[Fed-Talk] Clearing files on a Mac, summary
[Fed-Talk] Clearing files on a Mac, summary
- Subject: [Fed-Talk] Clearing files on a Mac, summary
- From: Allan Marcus <email@hidden>
- Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2008 13:20:02 -0700
Thanks to all who helped me find the answers! Here's a summary of
what I learned. This is what I sent to our Cyber Security folks:
Mac OS X has a number of options to securely erase a file, free
space, or a partition.
Please note, these methods may take hours. A laptop should be plugged
into the power outlet when performing these operations.
To erase an entire partition, boot from a different disk or partition
(such as the Install DVD) and use Disk Utilities. Select the
partition to erase, then select the Erase tab, then click the
Security Options and choose the 7-pass erase option. The 7-pass erase
option conforms to the DoD 5220.22-M specification. See http://
docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=303462 for more info.
There is an option to Secure Empty Trash but that will only securely
delete the files in the trash at that time. If files were previously
deleted, only the Erase Free Space option will clear those erase
files. Move the file to the trash, then select Secure Empty Trash
from the Finder menu. Note: if the offending file was simply erased
and new files have been written to the disk, there is no way to
securely clear the space used by the file that was deleted. The best
option to use if files have been written to the disk is to securely
erase the partition.
To erase free space, use Disk Utilities and select the Erase tab,
then click the Erase Free Space button and choose the 7-pass erase of
deleted files option.
Command line options:
to erase a partition:
diskutil secureErase 2 <device>
to erase free space:
diskutil secureErase freespace 2 <device>
to delete a file:
srm -mi <file>
-m = 7 pass wipe (m is medium)
-i is interactive
see man diskutil and man srm for more information.
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