Secure Empty Trash [Mac Systems]

Prev: Question about External HD
Next: Strange login behavior

From: Salmon Egg on 24 Jan 2010 12:54

In article <michelle-07EA7D.10404124012010(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote:

> Whenever I use Secure Empty Trash on file that is not a bundle, the
> progress dialog says that it is emptying four items.
>
> anyone know why?

I can only guess. My gues is that to greatly increase the security, the
various segments the file occupied are written upon and erased several
time in order to leave as little residual magnetization on the drive as
possible. That prevents restoration of data by possible reconstruction
from stray magnetization that may not be caught on a single pass.

Bill

--
An old man would be better off never having been born.

From: Tom Stiller on 24 Jan 2010 12:58

From: David on 24 Jan 2010 18:55

In article <michelle-07EA7D.10404124012010(a)news.eternal-september.org>,
Michelle Steiner <michelle(a)michelle.org> wrote:

> Whenever I use Secure Empty Trash on file that is not a bundle, the
> progress dialog says that it is emptying four items.
>
> anyone know why?

I dont know why either - but it is not just your 'problem' as when I
secure delete a jpg it often shows six items are being deleted, even
though I always empty the trash before putting in an item that I want to
secure delete.

David - who also wondered about this

From: Warren Oates on 25 Jan 2010 08:09

In article <me-D3E936.20350724012010(a)news.supernews.com>,
Dan <me(a)here.net> wrote:

> Wow. I've never tried the Secure Empty Trash before. With a single
> file in the trash, I get 13 items to delete!!!!
>
> 100% repeatable, regardless of file type. Hmmmmm....

Same here, but I assume that the system is overwriting everything that
the file used on the filesystem. Usually, when you delete a file, the
file isn't actually deleted -- the space it takes up is just marked as
"available" for other uses. So Secure Empty Trash is deleting 13 things
related to your file so that the guys in the black helicopters won't
ever be able to know what it was.
--
Very old woody beets will never cook tender.
-- Fannie Farmer

From: Paul Sture on 25 Jan 2010 12:02

In article <me-A18485.11172025012010(a)news.supernews.com>,
Dan <me(a)here.net> wrote:

> In article <00d624eb$0$1475$c3e8da3(a)news.astraweb.com>,
> Warren Oates <warren.oates(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > In article <me-D3E936.20350724012010(a)news.supernews.com>,
> > Dan <me(a)here.net> wrote:
> >
> > > Wow. I've never tried the Secure Empty Trash before. With a single
> > > file in the trash, I get 13 items to delete!!!!
> > >
> > > 100% repeatable, regardless of file type. Hmmmmm....
> >
> > Same here, but I assume that the system is overwriting everything that
> > the file used on the filesystem. Usually, when you delete a file, the
> > file isn't actually deleted -- the space it takes up is just marked as
> > "available" for other uses. So Secure Empty Trash is deleting 13 things
> > related to your file so that the guys in the black helicopters won't
> > ever be able to know what it was.
>
> Yeah, I understand all of that. What I find interesting is the
> different numbers reported by different people. It implies that a
> given file takes up 13 "items" on my system, but 4 elsewhere and 6
> somewhere else.
>
> I'm just curious as to the differences.
>
> OK, the 13 items was on my PPC system - a MDD G4 dual 1.25 gHz system.
> On this Intel system I get 4 items. Different filesystems perhaps? I
> THINK both are the same.

Number of file fragments?

--
Paul Sture

| Next | Last
Pages: 1 2 3
Prev: Question about External HD
Next: Strange login behavior