How to Delete Hard Drive Space on Mac – Guide
You may be wondering: How can I free up space on my hard drive that’s already “free”?
Deleting files from your Mac doesn’t actually remove them; they remain on the device, just unusable. As you add more files, they overwrite the space taken up by the deleted ones.
An advanced Mac user can recover deleted files, unless they are securely erased.
The Terminal utility offers more control than other methods, making it the best choice for this task.
Warning: Exercise caution when using Terminal on your Mac, as any missteps can lead to serious consequences.
Securely erasing all free space on a Mac’s hard drive can be done using Terminal.
Keep this Terminal command handy: you’ll need to adjust it before continuing.
A command line tool called “diskutil secureErase” can be used to securely erase free space on a disk, such as the one found at “/dev/disk0s2”.
Mac users must find the exact values for their device before using a command in Terminal.
Users can securely erase free space on their disk by selecting one of three options. The number ‘1’ erases the space with a single random pass, while ‘2’ uses a 7-pass wipe and ‘3’ uses a 35-pass wipe with an algorithm.
Choosing a higher number for a safe erase will take longer, so ‘1’ or ‘2’ is recommended.
The disk identifier number for a process can be found by opening the Terminal and copying and pasting a command.
To securely erase the free space on a Mac, users must copy the identifier number next to their selected drive. For example, if you want to erase the free space on a 120.5 GB disk, its identifier number is ‘disk0s2’.
You can now use the first command to access the information.
Disk0s2, a storage device, can be securely erased with the diskutil secureErase freespace 1 command.
To securely erase your hard drive, enter the command “diskutil secureErase [number] disk0s2” into Terminal, replacing “[number]” with either 1, 2 or 3 depending on how secure you want the process to be. Then press Enter / Return.
Witness the Terminal’s power as it securely wipes all unused space on your hard drive.
Final note
If you’re looking to free up space on your Mac, this guide can help. Have questions? Reach out for assistance. And don’t forget to share the article with friends who may benefit from it.
