Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

To the Mac users out there:

can you recommend a program (free, shareware, or commercial) that will permanantly erase all previously deleted files so that something like Undelete can't recover them?

I've found several, but they all look like they only work at the time you delete the file, not on already deleted files.

Thanks,

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Jeff

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Posts: 253

Recommend Speed Disk

Norton Utilities for the Mac include a program called Speed Disk. This utility defragments your hard drive and overwrites any deleted files (since they are really "empty space"). Once Speed Disk is run, all the "tags" are lost for any deleted files and they can no longer be recovered.

The package includes a few other utilities (like Disk Doctor) that are handy, but I never use them as much.

Hope this helps...

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"When I am Empress...Heads will roll!"
Queen of Parts

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 638

There is an easier option if you have Windows also installed (You might be thinking that this is going to be bad, but hold on a second). Windows has a great program called DOS . What you need to to is move all of you important daa out of the roots that you want to pemenatly erase. Then fire-up dos and format the root that you have nothing but bad files in. This will delete all pointers and tags left.
This can be the cheapest way if you 1) have dos installed and 2) know how to use it efficently.
BEN

Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

fixit,

you said:

quote:

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...overwrites any deleted files

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I guess I don't understand. I'm assuming that all the bits in the empty space are set to 0, 1, or some repeating pattern. But you also said:

quote:

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...all the "tags" are lost for any deleted files

---

which sounds no different to me than a normal delete, i.e. if you read every bit of the disk in order, you'll find (at least segments of) all files that weren't overwritten by later files.

Does Speed Disk really "zero" all "empty space"?

BEN - I'm a Win person myself, I'm asking for a friend of mine who's a very non-technical Mac person. Thanks anyway.

Thanks,

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Jeff

Registered: Feb 2000
Location:
Posts: 638

Technically, making all of the drive 0's is still data, so if that is what you want to do then it is physically & technically impossible. If you want to make it so you can no longer find the data then both of the options will do that.
Hope that helped.
BEN

Registered: Jul 2000
Location: Pleasanton, CA
Posts: 253

A little more info...

Speed Disk is a disk optimization program. It overwrites any files marked as "deleted" meaning it no longer has the directory tag. It also optimizes any files that are "fragmented". So it's main purpose is optimizing disk space, the permanent deletion of files is a side-effect.

Sorry for the confusion. You Windows guys always try to make things complicated

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"When I am Empress...Heads will roll!"
Queen of Parts