother program. Here's how to fix this problem:
1) remove from the trash all the actual software programs like Photoshop, InDesign, DreamWeaver and so on and put them on the desktop.
2) Command "I" (info) and when the dialog box opens go to the "Name & Extension" text box and remove the ".app" from the software name. Example: Photoshop.app change to Photoshop.
3) the program icon will change to a "folder icon".
4) put the folder icon back into the trash and you should be able to now empty the trash.
If you continue to get the error code 8003 it's because you may still have one or more software programs in the trash that needs to go through this process. Remember - it's not the user files or help documents or supporting files that is causing this but instead the "actual product programs".
JKai

Secure Empty Trash & Trash Cache

Am old Mac addict home user with Apple from day one but not a guru. Still have Apple IIE that runs like a clock. With 17 Macs in between, years ago when G3 would slow down, get sluggish and tired, I discovered that setting trash cache and deleting many thousands of cached files would invigorate the machine and restore it's original speed using Preferences in TechTool Pro V 3.
Currently have TTP V4 in both G5 Pro Mac OS 10.5.6 and G5 Power Mac OS 10.4.11. Cleaning out old manuals got rid of TTP V2 and V3 manuals. Still have CDs but unfortunately no serial numbers. So, unable to open those programs. Micromat archives couldn't help. Also, unable to use TTP V4 preferences to set trash cache as there's no Preferences capability. Apparently it can be assumed there's no trash cache in current versions of TTP.
Queried Micromat about trash cache who said to "Go into "System Preferences" --> "TechTool Protection". In the "Volume Usage" tab, you can set how many days you want TechTool Pro to save the "Trash History"." No joy as I couldn't figure out what that meant about "System Preferences" or how to do what they recommended.
No problem as both G5s are operating fine. But, I'm curious.
I use "Secure Empty Trash" exclusively shutting down my G5s. My questions: Does that shut down feature remove all data from the HD thereby eliminating the need for a trash cache? If there's still a trash cache, is there any way to set it? Thank you and regards. Ol' Jim.

Did you get a response to this? There is no solution listed, but it’s marked Solved.
I think you are right that there is no longer a Trash Cache. I did a search and it came up with two files called Trash Cache, both were dated 2002, obviously many systems ago which probably came over with Migration Assistant from previous computers.
The TechTool Protection is new with TTP 5. You won’t see it in System Preferences with TTP 4. That’s probably why you couldn’t figure out what they meant.
Secure Empty Trash writes over those files which makes them nearly impossible to recover, so I don’t think you need to worry about them.

HT1526 Secure Empty Trash not working

when I press secure empty trash : the items load up then when I press either of the options (locked or unlocked) it stays on screen for a few seconds then disappears ??

Hello. Thank you for your help. When I follow your directions using the
terminal window I get the following message: unable to execute /bin/rm:
Argument list too long. I have over 100K items in my trash folder. Could
this be the problem?
Edward Frebowitz
615 406 3255
On Tue, Dec 23, 2014 at 9:20 AM, Apple Support Communities Updates <

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?

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.

Secure Empty Trash Progress Bar Stalls With 4 Items Left

Greetings All,
I've recently installed OS X 10.5.1 and have had pretty good luck. I just tried to use the Secure Empty Trash function and the progress bar seems to be stalled with 4 items left. The trash can did "empty" with the associated sound effect when the bar hit 4 items, but that's as far as the bar will go. I've forced quit and have restarted the computer, added more trash, and run Secure Empty Trash again, but it always seems to stall out with 4 items left
Is there a way to make it go all the way to 0 items?
Where can I look to confirm if any trash is actually left (the trash can is empty)?
How can I be sure all my trash was securely destroyed?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you.

Thank you very much for this input... it is helpful. I downloaded the program and I can see how it will be extremely handy. I didn't realize that there were enough problems with the finder emptying trash to result in programs written to help with it. It must be a large enough problem in the big picture, though.
I looked through the developer's site and didn't see an indication regarding the type of emptying this program does (i.e. secure or normal). I am assuming it's a normal emptying of the trash.
Thank you again.

MacBook Pro: Unable to Empty Trash (secure or otherwise). Have tried all remedies suggested on Apple's site. I think "Secure Empty Trash" bogs at the first file "iPhone4, 1_8.02_12A495_Restore.ipsw" at 1.78 GB size and goes no further.

MacBook Pro: Unable to Empty Trash (secure or otherwise). Have tried all remedies suggested on Apple's site. I think "Secure Empty Trash" bogs at the first file "iPhone4, 1_8.02_12A495_Restore.ipsw" at 1.78 GB size and goes no further. When I try to move it out of Trash to a temporary location so I can empty remainder of Trash, I get the message "Some of the items you are moving are in use by another application. Moving the items can cause problems with the application using them. Are you sure you want to move these items?" at which point I select "Stop" to avoid possible disaster. Can you help? Thanks.

01/05/15 6:01:27.000 pm kernel[0]: Previous shutdown cause: -62
That usually indicates an abnormal shutdown due to a hardware fault. The exact cause can only be determined by Apple, so schedule a Genius Bar Reservation.

Secure empty trash very slow

Are there suggestions for speeding up Secure Empty Trash?

I got a tip from a Genius at the Green Hills (Nashville) Apple Support Bar today on how to instantly empty the Trash folder. This comes with a big warning/disclaimer: you will not be prompted about any of the action to delete the contents of your Trash as this sequence of steps force deletes all trash. In other words, there's no turning back. I did this after facing 8 hours of a trash emptying cycle to get rid of 280,000 files...
Here it is: while simultaneosly holding down Command + Option keys, press Shift and then press Delete (all four, in that order).
It works - it's instant! But be sure you want to take this action.

Secure Empty Trash Setting not working HELP!!!

Im trying to turn off the secure empty trash I dont know how it got turned on
but its not working
Ive tried going to Finder > Preference > advanced > uncheck the secure empty box
but it doesnt work it keeps asking me if im sure to delete the item
I dont want secure empty trash i like keeping the files for a while just in case
HELP please

Click on the item in the Finder's sidebar with the house icon and verify that you are able to write to this folder in the Ownership & Permissions section of the Get Info window, and that it isn't locked; if it is already set this way and you get that error, open the Terminal in the /Applications/Utilities/ folder and run the following:
mkdir ~/.Trash
If you get a message stating that the folder exists, run the following:
sudo chown $UID ~/.Trash
chmod u+rwx ~/.Trash
The first command in the second set will prompt you for your administrator password; nothing will appear in the Terminal window while it is being typed. In either case, click on the Finder icon in the Dock with the Control and Option keys pressed, and relaunch it.
(55512)

Problem while securely emptying trash

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for