Securely Erase files on OS X via the Finder and the Terminal

Simple but secure deletion of files can be done on OS X via the Finder or the Terminal program:

Simple but secure deletion of files can be done via the Finder:

• put the file in the trash
• use Secure Empty Trash: from the top menu Finder >> Secure Empty Trash.

Secure deletion of files can be done via the Terminal program:

• From the terminal: srm path/file
• This is the command-line secure remove utility. You can really mess up your system if you use this command in the wrong way, so knock yourself out.

  The default overwrite method for this command is the Gutmann 35 pass method, which should work for you.

• for other options try:
  • the manual: man srm
  • recursive for directories: srm -r
  • normal overwrite: srm -m
    ie. overwrite the file with 7 US DoD compliant passes (0xF6, 0x00, 0xFF, random, 0x00, 0xFF, random)