oxe

Q: Are there andythird party Mac applictions to hd erase free space?

Now that Apple in their infinite wisdom decided to eliminate the ability to erase free space from El Capitan,  are there any 3rd part applications that will do the job?  CCleaner a good job but I don't see it in the app store any longer.  I know you can use the terminal to clean space but I'm not comfortable with using this approach.  Please advise.

MacBook Pro

Posted on Jun 4, 2016 9:12 AM

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Q: Are there andythird party Mac applictions to hd erase free space?

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  • by Old Toad,Apple recommended

    Old Toad Old Toad Jun 4, 2016 9:25 AM in response to oxe
    Level 10 (141,125 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 4, 2016 9:25 AM in response to oxe

    If you're wanting to erase free space on an SSD drive you don't have to.  On a SSD drive there's two states for each location on the drive, one or off.  Once turned off there's no easy way to recover the data.  There is no residual magnetization of the media from which data can be recovered.  The following is from this Apple document: OS X: About Disk Utility's erase free space feature - Apple Support

    Note: With an SSD drive, Secure Erase and Erasing Free Space are not available in Disk Utility. These options are not needed for an SSD drive because a standard erase makes it difficult to recover data from an SSD. For more security, consider turning on FileVault encryption when you start using your SSD drive.

    Running multiple passes over locations writing to them like with HDD drives only reduces the life expectancy of the drive.

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  • by Barney-15E,

    Barney-15E Barney-15E Jun 4, 2016 10:51 AM in response to oxe
    Level 9 (50,141 points)
    Mac OS X
    Jun 4, 2016 10:51 AM in response to oxe

    You can just use diskutil in the Terminal, but it may not actually "securely" erase the free space. If sectors of the drive contain errors that cannot be written, you won't actually erase those sectors. They will still be readable and contain the data you tried to erase.

     

    Just encrypt your drive, then it won't matter what is in the trash, erased, or corrupted as it will all be encrypted.

  • by pinkstones,

    pinkstones pinkstones Jun 4, 2016 11:21 AM in response to oxe
    Level 5 (4,209 points)
    Safari
    Jun 4, 2016 11:21 AM in response to oxe

    oxe wrote:

     

    Now that Apple in their infinite wisdom decided to eliminate the ability to erase free space from El Capitan,  are there any 3rd part applications that will do the job?  CCleaner a good job but I don't see it in the app store any longer.  I know you can use the terminal to clean space but I'm not comfortable with using this approach.  Please advise.

     

    Macs do not need any program that claims it will clean, boost, organize, optimize, or refresh the hard drive.  As others have suggested, it would be far better to use FileVault to encrypt your drive.