# How do I delete all my deleted files?



## BriceH (Jul 26, 2009)

I have moved many many (about 120GB) of files to the trash, and emptied the trash. I just now learned that this does not actually delete the data, it just makes the data rewriteable. How do I _actually_ delete all the files that I have emptied with the trash before? *I do not want to erase free space. This leaves me with no space left on my hard drive.*


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## Randy Singer (Jul 27, 2009)

Once you empty the trash on your Macintosh, for all intents and purposes the data that was in the trash is gone.  All of the space that was occupied by that data is now treated by the directory as empty, and new data will immediately be able to use that space.

It's true that the data that you trashed is not necessarily overwritten immediately.  However, that is irrelevant with respect to the amount of free space left on your drive.  

The only reason that some folks might care that the data isn't overwritten immediately is if they are concerned about someone gaining access to their computer and somehow retrieving that data.  (e.g. if you have valuable trade secrets in the deleted files.)  If this is what you are concerned about, then instead of simply trashing your data, you should choose Finder --> Secure Empty Trash when trashing your data.  This will make sure that all of your data is overwritten immediately.

See:
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/8279.html

You can make this process easier with:

iShred
http://home.comcast.net/~jeff.ulicny/software/utils.html

As far as overwriting all of the files that you have *already* trashed, you could do this by backing up your drive, reformatting (erasing) your drive and writing zeros to it using Disk Utility, and then restoring your data.  

An easier way to do this would be to open Disk Utility, and select the PARTITION of the disk that you want to Zero-out free space on (The partition is the child option that has the same name as the disk on your desktop: most likely "Macintosh HD"). Click on the Erase tab, and near the lower left, there will be a button to "Erase Free Space..." which, when you click it, gives you the option to zero-out all data, run a 7-pass erase, or run a 35-pass erase.


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## BriceH (Jul 27, 2009)

The reason why I want to get rid of all those _already_ deleted files is that I want to partition my hard drive. Because I've deleted so many files, many of which "still exist" and have not been written over, Boot Camp says I don't have enough space left on my hard drive. Wouldn't writing zeros over all the deleted data still be using up that space? What should I do?


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## Satcomer (Jul 27, 2009)

Well you have to have so much space on you hard drive to use boot Camp. How much free space is Leopard reporting you have?

In OS X make a junk TextEdit file to trow into the trash. Once it is in the Trash go you the menu item of the top left "Finder" menu item (click on the desktop to get to the Finder menu item) and use the pull down of "Secure Empty Trash". Once you do this did it erase a lot of files?


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## BriceH (Jul 27, 2009)

Satcomer said:


> Well you have to have so much space on you hard drive to use boot Camp. How much free space is Leopard reporting you have?
> 
> In OS X make a junk TextEdit file to trow into the trash. Once it is in the Trash go you the menu item of the top left "Finder" menu item (click on the desktop to get to the Finder menu item) and use the pull down of "Secure Empty Trash". Once you do this did it erase a lot of files?


I did that, but when I clicked "Secure Empty Trash", it said it only deleted 3 items. Would it work to clear up space by duplicating a large file a ton (e.g. iPhone SDK DMG) and delete the copies, and secure empty trash?


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## Satcomer (Jul 27, 2009)

BriceH said:


> I did that, but when I clicked "Secure Empty Trash", it said it only deleted 3 items. Would it work to clear up space by duplicating a large file a ton (e.g. iPhone SDK DMG) and delete the copies, and secure empty trash?




Well the difference is in the way Trash is emptied (in OS x & Windows & Linux) by just forgetting about the space where the data for that file resided. When in OS X Secure Delete will write over the space (that the data took up) with zero's three times.

I suggested this because sometimes in OS X it will Secure delete the regular deleted files still in the cache (regular deleted during the current operation).

Next did you boot with an OS X install disk and right before the install happens you can startup the finder menu and in there you can select Disk Utility to try to "Repair" the OS X disk.  Disk Errors is the number one problem when failing to make a Boot Camp partition, besides using to much space for the Boot Camp partition.


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## BriceH (Jul 27, 2009)

Satcomer said:


> Well the difference is in the way Trash is emptied (in OS x & Windows & Linux) by just forgetting about the space where the data for that file resided. When in OS X Secure Delete will write over the space (that the data took up) with zero's three times.
> 
> I suggested this because sometimes in OS X it will Secure delete the regular deleted files still in the cache (regular deleted during the current operation).
> 
> Next did you boot with an OS X install disk and right before the install happens you can startup the finder menu and in there you can select Disk Utility to try to "Repair" the OS X disk.  Disk Errors is the number one problem when failing to make a Boot Camp partition, besides using to much space for the Boot Camp partition.


Are you saying that if I write zeros over free space (which leaves me with 0GB left) and repair the disk, those deleted files will be completely gone and I will have the space back on my disk?


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## Randy Singer (Jul 27, 2009)

BriceH said:


> The reason why I want to get rid of all those _already_ deleted files is that I want to partition my hard drive. Because I've deleted so many files, many of which "still exist" and have not been written over, Boot Camp says I don't have enough space left on my hard drive. Wouldn't writing zeros over all the deleted data still be using up that space? What should I do?



It shouldn't work that way.  Once you have trashed files, the directory should show them as gone, and for all intents and purposes they should be gone.  

You need to repair your directory.  Run Repair Disk:

http://www.macattorney.com/ts.html
Item #5

If that doesn't help, you need Disk Warrior:
http://www.alsoft.com


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## Randy Singer (Jul 27, 2009)

I was just thinking about this, and it occurs to me that the problem may have nothing to do with files that you have previously trashed.  It may be that your drive is filled with invisible files.

Use one or both of these free utilities to find out what is taking up all of your free disk space: 

DiskInventory X (free)
http://www.derlien.com/

or

GrandPerspective (free)
http://grandperspectiv.sourceforge.net/

Once we know what these files are, I can help you (safely) get rid of them.  (Don't start deleting invisible files willy nilly if you don't know what they are!)


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