Do you want to permanently remove some or all of the files on your Mac. Be it for storage space or to resell it. Perhaps your Mac is too old to update to the next version of the operating system, or you have stored a lot of data on it and you worry that it could be hijacked if stolen.
The last thing you want is to find that your data has been leaked by some hacker, leaving you vulnerable and unsure of what to do next.
The good news is that you can permanently delete files from your Mac using some of the methods we’ll show you in this guide.
Can my files be retrieved after I delete them
The short answer is yes.
Data recovery technology has made it possible to recover files and restore them, which means other people can retrieve any files you delete from your hard drive.
Most new Macs come with a solid-state drive (flash storage) or Hybrid Drive for some iMacs, instead of the old spinning hard drives. That’s an important factor when it comes to securely deleting files on your Mac as you won’t have to if it came with an SSD.
If you have an older Mac, that Mac may have a regular HDD, but newer models have an SSD that allows you to use standard file-moving and trash-emptying methods to delete files. , versus safely deleting the file.
Unlike an HDD, where secure file deletion works, it doesn’t work with SSDs because overwriting a file just creates a new file in a new location, not overwriting the contents of the old file.
Thankfully, there are various methods you can use to permanently delete files on your Mac, whether it has an old HDD or an SSD.
Note: You can check the storage on your Mac by clicking the Apple icon in the upper left of the screen, then going to About This Mac>Storage. Below the drive icon, you’ll see if your Mac has a spinning HDD or an SSD.
Move files to trash
This is a tried and true method to delete files on your Mac by dragging files to the trash. You can also use the Move to Trash feature by right clicking on the file and selecting options. From here, you can go ahead and empty the trash.
Instant Delete is a feature introduced by Apple with OS X (macOS) 10.11 El Capitan that bypasses the recycle bin when you delete a file. It’s much faster than Move to Trash because you just need to mark your files then use the Option-Command-Delete keyboard shortcut.
Alternatively, you can go to Finder’s File menu and hold down the Option key to change the Move to Trash option to Immediate Delete. You will be asked to confirm the deletion, just like when you use the Move to Trash option.
If you want to skip the empty trash confirmation, go to your keyboard and press the keyboard shortcut Command-Option-Shift-Delete. That will dismiss the dialog window to confirm the deletion and empty the trash immediately.
If that’s too difficult or cumbersome for you to remember, change the Finder preferences setting to unconfirm. Go to Menu>Preferences and uncheck Show warning before emptying the Trash box in the Advanced tab.
Safe Trash Bin
Here is another simple solution to permanently delete your files from your Mac. It ensures that items are permanently deleted by writing random data over them over and over again.
Feature included with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. It overwrites data seven times for added security.
To use this feature, click the Finder menu and select Secure Empty Trash directly below Empty Trash.
Using third-party apps
If deleting your files by emptying the trash doesn’t work, you can use a third-party app to force empty the recycle bin. There are many such apps available, such as Permanent Eraser or Clean My Mac, which can help you permanently and completely empty the trash.
Using the Mac terminal
Mac’s Terminal is a command line tool that allows you to complete tedious tasks like deleting files easily in just a few seconds. The program uses Unix commands to perform a number of functions easily and quickly without the operating system interfering with its processes. It is efficient and powerful as it helps you to permanently delete files easily.
However, if you’re not already using the command line, Terminal can be dangerous, too. Before you start, familiarize yourself with some basic Terminal commands, because any wrong command you type can damage your system and you can easily delete files faster than you can. have time to stop the process.
The precision of every character, including capitalization and spaces, is important when using terminal commands.
To get started, perform the steps below:
Step 1: Open Finder and click Applications>Utilities>Terminal.
Step 2: In a new window, a command prompt with a $ sign (dollar sign) will appear. The command line you will see is ComputerName:CurrentDirectory ~Username$ and the word Bash at the top, is the Terminal language in Macs.
Step 3: Type your command and press Return key after each command to execute or copy and paste the command into the terminal window. Type rm and a space, then drag and drop the file(s) you want to get rid of permanently onto the Terminal window. Press Enter to delete it permanently.
Note: You can also enter the path of the file into Terminal if you want to delete the file faster without using drag and drop.
Easily delete files permanently
Before you delete files, make sure that you back up your data in case something goes wrong. Of course, we recommend getting familiar with Terminal as it can be extremely powerful in deleting files while the interface can be glitchy or slow.
Next: Want to clear your iCloud storage from your Mac and iPhone? Our next article shows you all the steps you need to take to free up your memory.
Categories: How to
Source: thpttranhungdao.edu.vn/en/
