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Interesting Problem, help needed

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I'm giving an old iMac to my mom. She plans on keeping the current operating system (I can't find the disk to reload Tiger). I, at one point, had certain files that I would not like her to find out about. I deleted them, however, I'm worried that at some point she might take the computer in to get repaired or something and the files will be brought to light. Is that even possible first of all? Secondly, is there anything I can do to prevent that from happening?
 

CrimsonRequiem


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Your Mac's Specs
MBP 2.3 Ghz 4GB RAM 860 GB SSD, iMac 3.4 GHz Intel Core i7 32GB RAM, Fusion Drive 1TB
That will only happen if they start using data recovery software. >_>"
 

bobtomay

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Location
Texas, where else?
Your Mac's Specs
15" MBP '06 2.33 C2D 4GB 10.7; 13" MBA '14 1.8 i7 8GB 10.11; 21" iMac '13 2.9 i5 8GB 10.11; 6S
Disk Utitlity

Select your startup drive in the left pane

Select 'Erase' on the right side and then select 'Erase Free Space'
There are several options, the first should be good enough.
It could take several hours depending on how much free space you have.

Would advise against using your computer while this is being done. Just let it sit. And read the warnings here.
 

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