How to Permanently Delete Files From a Mac

Wouldn't you like to get rid of some or all of the files on your Mac forever. Whether for storage space or to resell it. Your Mac may be too old to take the next version of the operating system, or you have stored a lot of data on it, and you are concerned that it will be hijacked if it is stolen.

The last thing you want is to see that your data has been leaked by a hacker, leaving you vulnerable and with no idea what to do next.

The good news is that you can permanently delete files from your Mac using several methods that we will show you in this guide.

Can my files be recovered after I delete them

The short answer is yes.

Data recovery technology has made it possible to recover and restore files, which means that someone else can recover all the files you delete from a hard drive.

Most new Macs come with SSD (flash storage) or Fusion Drives for some iMacs, instead of the old spinning hard drives. This is a critical factor when it comes to securely deleting files on your Mac, since you won't have to do it if it comes with an SSD .

If you have an older Mac, it probably has an ordinary hard drive, but the new models with SSDs allow you to use the standard method of moving files and emptying the recycle bin to erase files, compared to secure deletion of files.

Unlike hard drives, where secure file deletion works, this is not the case with SSDs, since overwriting a file only creates a new one. in a new location but does not overwrite the contents of the old file.

Fortunately, there are different methods you can use to permanently delete files on your Mac, whether it's old hard drives or SSDs.

Note: You can check the storage on your Mac by clicking the Apple logo in the upper left corner of the screen and then clicking About This Mac> Storage. Under the disc icon, you'll see if your Mac has a spinning hard drive or an SSD.

Secure the empty trash

This is another simple solution to permanently delete your files from your Mac. It ensures that items are deleted forever by writing random data to them multiple times.

The functionality came with Mac OS X 10.3 Panther. It overwrites data seven times to increase security.

To use this function, click on the Finder menu and select Secure Empty Trash just below Empty Trash.

Use a third party application

If deleting your files by emptying the trash doesn't help, you can get a third-party app to force the trash to empty. There are many applications such as Permanent Eraser or Clean My Mac, which can help you empty your trash completely and permanently.

Use the Mac terminal

The Mac terminal is a command line tool that allows you to easily perform tedious tasks such as deleting files in seconds. The program uses Unix commands to perform multiple functions quickly and easily without the operating system interfering with its processes. It is efficient and powerful because it helps you to delete files easily and permanently.

However, if you haven't used the command line, Terminal can also be dangerous. Before you get started, familiarize yourself with some basic terminal commands, as any wrong command you enter can damage your system and you can easily delete files faster than you would have time to stop. the process.

The accuracy of each character, including capital letters and spaces, is important when using terminal commands.

To get started, do the following:

Step 1: Open the Finder and click Applications> Utilities> Terminal.

2nd step: In the new window, a command prompt with the $ (dollar sign) will appear. The command line you will see is ComputerName: CurrentDirectory ~ Username $ and the word Bash at the top, which is the language of the terminal in a Mac.

Stage 3: Type your order and press the Return key after each order to execute it, or copy and paste the order in the terminal window. Type rm and space, then drag and drop the file (s) you want to permanently get rid of in the Terminal window. Press Enter to delete it forever.

Note: You can also enter the file path in Terminal if you want to delete the file even faster without using drag and drop.

Easily delete files for good

Before deleting the files, make sure you have a backup of your data in case something goes wrong. Of course, we recommend that you familiarize yourself with Terminal as it can be extremely powerful for deleting files while the interface may suffer from a problem or be slow.