OS X El Capitan: Safely Empty the Recycle Bin

If you were previously used to being able to safely empty the Recycle Bin on your Mac with one click, you will now have to resort to alternative options. Then on Mac OS X El Captain, emptying the Recycle Bin takes a slightly different form.

Emptying your Recycle Bin securely

• Since OS X EL Capitan, there is no longer an option for you to safely empty your Recycle Bin with one click. Therefore, your files will be immediately deleted as soon as you give them to the Recycle Bin.
• But this also means that programs you want to use to recover files will no longer have the option to apply their service.
• One reason for the malfunction is that compatibility with the new hard drive is no longer guaranteed. This is because Apple installs SSD hard drives in the new Mac and MacBooks, which store data much more effectively.
• In the older models you can still find the HDD hard drives, where the files can be easily deleted safely. This is due to the fact that the storage locations are overwritten several times.
• Since the SSD hard drive has a different mode of operation, it is possible with the help of specific programs to restore your data.

The pros and cons

Surely you can get into trouble if you now put files in the trash, which you could use again later. Due to this, you should place all important private and professional files on an external storage medium so that they are secured in perpetuity. However, the absence of the "empty the Recycle Bin safely" feature also ensures that the files you want to remove have actually been removed. This is important if you want to sell your MacBook or Mac.