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Apple Computing Products:
macOS - Operating System
The difference between secure empty and just empty trash?
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<blockquote data-quote="ukdmbfan" data-source="post: 479316" data-attributes="member: 28721"><p>It's to do with the way in which data storage works and the randomisation of the generated binary pattern works. Basically, because it's random 1's and 0's, the random pattern generated by the computer used to overwrite your data could, in theory, match the pattern already stored on the hard drive. For example, if the binary for a particular part of a file is thus:</p><p></p><p>0111000111000</p><p></p><p>The random 1's and 0's generated to replace it could be that same pattern, meaning the data wasn't overwritten at all and exists on the drive exactly the same. Therefore, this process is run several times. The more times you do it, the less likely it is that the random pattern generated will match, and is therefore more secure. So it basically comes down to a trade off between the processing power of the computer (as in, how quick it can perform each write) compared with the amount of time it takes and the user has. It's been upgraded from 8 to 32 because computers have become so much more powerful that it can handle it in about the same timeframe, and because 32 is much more secure than 8.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="ukdmbfan, post: 479316, member: 28721"] It's to do with the way in which data storage works and the randomisation of the generated binary pattern works. Basically, because it's random 1's and 0's, the random pattern generated by the computer used to overwrite your data could, in theory, match the pattern already stored on the hard drive. For example, if the binary for a particular part of a file is thus: 0111000111000 The random 1's and 0's generated to replace it could be that same pattern, meaning the data wasn't overwritten at all and exists on the drive exactly the same. Therefore, this process is run several times. The more times you do it, the less likely it is that the random pattern generated will match, and is therefore more secure. So it basically comes down to a trade off between the processing power of the computer (as in, how quick it can perform each write) compared with the amount of time it takes and the user has. It's been upgraded from 8 to 32 because computers have become so much more powerful that it can handle it in about the same timeframe, and because 32 is much more secure than 8. [/QUOTE]
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Apple Computing Products:
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The difference between secure empty and just empty trash?
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