OS X Permanent Eraser

Appropriately named OS X privacy utility Permanent Eraser does one thing and one thing very well – secure file deletion.

When you normally delete your files in Mac OS X, the operating system is only forgetting where those particular files are placed, while the data still physically remains on the drive. Beginning with Mac OS 10.3, Apple enhanced its security by introducing the Secure Empty Trash feature, which follows the U.S. DoD pattern of overwriting data seven times.

Permanent Eraser provides an even stronger level of security by implementing the Gutmann Method. This utility overwrites your data thirty-five times, scrambles the original file name, and truncates the file size to nothing before Permanent Eraser finally unlinks it from the system.

Mmm. Gutmann Method. Move over Finder (Secure Deletion), I have a new utility for deleting porn super sensitive documents off my hardrives. Licensing is free (“educational”).