External HDD security/data deletion

After using Disk Utility to wipe my Freecom external hard drive it gave a reading of 9 for the remaining number of folders, 43 for the number of files and classed 447.8 mb as 'used'. The file number increased to 44 moments before I switched the drive off although I’d added nothing.

I wiped the drive a second time. The ‘clean’ drive now read 9 (folders) and 50 (files) respectively, with 447.8 mb 'used'. I installed no software on the Freecom when I bought it, merely formatted it to HFS+.

Are these files some sort of record of what has previously been stored on the disk and, if so, should I be concerned?

Many thanks in advance

Any possibility there are two partitions and you've only erased one?

gsahli said:

Any possibility there are two partitions and you've only erased one?

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Hello gsahli,

I bought it. I formatted it. I saved files to it. No partitions that I'm aware of. If any exist they were put there during manufacture. As it is I've erased everything on it - or so I thought - but still have files and folders there (though none show in Finder, so to all intents and purposes the disk appears 'clean'.

Formatting will use some 5-7% of the hard drive space.

harryb2448 said:

Formatting will use some 5-7% of the hard drive space.

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Thanks Harry. I'm not sure this explains why the number of files increased from 43 to 44 (with no assistance on my part) just before I switched off the drive though, or why it increased to 50 after a second wipe, unless the activity itself is being logged or it's somehow affected by connection to the main boot volume (it's an external drive remember).

In addition the disk's capacity is 500Gb (sorry, I didn't think to mention the size). Listing just under 450mb as 'used' accounts for less than a thousandth of that, while 5-7% would be 25-35Gb (unless my brain isn't working and I've misunderstood). This seems rather a lot.