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A faster way to securely delete files
Nice tip!
To do this from the cmd-line instead, use: diskutil secureErase freespace 1|2|3 [device] Where: 1 = Single pass randomly erase the disk. 2 = US DoD 7 pass secure erase. 3 = Gutmann algorithm 35 pass secure erase. Use df, mount, etc. to determine the device specifier for the volume. ** DO NOT FORGET THE 'freespace' KEYWORD! ** In the past, I've used a slightly safer (but less secure) method: dd bs=1024 if=/dev/zero of=dummy-file; sync;rm -f dummy-file The idea is simply to create a huge dummy file filled with zeros (you could also use /dev/random) that grows to use up all your remaining space on a volume. Once it does, dd will quit and the dummy file is deleted immediately afterwards. Note that this method isn't 100% secure because it doesn't take into account all the underlying disk caching mechanisms and it's probably not ideal for running on your root OSX volume which expects to have a certain amount of minimum free space all the time. On another note, I believe the Finder uses /usr/bin/srm under the hood for its secure-delete option. As you mentioned, it appears from the srm manpage that a multi-pass method is used by default: "The -s option overrides the -m option, if both are present. If neither is specified, the 35-pass Gutmann algorithm is used." One final reminder: Once files are deleted, I don't know if Spotlight securely overwrites its underlying database files used for metadata storage. In other words, unless Spotlight was specifically disabled for a volume, it's possible that some file metadata may survive in the internal Spotlight database, even using the techniques described in these hints. |
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