Erasing Free Disk Space Icon Is Grayed Out

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gconley Author

Level 1

12 points

Erasing Free Disk Space Icon Is Grayed Out

Hey guys, I am trying to erase files from the trash that have already been deleted using the Erase Free space.

I went into disk utility and the erase icon at the top is grayed out and I'm not able to figure out how to get it.

i remember doing this on my old powerbook G4 with no issues.

how can i do this? just want to make sure my personal info thats been deleted will stay gone.

thanks guys

iMac (27-inch, Late 2013), OS X El Capitan (10.11.6), 3.5GHz Intel Core i7 8gb 3TB fusion

Posted on Nov 29, 2017 7:57 AM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Eau Rouge

Level 8

42,656 points

Dec 5, 2017 12:19 AM in response to gconley

Apple removed the Erase Free Disk Space option in Disk Utility along with Secure Empty Trash in the Finder. The Erase you are seeing is to erase the disk/ volume completely, you cannot erase a disk you are booted from that is why the Erase button is greyed out.

You could download Onyx which has an option to securely erase trash, https://www.titanium-software.fr/en/onyx.html

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Answer 2

Eric Root

Level 10

685,299 points

Nov 29, 2017 8:30 AM in response to gconley

Boot to the Recovery Volume (command - R on a restart or hold down the option/alt key during a restart) and select Recovery Volume. See if you can erase there.

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Answer 3

Eric Root

Level 10

685,299 points

Dec 4, 2017 8:25 PM in response to gconley

I wouldn't worry about erasing the disk space as it will be overwritten when new data is added. If you want to see if you can erase the disk space, try the Recovery Partition.

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Answer 4

gconley Author

Level 1

12 points

Dec 4, 2017 4:18 PM in response to Eric Root

thanks for the response but I'm not too savy with computers so is this something i should be messing with? it was so easy before lol

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