How to Always Secure Empty Trash

You can set Mac OS X to always securely empty the Trash and add a significant layer of security when removing files from the Mac. This is done just by adjusting a preference setting within the Finder, and it’s very easy to configure, here’s what you will want to do to use this option:

Always Secure Empty Trash in Mac OS X

Toggling this setting causes the Mac to empty the trash with a secure layer, which uses multi-pass rewriting to overwrite random patterns over the file after it has been trashed. In lamen terms, that basically means it’s impossible to recover a file if it has been removed this way.

• Enter the Finder Preferences options, accessible by either going to the Finder menu and selecting “Preferences”, or by hitting Command+ within anywhere in the Mac Finder
• Click on the ‘Advanced’ tab icon
• Click the checkbox next to “Empty Trash Securely” to enable secure file deletion through the Trash, then close out of the Finder Preferences

Now your Trash will always be securely emptied, regardless of how you empty it. Note this makes data recovery virtually impossible, because secure removal means the contents are not only deleted from the drive, but they are overwritten after they are deleted. Basically if you delete something this way, you won’t ever be able to get it back, and neither would any data recovery expert.

If you would rather not have the Trash constantly securely empty itself, either because you would like the data recovery option or simply because you find it’s unnecessary, you can instead choose to selectively choosing to Securely Empty Trash instead.