I try to empty trash and, often, I'm told a file is "in use" when it is not. In fact, the application has been shut down. I used to get rid of the file or files by doing a secure empty trash, but that option seems to have evaporated under OS 10.11. It's still in the help files, but there's no way to do what the help file says. Is there some way I can get Secure Empty Trash back?
iMac, OS X El Capitan (10.11)
Thanks for your quick reply. It's odd to see exactly where Apple decides they're giving us a "false" sense of security.
Finder Available for: Mac OS X v10.6.8 and laterImpact: The "Secure Empty Trash" feature may not securely delete files placed in the TrashDescription: An issue existed in guaranteeing secure deletion of Trash files on some systems, such as those with flash storage. This issue was addressed by removing the "Secure Empty Trash" option.CVE-IDCVE-2015-5901 : Apple
Secure empty trash is a false sense of security as it does not delete the file's data because of how flash works. More and more Macs are shipping with ONLY flash storage.
If you are concerned about securing your data, then enable FileVault and then deleted files are random bits that do not need to have a secure erase pattern written over them (which could not be done for flash storage, so encrypt from the start).
Seems like just renaming the feature to "force"empty trash would have been a better option. Is there another way to accomplish this as I really don't care if it is "securely" deleted most of the time.
from a terminal session
man srm
You can write an Automator workflow to perform the operation if you do not want to use a terminal session.
And it should NOT be used on an SSD. For an SSD, the regular 'rm' command would be better, as srm will just wear out the SSD faster without even touching the original data.
In regards to the file in use concern, if you right click on the file while it is in the trash you will get the option to "Delete Immediately" this will bypass that pop up.
I hope that helps.
Try quitting the applications that the "in use" files were created with. Worked for me.
What happened to Secure Empty Trash in OS 10.11?
