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How to erase an external hard drive
on Mac OS X using ShredIt
Before disposing of a computer or a hard drive, we recommend that you erase all the data you don't want the next user to be able to recover.
Read all of these instructions before continuing.
Using the Hard Drive Cleaner function of ShredIt will erase your data, (i.e. your files), making the computer clean by destroying your data so it can't be recovered.
Before you erase the hard drive, make a backup copy of any data or applications you want to use on another computer before you shred the contents of a disk, since the files cannot be recovered from the disk after it has been shredded.
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Requirements
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Move all the data, all the applications and the preferences of all the applications you want to keep somewhere else. The easiest way to do this is to copy the entire contents of your entire hard drive to another hard drive.
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Move all the files on the hard drive to the trash. Empty the trash.
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If you haven't already done so, install ShredIt. For further information, go to “How to Install ShredIt” .
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Using ShredIt, shred the disk free space on the disk. For further information, go to “How to shred Free Space”
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Notes
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- For more detailed information about ShredIt X for Mac OS X, refer to the
- Tutorials are available for other versions of ShredIt
- There's an important difference between the technical terms "delete" and "secure delete".
- The technical computer term "delete" refers to the type of computer function where the data is marked as deleted, but not really gone. Functions such as dragging a file to the trash/recycle bin and then emptying it marks the data as deleted so the space can be used again, but the data itself remains on the hard drive and recoverable until it is overwritten by something else. On a hard drive with lots of free space, this could take months or even years.
- On the other hand, the technical term "secure delete" refers to the type of computer function where the data is overwritten by other characters so the data can't be recovered. "Secure Delete" is also referred to as "wipe", "erase" and "shred". Computer software that performs this type of function is often called a "file shredder" a "data shredder" or "secure delete utility".
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