Why erase free space

Select System Report and scroll down to Storage. Now, select the drive from the list at the top and look for Medium Type. Removal of this nature takes a little longer than a quick empty of your trash, but it does ensure that all data gets rewritten, leaving no chance of recovery at a later date.

Tip: Be sure to select files carefully for secure removal. This action is irreversible. I found it helpful that once the process finishes, you get an update on remaining free space, and you can also view a log of the removed items.

I also love the fact this is really simple to use, for quick peace of mind. Disk Utility can feel like a scary place to be clicking around. This powerful and notoriously tricky to locate feature can securely erase your Mac hard drive, ultimately preparing your Mac for new ownership. Repair Video File Repair all formats of corrupted or faulty videos and HD movies from any storage without losing quality. Repair Word Fixes. Duplicate File Remover Scans and removes duplicate documents, photos, videos, mp3 files Remo Backup Highly encrypted and secure multi device personal cloud storage to keep your data safe and synced Register Now.

Related FAQ's: Does the software securely wipe deleted files and folders? How to ensure file and folders will be erased successfully? If you want that feature, then install Windows. The feature you are looking for no longer exists with macOS for the reasons I've already mentioned. I don't care about how it will shorten the usefulness and I don't believe that encryption and TRIM take care of this. How do I secureerase free space? More Less. Communities Get Support. Sign in Sign in Sign in corporate.

Browse Search. Ask a question. User profile for user: yushuu yushuu. Reply I have this question too 10 I have this question too Me too 10 Me too. All replies Drop Down menu. Loading page content. Sep 7, AM in response to yushuu In response to yushuu You cannot use "diskutil" to erase the free space anymore because Apple has disabled this feature because: It is harmful to an SSD It is not needed when an SSD is using TRIM since the blocks are erased fairly quickly after data has been deleted.

Due to how SSDs work internally erasing the "free" space may not overwrite the data you are looking to shred because once a NAND block is recycled the OS doesn't have access to that particular block. Reply Helpful Thread reply - more options Link to this Post.

Whether it is harmful to the SSD is irrelevant. April 14, at pm. John says:. August 27, at am. Lucian says:. November 29, at am. CJ says:. August 26, at pm. Marcus says:. November 10, at pm. Leave a Reply Click here to cancel reply. Shop on Amazon. Subscribe to OSXDaily.