So what does it mean to securely erase a hard drive？What can it do to hard drive files? Let's make it clear here.Įrasing is an action that completely wipes everything, all saved documents, images, audio files, videos, etc., content from your storage device. Therefore, whether you have an old hard drive, SSD, or external hard drive for erasing, you'll need a secure disk eraser for help. There are some limitations, because of the way macOS stores some files.Secure hard drive disposal: how to erase confidential information on hard drive or SSD?Ĭan you completely wipe a hard drive and securely erase hard drive to protect your privacy from prying eyes? Be it an old hard drive, a dying SSD, or a not working external hard drive, as long as you have confidential files saved there, the most important thing is to erase the disk before you get rid of them, either selling or discarding. Click Yes to proceed.ĬCleaner for Mac can't wipe every deleted file from your free disk space. Choose the type of security you require ( see here for more information about erase methods).Select the volume whose free space you want to erase.

Click Tools, and then click Erase Free Space.

To wipe your drive using Erase Freespace: Note: Wiping free space can take several hours, or even longer depending on the size of the drive, the number of passes selected, and the speed of the computer. Note: This process should not be used on any solid-state drive or other Flash-based storage. For privacy and security reasons, you can set CCleaner for Mac to wipe the free areas of your hard disk so that deleted files can never be recovered. This means that, given the right software, someone could reconstruct all, or parts of files that you've deleted.

Over time, this data will be overwritten as macOS writes new files to that area of the drive. When you delete a file, macOS removes the reference to that file, but doesn't delete the actual data that made up the file on your hard drive. You can also find helpful information about the latest version of our macOS app. Note: this article is relevant to version 1.18.30 of CCleaner for Mac and below.

Wipe mac hard drive