mhly

Q: How do  I do a seven pass erase

How do I do seven pass erase on all my data files

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Sep 13, 2016 7:16 AM

Close

Q: How do  I do a seven pass erase

  • All replies
  • Helpful answers

  • by K Shaffer,Apple recommended

    K Shaffer K Shaffer Sep 13, 2016 6:04 PM in response to mhly
    Level 6 (14,350 points)
    Desktops
    Sep 13, 2016 6:04 PM in response to mhly

    A secure erase, minimal, should be all you'd need; an SSD or

    non-rotational hard drive (solid-state) does not need 'zeroing.'

     

    One pass, if anything. (note: link to OS X Recovery below)

     

    You posted in MacBook ASC implying you have a 2015+ 12inch

    MacBook retina; these models usually don't have rotational drives.

     

    If you have a 5400/4500/ etc RPM hard disk drive, a single pass

    erase should be good enough. And if the drive is 1-TB or so, it

    may take many hours of waiting to get a single pass erase...

     

    OS X: About Disk Utility's erase free space feature - Apple Support

    Mar 18, 2016 - Disk Utility in OS X includes the ability to securely erase the free...
    This specification calls for three passes, but Disk Utility performs seven.

     

    The disk utility will show a single, or a seven pass erase. Unless, if

    your computer has an SSD -not a rotational hard drive - then, none

     

    Unless you are selling or giving away the unit to some unknown

    person, you may be able to do well enough with none at all.

    I'd do a single-pass (overwrite once) if it's a standard hard drive.

     

    OS X Recovery has a Disk Utility version that can erase the entire

    hard drive, or just the system partition; see about that here:

    • About OS X Recovery - Apple Support

     

    Good luck !