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I am looking for a free space wiping at least 1 pass 0 (preferably supporting 3+ pass) wipe utility that I can run nightly on my systems.

I know OSX Disk Utility has a utility to do this but one cannot schedule it, and it can only perform one disk at a time.

This is similar to this windows based app recommendation to do the same thing, but I need it for Mac OS X 10.10 and later. I used to use IDM's UltraSentry on PC that meets the requirements but they do not have a Mac / OS X version.

I have tried but they do not meet my requirements:

  • Disk Doctor; Can cleanup a lot but has no secure delete function.
  • Mac Keeper (Hell No; spyware)
  • Daisy Disk has no cleaning utilities.
  • Rescue Pro has a Secure Delete wipe utility but its very manual.
  • PrivacyScan doesn't do disk cleanup... just cleans up browser stuff.
  • CCleaner Pro (no SSD support, no scheduling in Mac version, single task locks app)

My requirements:

  1. Native OSX App; no W.I.N.E. or Crossover or running something in a VM required.
  2. No Hardware required (i.e. Dongles or boards)
  3. No Internet Connection required / No SpyWare installed (i.e. NOT MacKeeper)
  4. No physically removing hard drives.
  5. Support of SSDs, USB Thumb & External Hard drives, and traditional disk platters that are both OS X, Unix, and Windows formatted and supports transparently encrypted hard drives.
  6. Must not require restart of the machine and go into any special boot modes.. but OS continues to run otherwise normally.
  7. Must be able to schedule it within the application and not a AppleScript / Shell Hybrid Solution.
  8. Free / Small Business grade / cost (sub-$50 per node); not looking for Enterprise grade cost (hundreds or thousands of dollars per node) associated with it.
  9. Must make a best effort attempt to complete in given period and abortable if still running when staff come in the next day; even better if it will shut itself down at a specified time.
  10. Bonus: It would be great if it kept a log of its success and wrote to a log that could be fed to a SEIM.
  11. Bonus: if it cleared browser caches, other OS caches, and specified directories before free space wipe.

    12. AGAIN: It must support Secure Deletion of the disk.. not just the files it cleans up.. (0 & 1 Overwrite; multi-pass preferably and great if it also addresses GAP space)

My reasoning for these requirements are that I want to:

  1. Ensure the disk is cleaned up daily during off hours and not interfere with the computer or staff's ability to perform their job during the hours which it is typically used.
  2. Want to ensure systems that may have residual sensitive information from normal job duties that become stored on them are securely wiped. (i.e. managing liability and also audit compliance). This is especially important for laptops that remotely access systems and are at more risk of being lost / stolen.
  3. I also want to schedule around scheduled full disk malware/virus scanning so they do not interfere with each others performance and actually complete during their scheduled times, possibly even varying them from day-to-day
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  • "Must make a best effort attempt to complete in given period and abortable if still running when staff come in the next day; even better if it will shut itself down at a specified time." i must ask, what are you trying to accomplish?
    – VAO
    Commented May 25, 2016 at 18:37
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    @StefanSzekeres Basically I want to ensure the disk is cleaned up daily during off hours and not interfere with the computer during the hours which it is typically used. This is especially important for the laptops which may access sensitive info during each day. I also want to schedule around scheduled full disk malware/virus scanning so they do not interfere with each others performance and actually complete during their scheduled times, possibly even varying them from day-to-day.
    – CRSouser
    Commented May 25, 2016 at 19:10

1 Answer 1

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Crap Cleaner aka CCleaner.

  1. Native
  2. No hardware required
  3. No internet
  4. No physically removing hdds/ssds
  5. Not sure about all of those - check it.
  6. Does not require restart
  7. You can
  8. What?!
  9. No idea, maybe by entering debug mode?
  10. It does.
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  • I just tried CCleaner and immediately noted that A) FreeSpace is a manual process B) If you do kick off a freespace clearing it doesn't tell you if it is still going if you change dialogues or and I am unclear if it supports multiple disks at once.
    – CRSouser
    Commented May 25, 2016 at 20:59
  • A) FreeSpace is a manual process, not sure what you mean by this, you can schedule the cleaner and also check "wipe free space after you are done". it does support multiple disks by default.
    – VAO
    Commented May 26, 2016 at 6:11
  • Maybe you are referring to the Windows version which seems to have a lot more features. When I run erase free space or any task with it (even using purchased version) it locks up the app completely and it has no scheduling. You can set use secure erase when it does its deletes but that is only for what it deletes (such as when you close your browser), not a general drive wipe.
    – CRSouser
    Commented May 27, 2016 at 0:17

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