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

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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.

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).

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

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.

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

Help, I deleted some files and then secure empty trashed it.

I accidently deleted important files, and also secure empty trash, is there any way to recover those files?

no, unless you have a backup.

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.

Why is the "Empty Trash" option missing? All I have is "Secure Empty Trash" which takes a considerable amount of time.

Why is the “Empty Trash” option missing? All I have is “Secure Empty Trash” which takes a considerable amount of time.

check your finder preferences.

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.

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

Huge number of files in 'Secure Empty Trash'

I'm not sure if this is that noteworthy or not, but I went to go and 'Secure Empty Trash' recently, and I had 2.1 million files. It has been deleting for about 4 days now, and I'm about halfway through it. I perform this function monthly to keep things clear, but I'm used to 2,000 - not 2 million. The only thing I can think of is that I installed FCS upgrade recently but I don't know why I'd have that many files to get rid of.
Thoughts..

I've called the big guys to help you. Good luck.
BTW, did you post this from the wife's computer?
Type '''about:support''' in the address bar and press '''Enter.'''
Under the main banner, press the button; '''Copy Text To Clipboard.'''.
Then in the reply box at the bottom of this page,
do a right click in the box and select '''Paste.'''
This will show us your system details.
'''No Personal Information Is Collected.'''

Is it possible to change zero options in "Secure empty trash"?

In the "Secure Empty Trash" feature in Tiger, is it possible to change the settings regarding how many times the file being deleted is zeroed out? Can I choose a 1-pass or a 7-pass, etc?

I don't think the "Finder" itself offers a way to change the number of overwrites performed during a "secure empty trash". Note that "secure empty trash" just calls '/usr/bin/srm', using the '-m' option -- 7 passes, including zeroes, FF, F6 and random according to the 'man' page.
Depending on what you are after, and being mindful of the different possible paths for items in the "Trash" in OS X, you might be able to use 'srm' directly, using the options of your choice. Though not recommended, if you get into hacking system files, the options probably can also be changed to some extent from there.

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 fails

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