Secure Empty Trash is gone, and on an SSD you do not need it
Why Apple removed the option, what encryption does instead, and the one case where overwriting still matters.
Older versions of macOS had Secure Empty Trash, which overwrote files as it deleted them. It is gone, and its removal was correct rather than a regression, for a reason worth understanding.
Why it was removed
On an SSD, the drive controller decides where data physically lives, and it moves blocks around for wear levelling. Software asking to overwrite a specific file cannot guarantee it has overwritten the blocks that held the original, so the feature offered a promise it could not keep.
What protects you instead
- FileVault. With full disk encryption on, deleted data is unreadable without the key, which is the actual protection.
- TRIM. macOS tells the drive which blocks are free, and the controller erases them in its own time.
- Erasing the whole drive. Discards the encryption keys, which makes everything unreadable at once.
That last point is why erasing a Mac before selling it needs only one pass: the data is encrypted and the keys are gone.
Check FileVault is on
fdesetup status
diskutil apfs list | grep -i filevaultIf it reports that FileVault is off, turning it on is the single most useful privacy setting on a Mac, and on modern hardware it costs nothing in performance.
The case where overwriting still matters
On a traditional spinning hard drive, usually an old external one, overwriting does work as expected because there is no wear levelling layer in the way. Disk Utility's erase options include a secure erase for those drives, and it is the right tool when you are disposing of one.
Deleting a single file beyond recovery
On an encrypted internal drive, moving it to the Trash and emptying is sufficient in practice. If you want more than that for one file, the honest options are to erase the whole volume or to have had encryption on from the start, which is why the setting matters more than the deletion method.
Common questions
Why is there no Secure Empty Trash on my Mac?
Apple removed it because on an SSD the drive controller decides where data physically lives, so software cannot guarantee it has overwritten the original blocks. The feature promised something it could not deliver.
How do I permanently delete files on a Mac?
Empty the Trash, and rely on FileVault so anything left is encrypted. For a spinning external drive, Disk Utility's secure erase options still work as expected.
Does FileVault protect deleted files?
Yes, in the sense that anything remaining on the drive is unreadable without the key. Erasing the drive discards the keys, which renders everything unrecoverable at once.
Should I use srm or erase free space?
Not on an SSD, where neither can guarantee it has reached the original blocks. Turning on FileVault achieves the goal properly, and erasing the volume is the definitive option.