Secure delete option

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How secure is the "Secure Delete" option when emptying the trash?
 
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Emptying the trash will mark the space of the deleted items as free or available to the OS. Secure Empty the trash writes random ones and zeros over the space where the files hard linked data occupied. Similar to a secure erase of the drive, but in this case just the files in question.

Large files and/or large amounts of data can take a long time to securely erase.


Secure erase from disk utility has three options. One pass, seven pass and 35 pass random data write. I believe the secure empty trash option is simply a single pass random data write. For the sake of usability this method provides a fair amount of security. Coupled with File Vault or some other type of full disk encryption your data can be further secured in the event of theft or repurposing hardware.
 

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