iPhones and T2 machines are encrypted by default. Because of the way solid-state drives work, this method may only be effective on traditional hard disk drives.On iPhones and recent Macs with the T2 Secure Enclave, Apple has made sure that cryptographic keys are properly deleted, using effaceable storage. This overwrites files three times before deleting them.

For individual files, use rm -P from the command line.

If a solid-state drive is detected, Security Options may not be available for selection. If you have a hard disk drive, select Security Options to choose the security level of the erasure. In Disk Utility, choose the file system you want to wipe, and then select the Erase tab.

In the Applications/Utilities/ folder on your hard drive.

For whole file systems, use the Disk Utility, which can be found in any of the following places:.

MacOS has retained the following built-in options for securely removing data: The best method to use for any SSD is full-disk encryption FileVault is Apple's full-disk encryption. Use macOSĭue to the prevalence of solid-state drives (SSDs), Apple has removed many of the tools previously provided to securely erase data from hard disk drives (HDDs). The 'Statistics' box at the top right will display an estimate of the time remaining on the disk wiping process. As soon as you press F10, data erasure will begin.

Press the F10 key to begin the secure erase process.

Uncheck your selection and instead wipe the entire disk. If you see '', you have already selected a section of the disk for wiping.If you see '', the section of the disk you selected will also be wiped.The selection box will display '' to indicate what will be securely erased: If only one disk is present in your computer, select the top option that appears in the Disks and Partitions menu, and then press the Spacebar.

Press the Spacebar to save your selection and return to the Disks and Partitions menu. On the 'Wipe Method' screen, use the arrow keys to navigate to your preferred wiping method (for example, Quick Erase, DoD Short, or DoD 5220.22-M ).

At the boot: prompt, press Enter to start DBAN in interactive mode.

Use DBAN to create a bootable DBAN CD, and then boot your computer using this CD.

To securely wipe a disk drive using DBAN:

For more about secure deletion methods and data destruction services, see About secure data removal.

To securely wipe a solid-state drive (SSD), see Securely erase a solid-state drive.

To securely delete individual files/directories on a Linux system, use the shred command.

To securely delete individual files/directories on a Windows system, use the SDelete command.

Disk utility secure erase