remove from hard drive

[goodear]

I've heard that when we put items in the trash and empty trash, those items still reside on the hard drive. How can I find and remove unwanted items that have already been trashed? I use a G4, system 9.2. Thanks.

[Gregg]

The only way I know of is using a utility program, such as TechTool Pro (TTP).

It has a "suite" of utilities, including one called "Wipe Free Space". You have to be sure you pick that one, and not "Wipe Disk" or one of the others. The function is not reversible.

I also use OS 9.2 and the TTP version I have is 3.0.6

But, those trashed files aren't hurting anything. The space they occupy will be available for new files if needed. The old stuff is just overwritten. What is your concern?

[tacit]

When you put something in the trash and empty the trash, the file is not erased. Instead, it is removed from the disk directory, and the place where it is recorded is marked as being "free." Then, as you continue to use the computer, by saving files or moving things around, that free space is eventually used, and the place where the deleted file used to be is written over with new files.

If you delete a file by accident, the longer you keep using the computer, the more likely it is that the space where the file used to be will get used by some other file, and the file you deleted will be gone beyond all hope of recovery. Just by using your Web browser, you are making it less and less likely that the file can ever be recovered, because your Web browser saves many files--cookies, cache files, temporary files, and so on--which can end up on top of the file you deleted.

If you delete a file by accident, the best advice is to shut down that computer immediately, and do not turn it on or use it again until you have a data recovery program.

The best data recovery program I have used is a program called Data Rescue II, by Prosoft Engineering. However, you should keep in mind that you must have some other hard disk to copy the rescued files to. You can not rescue them onto the same volume that you originally deleted them from.

If you have continued to use the same computer after you deleted that file, the odds are pretty good that the file has been overwritten and can not be saved. You have backups of your files, right?

[Gregg]

I don't think recovery of deleted files is the objective. But, all of the above is excellent advice in that event.

Another aspect (which TTP will also help you do) is optimizing the disk. As those things get moved around, current files are written in the next available space when you add to them and save them, since there is no more contiguous room on the disk to put them. Those files become "fragmented". This really isn't a fatal flaw, but if you like things orderly, even though you can't see the "mess", TTP can do what all the King's horses and all the King's men could not.

[sandbox]

You can also deliberately write over your drive with files. A simple way is to duplicate files you already have. One method I used was to duplicate audio files, which cover a lot of area. If the files you have erased are small, duplicate smaller files to fit inside the space erased if the opportunity presents itself. There are times if a new file is small enough that data will fill in spaces between blocks of data intact on the drive.

Back in my OS9 days I used to be able to watch the drive fill and empty using Norton Utilities. Often my G3 would fill in the spaces before it wrote to the outside of the used blocks. Duplication is free, no need to purchase software.

[Gregg]

I'm not sure why you'd want to do that. You're just replacing the deleted files with different files.

Wipe Free Space replaces the files with a pattern of 1111 etc. or 0000 etc. or 10101010 etc. rather than with coherent "real" stuff.

If the objective is a "clean" disk, that's the way to go. This would be most useful when selling or giving the computer to someone else if you want to protect your private data.

[kelly]

I wouldn't worry about it.

It takes special Software to make them visible.

The average other user will never find Deleted Files.

[Gregg]

I agree with kelly. (always a good thing to do)

But, you asked. If you really want to "clean it up" it can be done.