![]() The presence of the Trash feature acts as an important safeguard for the accidental deletion of files. #Secure empty trash mac macSo what’s the solution? Although it is possible to do so, turning off the Trash on your primary Mac drive isn’t ideal. Even if the files are all relatively small, they can cumulatively add up to many gigabytes of wasted space. This results in hundreds or thousands of unneeded files building up over time. But the simple fact is that many users forget to empty their Trash. The Mac’s Trash system, on its own, works well. It’s only when the user selects the Empty Trash command that the data is removed from the drive and the files become unrecoverable via normal methods. If the user realizes they deleted something by mistake, they can go into Trash and restore it like nothing happened. The file appears to be gone, but the actual data comprising it still takes up space on the drive. In macOS past and present, when a user deletes a file or folder it is moved to the Trash. One of the more minor changes in the pursuit of this effort is a new setting to auto-empty Trash. With new and improved features like iCloud Drive and Optimized Storage, Apple is aiming to help Mac owners make the most of their storage space in macOS Sierra. Note that Secure Emptying the trash, while better for preserving privacy, will take much longer than normal as the computer must overwrite the data on the drive.Here's Why You May Never Need to Empty Trash in macOS Sierra Press the “Add” button once you’re satisfied and you’ll now see your shortcut listed in the Finder’s menu bar. The new custom shortcut as it appears in the Finder’s Menu Item. In my case, I set it to Shift-Command-Control-D. You’ll want to choose the once that makes the most sense to your workflow if you’re prone to frequent shortcut mistakes, you may wish to err on the side of caution and include the ellipsis.įinally, in the the Keyboard Shortcut entry box, enter the shortcut you wish to use by clicking inside the box first and then pressing the key combination for your desired shortcut. ![]() Appending an ellipsis (“Secure Empty Trash…”) will configure the shortcut to display a warning window that alerts you to the permanence of your action. Note that there are two choices here: entering “Secure Empty Trash” will configure the shortcut to immediately perform a secure delete of the files in the trash can. In the new window that pops up, choose “Finder” from the Application drop-down, and then enter “Secure Empty Trash” (without quotes) in the Menu Title entry box. ![]() #Secure empty trash mac plusOn the menu to the left, choose “Application Shortcuts” and then press the plus sign at the bottom of the righthand menu. ![]() Using “Application Shortcuts,” a user can create a custom shortcut for nearly every menu bar item in OS X. In our case, it’s “Secure Empty Trash.” Next, go to System Preferences > Keyboard, and then choose “Keyboard Shortcuts.” Wouldn’t it be handy to have a keyboard shortcut? Thankfully, it’s easy to set up a custom keyboard shortcut for almost any OS X menu item.įirst, find the exact name of the menu item you wish to set up. Secure Empty Trash can be handy, but it requires using the mouse and navigating to the Menu Bar. “Secure Empty Trash,” found in the Finder’s Menu Bar item, will delete the contents of your OS X trash can and then immediately overwrite the space on your hard drive where those files were written. Apple has included a method in OS X to do just this. While this method of file management and deletion works well most of the time, there are occasions in which a user may wish to permanently delete a file, such as in the case of financial records or other personal information. ![]() But until those files are actually overwritten they still exist on the drive and are relatively easy to recover. The standard “Empty Trash” command removes files and folders from the user interface and tells the operating system to overwrite those files on the drive if necessary. As discussed on Mac Geek Gabs 356 and 358, Secure Empty Trash is a powerful, albeit potentially dangerous function of OS X. ![]()
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