Hints to Erase Free Space on the Mac
When you delete files from your Mac, they still may stay on your computer, so you need special software to remove such documents successfully. If your goal is to remove sensitive data from the device, you can use the erase free space method to get rid of unnecessary files. In this article, we will give you some useful hints on erasing free space from your Mac properly.
Of course, usually users want to clean up sensitive information from their computers when they want to sell their Mac. And before you start thinking about how to remove files securely, you have to know what kind of information they contain, and what risk may appear if someone can recover and view them. For example, big organizations and government structures use classification systems for security information, so you should view your data in similar terms:
- Data with national security content – if you handle information of this type, you should be allowed to keep it. Never delete this kind of data alone and use proper advice from a good specialist. Usually, the computer must be given to security experts who can do all the needed manipulations easily.
- Any data covered by national information protection law – again, you shouldn’t delete this data alone because you have to follow special protocols that sometimes require physical destruction. You will have to get all the needed certificates to show that all things you did are legal.
- Personal documents that can harm yourself or others or someone else would get them but are not covered by data protection law. You only have to make sure all the data is destroyed fully and can select how to do it.
- Other personal data you want to hide from others without any possibility to see. For example, this can be any data about your bank accounts, passwords, etc. And again, you just need to make sure it is fully destroyed.
Of course, the first two categories seem very important and high, and in fact, some business information goes to the 2nd category. Anyway, usually, we pretend this data isn’t so important until something happens. So, concentrate on the last two categories to understand how to erase data from your Mac.
The next step is to define what type of storage you have on the device: the HDD, SSD, or a Fusion Drive that combines both of them.
Erasing an HDD
If you have formatted the hard drive, it’s not so difficult for third parties to recover most of the data with a non-expensive tool. So, if your Mac doesn’t go to a close friend or relative who will not sell or steal it, you need to make sure your information isn’t available for recovering from the hard disk drive.
When you format the HDD, it’s not enough, so you have to overwrite the free space of your device after the formatting. You can do it fast and simple with a secure erase option you can find in Disk Utility on your device.
Erasing an SSD
Compared to HDDs, SSDs are more difficult to erase properly. Of course, if your data is considered to be the 4th category, you can just format your SSD without any worries. But if you have got data of the 3rd category, things are going to be more complicated.
To erase an SSD properly, you need to follow the next points:
- Turn on FileVault with a long password.
- Format your SSD in APFS format with a strong password. You should tell this password to the new owner of your device.
As you can see, it’s possible to erase your device without wasting your time and destroy the information you don’t want to be seen by others. If you need more advice on erasing free space on your Mac without any difficulties, follow this link to get more useful information on this subject.