What is Better?

[tristanjesus]

What is Better?
Secure Empty Trash or Simply Empty Trash?

Because i just want to pernamently delete file and want the space back that it took up, so i want to know if whats better?

 

[maflynn]

Well the secure empty trash writes random bytes to the file contents before it erases it, so to answer your question. Simply emptying the trash is the quickest way to recover the space.

fwiw, I've never felt a need to securely erase a file or folder but that's just me.

 

[throAU]

What is Better?
Secure Empty Trash or Simply Empty Trash?

Because i just want to pernamently delete file and want the space back that it took up, so i want to know if whats better?

Secure empty trash overwrites the data multiple times so it can not (easily?) be retrieved by data recovery tools or forensics.

It's used for when you have some sensitive document that you want to delete and ensure can not be retrieved by someone else (e.g., you are going to sell your mac and want to make sure your financial records are gone, and can't be un-deleted and looked at).


Empty trash just un-links the file and marks the space as free without over-writing it.

Unless you need to make sure the data can not be retrieved, empty trash is fine - both will free the space up.