Secure Empty Trash doesn't work

Working in Mavericks on an iMac 27. Secure Empty Trash starts but disappears and nothing is deleted. Is it safe to use Erase Free Space in Disk Utility?

danimal303 wrote:
So it won't help me at all. I don't quite see any use for it, a good reason not to use it. But I have some 560 000 files in Trash and they won't budge.
When you delete a file (without Secure Empty Trash), all the data of the file still exists on the file system free list. It will remain there until the file system reuses the space. Erase Free Space is a way to address this, after files have been deleted.
It is only really useful as a once in a while event, such as someone forgot to use Secure Empty Trash for a file with sensitive data. And Secure Empty Trash is very time consuming, and worse it is if you have an SSD, this wears out the SSD faster.
A better approach is to use FileVault so that a deleted file is instantly securely deleted because it was always encrypted.
Since you are attempting to use Secure Empty Trash, then I would try this from the command line using the 'srm' command. "man srm"
srm -f -r -v ~/.Trash/*
The srm command will perform a secure erase. The -f will keep it from prompting for approval. The -r will recurse through and directories of files in the trash. The -v will display the progress while deleting so you can see how things are going, and have an idea of how much progress you are making.
Be very careful with srm, as if you point it at the wrong directory it could delete something you care about, or a lot of somethings.
If there are files that srm -f will not delete, then you bring out the sudo command. But be VERY CAREFUL with sudo, as you can delete a lot more than just a few files you care about.
sudo srm -f -r -v ~/.Trash/*
Password: you enter your account's password here, assuming you are the admin of the Mac.

Similar Messages

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)

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 difficulties

Anyone have a guess why Secure Empty Trash has stopped working in my Admin account, yet still works perfectly in the other four standard user accounts on the family Mac?
In my Admin account, starting a Secure Empty gives me the progress bar which just hangs there...forever. The hard drive is crunching away like crazy but the progress bar barely moves. Eventually, it will empty. But we're talking something on the order of 15 minutes or more to delete no more than 4 files. The size of the files seems not to matter. It will take aeons to secure delete 200k as well as 2M. The crunching of the HD is very concerning.
I've searched this board and found very little to go on. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
JimC
G5 dual 2G Mac OS X (10.3.9)

JimC,
Perhaps Solving Trash Problems, by Dr. Smoke may provide some clues for eliminating your difficulties.
;~)

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 <

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...

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?

EmptyTrash & Secure empty Trash

I recently purchased/downloaded a(non Apple) Application from its manufacturer. After installation and a few days working with same , I began to think that perhaps the download was in some way corrupt....mainly due to freeze up and a few functions not working properly.
I subsequently received the Application CD in post so decided to TRASH the download and re-install from CD.
This worked fine ...except that all of my original settings and preferences were on the newly installed S'ware.....in fact everything was exactly the same..so I repeated the process, with exactly the same result, so as far as I could gather the CD had not really installed at all, but the original download(in trash) had re-installed.
This begs a few questions..........
How does this happen ?
Would OSX recognise that the same App. was in trash & re-install it ?
Should I have emptied trash first ?
Should I "Secure" empty trash?
My next question is out of personal interest........
When a file etc is trashed in normal way...is the HD freed up of space ?
or...Is it necessary to 'Secure' empty trash to free up HD space ?
I realise this is not a life and death issue...but still important to me.
Thank you
L-Max
IMac-G5 Mac OS X (10.4.2) Also PCWinXP2 user new to Mac & MBox

your settings remained the same because although you deleted the app, you didn't delete the preference files which keep your settings.
This begs a few questions..........
How does this happen ?
it doesn't.
Would OSX recognise that the same App. was in trash & re-install it ?
nope.
Should I have emptied trash first ?
nope.
Should I "Secure" empty trash?
nope.
My next question is out of personal interest........
When a file etc is trashed in normal way...is the HD freed up of space ?
yep.
or...Is it necessary to 'Secure' empty trash to free up HD space ?
nope. "secure" will overwrite garbage on top of the file to make it unreadable and unrecoverable. space is never truly blank on a disk. if you trash something, you are telling your system "this space is now available" that is now considered "empty" space on a disk.
you can use recovery utilities to recover trashed files as long as nothing else has been overwritten there, but if you "secure" empty trash, it's toast.

Is it possible to create a secure empty trash shortcut in file menu?

I have second finger click enabled so that I can quickly move files to the trash bin from the contextual menu. This is fine and dandy, however, for files containing sensitive informaton, I'd like to have a "Secure File Delete" option available (file bypasses the trash bin and is wiped after selecting said option).
I've searched the threads and checked system prefs. Only options are to change "empty trash" to "secure empty trash". This wouldn't work as I have more files that are typically trashed and not wiped. It'd be nice to have it available as a convenience I suppose
I know theres an app in the app store that offers this functionality. It's $3-4.
So my question...is it possible to create such a contextual menu option on my own?
heres an example of what I'm ltalking about...

Create a new Service in Automator.
Set it to receive files an folders in the Finder.
Drag in an Ask for Confirmation action if you want it.
Drag in a Run Shell Script action from the Utilities section of the Library.
Set it to Pass Input as Arguments and Replace the code with:
srm -r "$@"
--That's ess-ar-em for Secure ReMove (just copy and paste)
Save it and it will show up in the Services menu when you right-click on an item in the Finder.
There are options you can add to it like -s for simple, -m for medium. The default (without options) is 35-pass Gutman.
You can see what options are available by opening Terminal and typeing
man srm
Hit space to scroll down. Q to quit the man page.
The Verbose and Interactive options won't work since you can respond.
Note that depending on the algorithm chosen, it may take some time for the file/folder to disappear from the Finder view.

Hi guys, an empty folder is stuck in my trash & I get this message: "The Finder can't complete the operation because some data in the folder can't be read or written. (Error code -36). It won't shift no matter how I try to Secure Empty trash. Any ideas?

Hi guys, an empty folder is stuck in my trash & I get this message: "The Finder can’t complete the operation because some data in the folder can’t be read or written. (Error code -36). It won't shift no matter how I try to Secure Empty trash. Any ideas?

The Time Machines Backup is formated as Mac OS Extended (Case Sensitive, Journaled), my mac is formated as Mac OS Extended (Journaled).
The names on the file are all Uppercase
When I try to copy the Aperture file, it copies about 70% of the file (it's about 33GB in size), and halfway through I get this error.
I'm able to copy 99.99% of all of the images if I open the Aperture Folder using the "show package contents" under the backups using finder (Time Machine Backups>Backups.backupdb>CQ Macbook Air>2012-04-30-070933>HD.....>Pictures>Aperture Library). The only file I can't copy is that picture, which I'm totally ok with deleting, but Finder won't delete it for me. If nothing else works, I could copy the individual masters and re-create the folders, however I'd hate to do this as I would have to go through 10,000+ pics

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.

Secure Empty Trash seems to repeat itself

If I use "Secure Empty Trash..." I may (for example) see that 8 files are being deleted and the Trash is now empty. If I then delete 1 file and repeat the aforementioned process I see that once again 8 files are being deleted. Why would this happen? Thanks.

Hi,
That doesn't explain some of my own findings - the numbers don't add up. In my system, if only the startup disk is mounted and a single file is placed in the Trash, a secure-delete progress window will show four items being deleted.
Just mounting an additional external volume will add two items to the apparent number of items being secure-deleted for each such volume added, even though no files on the additional volumes are placed in the Trash to begin with.
Here are the tests I did.
Start with a text file that is on the DeskTop.
For each test:
1) duplicate the text file
2) move the duplicate copy to the Trash
3) secure-empty the Trash,
4) repeat step 1
5) repeat step 2
6) repeat step 3
Steps 1-3 were done to be sure the Trash folders were truly empty before performing the actual test in steps 4-6.
To be determined:
In step 6, after that single file has been placed in the startup volume's Trash, how many items does the secure-delete progress window show as being deleted?
Results:
In my system, if the test is run with no disk volumes other than the startup disk mounted, the secure-delete progress window shows four items being deleted.
If I run the test after first mounting a single external volume, then the secure-delete progress window shows six items being deleted. Again, just one file was in the Trash after step 5, the same as for the first test.
If I mount a second external volume and repeat the test, again with only a single file in the Trash after step 5, the secure-delete progress window now shows 8 items being deleted.
If I first mount all 15 of my external partitions and run the same test, again with a single file in the Trash after step 5, the secure-delete progress window shows 34 items being deleted!

Secure empty trash: How many passes?

When performing a +Secure Empty Trash+ I presume the deleted files are zeroed out, much like when using the +Erase Free Space+ function in the Disk Utility. My question is, if this is indeed the case, how many passes are performed during a +Secure Empty Trash+?

Way too many. I believe it's seven passes. Don't use it if you are deleting a large number of files because it could literally take days to complete.
Unless you work for an employer that mandates such security I wouldn't suggest using it. If it needs to be securely erased, then it needs to be encrypted. If it's encrypted then there really isn't a need to use the secure erase option.

How do i restore my secure emptied trash

heey
I was securely emptying my trash folder and i went to look into my iPhoto folder but nothing was there anymore, all my pictures and videos had been deleted. They must have got swipped when i was emptying it but is there any possible way of restoring these files as they were my only copies. Please help
Thankyou

Jasi1311 wrote:
I was securely emptying my trash folder and i went to look into my iPhoto folder but nothing was there anymore, all my pictures and videos had been deleted. They must have got swipped when i was emptying it.
First off, did you actually drag the iPhoto Library to the Trash perhaps with a bunch of other items?
Did you delete pictures/video out of iPhoto itself?
Look inside your Pictures folder and see if the iPhoto Library is there, if it is, then your pictures/video are likely safe, it's perhaps iPhoto needs to be reset.
https://support.apple.com/kb/HT2638
You can also right click on the iPhoto Library and "show package contents" and inside is a folder called Originals containing your original files.
When you Secure Empty Trash, especially with a large amount of pictures and/or video, it will take some time as it's scrubbing the files off the hard drive. Depending how far this process occured depends how many files were pernamently removed from the hard drive.
Because OS X was told "these files don't exist anymore" doesn't mean they are not still on the hard drive, as only their space is made available for new files.
Since you canceled the secure erase, many files could still exist on the drive, just that the remaining ones not scrubbed are soon to be overwritten with new files.
So it's important not to use the computer's boot drive until you can perform data recovery steps.
You can need to install OS X on a external hard drive, then boot from it, install Data Rescue $100 and then have it read the 1's and 0's of the deleted data that remains.
Create a data recovery/undelete external boot drive
You also can take the computer to a local PC/Mac repair shop and ask them to perform Data Rescue, however it's going to cost a pretty penny as they have to sell a hard drive to you and thier time and effort. $200-$300 or so.
If your pictures and video are not worth spending up to $400 for recovery, then your done.
Always have a backup plan in place to "undelete" or boot the computer if it's not operating.
Most commonly used backup methods

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.

Secure Empty Trash doesn't work

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