Reverse Secure Empty Trash on Mac: Does it Really Work?

I recently stumbled upon an interesting experiment that shed some light on the effectiveness of securely erasing files after emptying them from the trash on a Mac. To my surprise, it seemed to work exactly as expected.

To start, I duplicated a PDF file and threw it away using the Finder's 'Secure Empty Trash' menu option. This is where things got interesting. Instead of simply deleting the file, a progress bar appeared showing that over 500 files were being securely erased. I was expecting a quick process, similar to when I overwrite a single file. However, this suggested that the Secure Empty Trash feature was doing more than just deleting the file.

Intrigued, I decided to test this hint further by throwing away various size files - including PDFs and empty text documents. What I discovered was surprising: it didn't matter what type of file or its size; running the 'Secure Empty Trash' option would reclaim disk space regardless.

This discovery has been a game-changer for me, as I've been experiencing mysterious hard drive space loss since upgrading to macOS 10.3 from 10.2.8. Using the Secure Empty Trash feature after emptying my trash can now allows me to regain the same amount of space as restarting my iBook - which was previously the only way to recover lost disk space.

In a typical workday, I would often find myself with less than 300MB of free hard drive space without adding any files to my system. However, since implementing this new habit, I've been able to maintain a healthy 1.1GB of free space.

So, does Reverse Secure Empty Trash on Mac really work? Based on my experiment, it would appear that yes, it can securely erase files even after emptying them from the trash. The next time you're struggling with lost disk space, consider giving this feature a try and see if it makes a difference for you.

Reverse secure empty trash mac