|
|
How to erase an external hard drive
on Mac OS X using ShredIt
Before disposing of an external hard drive, we recommend that you erase all the data you don't want the next user to be able to recover.
If you're still using the external hard drive and you've had confidential data on it that you've deleted but not erased, that data can still be recovered. To safeguard against this, erase the free space on your External Hard Drive after deleting confidential data. For more information, see Step 5.
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 drive, since the files cannot be recovered from the disk after it has been erased.
|
|
Requirements
|
|
- ShredIt for Mac OS X
- External Hard Drive or Flash Drive
|
| 1. |
If you haven't already done so, install ShredIt. For further information, go to “How to Install ShredIt” .
|
| 2. |
Mount the external drive. Once mounted, it will appear on the drive menu of the finder.
|
| 3. |
Back Up any files or programs you want to keep from the external Hard Drive on to another device, hard drive, CD or DVD.
|
| 4. |
Move all the files left on the external Hard Drive from the drive to the trash. Empty the trash.
|
| 5. |
Using ShredIt X, shred the disk free space on the external Hard Drive.
There are three ways to erase the free space on a disk using ShredIt X.
|
|
Notes
|
|
- 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 "clean", "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".
|
|
|
