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Secure delete

Started by frailer, July 17, 2018, 11:40:03 PM

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frailer

My compadre here tells me that this has been removed by Apple, maybe about a year ago?. The one which overwrites the deleted material.

If so, then probs under NSA instruction/pressure.

I haven't been using it, though he has been. Not sure what the keyboard combo was. Someone here may know what's happened with it.
Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.

Possum

Are you talking about Secure Empty Trash? On my old system, there's no key combo for it, but it's under Finder. Maybe it's still on your system.
Tall tree, short ropes, fix stupid.

Joe

The feature was removed from the GUI in El Capitan but is still there if you don't mind using the Command Line in Terminal.

How to Perform Equivalent of "Secure Empty Trash" in OS X El Capitan (10.11.+)
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

DigiCorn

I always thought it was hold down the "option," key and right click delete trash.
"There's been a lot of research recently on how hard it is to dislodge an impression once it's been implanted in someone's mind. (This is why political attack ads don't have to be true to be effective. The other side can point out their inaccuracies, but the voter's mind privileges the memory of the original accusation, which was juicier than any counterargument ever could be.)"
― Johnny Carson

"Selling my soul would be a lot easier if I could just find it."
– Nikki Sixx

"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut."
― Ernest Hemingway

Possum

Quote from: Joe on July 18, 2018, 08:56:51 AMThe feature was removed from the GUI in El Capitan but is still there if you don't mind using the Command Line in Terminal.

Another nonsensical removal of a useful software tool. Or maybe that was a bug, not a feature.  :facepalm:
Tall tree, short ropes, fix stupid.

StudioMonkey

Not sure why it was removed from the GUI but if you think it would stop anybody recovering data I've seen evidence to the contrary.  The only secure delete involves an axe, and that's not 100%.
 :toaster:
Time flies like an arrow - fruit flies like a banana

Joe

Quote from: StudioMonkey on July 19, 2018, 03:26:50 AMNot sure why it was removed from the GUI but if you think it would stop anybody recovering data I've seen evidence to the contrary.  The only secure delete involves an axe, and that's not 100%.
 :toaster:

Agreed. The only reason I ever used it for was if you tried to delete something and it wouldn't delete the regular way secure delete would usually delete it. Maybe it should have been called Super Delete instead of Secure Delete.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

Joe

Quote from: Joe on July 18, 2018, 08:56:51 AMThe feature was removed from the GUI in El Capitan but is still there if you don't mind using the Command Line in Terminal.

How to Perform Equivalent of "Secure Empty Trash" in OS X El Capitan (10.11.+)

Note: Apple removed this functionality in Mac OS Sierra and High Sierra.
Mac OS Sonoma 14.2.1 (c) | (retired)

The seven ages of man: spills, drills, thrills, bills, ills, pills and wills.

swampymarsh

#8
I used to like the "force empty trash" as some files would not delete until a restart.

The following code was suggested as a replacement, so I made an AppleScript application that sits in my dock.

tell application "Finder"
do shell script "sudo rm -rf ~/.Trash/*" user name "<username>" password "<password>" with administrator privileges
end tell

In my case, the secure delete is just a brute force means to an end, so I only use it when the regular trash is stuck (as I am on a SSD).

https://www.cnet.com/how-to/find-how-how-much-longer-your-ssd-will-last/

Fat Boy Tim

Quote from: StudioMonkey on July 19, 2018, 03:26:50 AMNot sure why it was removed from the GUI but if you think it would stop anybody recovering data I've seen evidence to the contrary.  The only secure delete involves an axe, and that's not 100%.
 :toaster:

A few years ago me and a buddy at work had to tidy up the storage shelves. We found some old drives that were no use to us anymore. So we encrypted them. With a hammer and a few nails.

frailer

Quote from: Joe on July 18, 2018, 08:56:51 AMThe feature was removed from the GUI in El Capitan but is still there if you don't mind using the Command Line in Terminal.

How to Perform Equivalent of "Secure Empty Trash" in OS X El Capitan (10.11.+)

"... overwritten 35 times..."

My paranoid nature says easy access to Secure Delete was removed at 'higher authority' request... (orders).

Of course, the very people they'd be interested in would be well capable of Command Line.   :rolleyes:
Forgotten good guys: Dennis Ritchie, Burrell Smith, Bill Atkinson, Richard Stallman
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Now just an honorary member.