erase free space

CCleaner for Mac
1

On a MacBook Pro10.12.2 I recently ran erase free space 35 pass. being curious I ran data recovery after that and found 100's of deleted files of all file types.

deleted documents, jpeg, tiff, png. gif all the image file types. all the video file types. Also web archive and zip.

There were about 700 recovered jpg. many videos and documents from the past.

Many of the files are 'system' content, others, jpeg and mpg are things I have never seen before. Some of theses may be "system" or some part of iMovie, one - three second second videos.

The remainder was all deleted items I recognised, many business documents, family photos etc.

So, what is a 35 pass erase free space if all this material is still there?

cheers and thank you in advance

P

2

but have you actually tried to recover any of them, and try to open them.

after 35 passes, the data in those files should be corrupted.

I suspect whatever Mac uses as its file table equivalent of Windows is all you are seeing.

3

Yes, 600+ recoverable jpg. They open in greatly reduced file size. ( a recognised photo open @ 29KB ) so it wasn't, 'erased' Documents open in pages. Videos open, however I have never seen them before. ie 2 seconds of someone hiking or skiing.

4

Hey!

The Erase Free Space has been removed from MacOS at a system level meaning that this functionality no longer works. We are going to be releasing a new version of CCleaner Mac soon which takes this feature out for Sierra users to prevent further confusion.

I'm sorry I couldn't bring you better news!

5

I started the Erase Free Space 35 pass utility last night. Now 12 hours later it is on the fifth pass, much longer than the several hours indicated prior to starting. What now? Thanks

6

G'day distance and welcome to the forums,

the hours indicated before starting is a 'best guess' that will fluctuate depending on many factors.

5 passes took 12 hours. 30 more passes to do.

30 / 5 = 6

6 * 12 = 72 hours remaining.

or 3.5 days to erase free space 35 times.

you must really want those sensitive files gone! :)

7

Hey!

The Erase Free Space has been removed from MacOS at a system level meaning that this functionality no longer works. We are going to be releasing a new version of CCleaner Mac soon which takes this feature out for Sierra users to prevent further confusion.

I'm sorry I couldn't bring you better news!

Is this the reason why secure deletion also doesn't work? It doesn't delete anything even though it takes longer than standard deletion.. .(?)