When selling an external hard drive I'd like to make sure that none of the files are recoverable. I've just completed wiping the entire hard drive with zeroes and random data using the disk utility. Now I'd like to verify if indeed none of the files are recoverable using a recovery tool. In the past I used Recuva for this, but I cannot seem to find an equivalent tool for the Mac. Is there any free tool you'd recommend for this?
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Recuva-like tool for the Mac?
- Thread starter daanodinot
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As far as I know, there aren't any good free ones. I've used Data Rescue 3 before and have been able to recover data quite well, though haven't tried from a zeroed out disk before, just a hard drive i had laying about. It probably wouldn't recover from zeroed out data, though I can't say for certain as i've not tested it
You can download a free trial version of Data Rescue IV which will list recoverable files: https://www.prosofteng.com/data-r…
Hmm, strange... A recovery still leaves me with 400MB of files (out of a 2TB hard drive), including a 3 minute video file!
I did a secure erase via the disk utility that writes the drive with 1x zeroes and 1x random data. I did it two times, and each time leaves me with the same set of recovered files. Perhaps it doesn't catch every part of the hard drive? Should I try the hard drive manufacturer's (WD) utility? Unfortunately, it's not available on Mac, which is why I tried the disk utility first.
I did a secure erase via the disk utility that writes the drive with 1x zeroes and 1x random data. I did it two times, and each time leaves me with the same set of recovered files. Perhaps it doesn't catch every part of the hard drive? Should I try the hard drive manufacturer's (WD) utility? Unfortunately, it's not available on Mac, which is why I tried the disk utility first.
Turns out the disk utility doesn't actually secure erase all data and WD's utility does. I'd call that false advertising on Apple's part to say the least. (No, even a 7-pass format wouldn't have helped because it just cannot read a part of the disk.) In any case, it's all good now.