ShredIt X Mac FAQ

Refer to the ShredIt X Specifications

Yes there is.Click here to go to the How to use the ShredIt X Free Trial

Yes. There is also a version of ShredIt for:

ShredIt for Windows
ShredIt for Android – at Burningthumb.com
ShredIt for IOS (iPhone, iPad)- at Burningthumb.com
ShredIt for Mac OS 8 | OS 9
ShredIt for Mac OS 7

For complete instructions on how to install or uninstall,
– How to Install ShredIt X
– refer to the Read me in the documentation folder that comes with ShredIt or download the ShredIt X Read me (pdf) now

You haven’t registered the App.

If you have already entered your Registration Information/Serial Number and are getting this message, there is an error in the Registration Information you have entered. Please follow these steps:

1. Verify that you entered the correct License Type. Check that the License Type you entered matches the one in the email you received from us.
2. Verify that you entered the correct Purchaser’s ID/Email Address. If you purchased online, enter the Email address used when the App was purchased. If you purchased a CD, use the Purchaser’s ID that came with the App.
3. Verify that you entered the Registration Key/Serial Number correctly.
Check for the following common problems:
– typing the letter O or I instead of the number 0 or 1
– transposing 2 digits
– adding extra spaces before or after the Purchaser’s ID or Serial Number
– entering the registration information more than once (click in the field and scroll with the arrow keys to see this)
– entering the registration information for the wrong App.

If that didn’t solve the problem, delete your preferences file and configure ShredIt X again. The preferences file’s location is: “$HOME/Library/Preferences/com.mireth.shreditx.plist”

If that didn’t solve the problem, contact Support at support@mireth.com

You haven’t successfully registered the App.

– If you have already entered your Registration Information/Serial Number and are getting this message, there is an error in the Registration Information/Serial Number you have entered. For further information, refer to the “When I try to register, the “Invalid Registration Information” message question in this FAQ.

– If you want to register the program, enter the Registration Information/Serial Number and click the “Register” Button. For further information about registering, refer to the Read Me in the documentation folder. The Registration Information/Serial Number is in the email we sent you.

– If you want to quit, click the “Quit” Button.

– If you are trying to run the demo, click the “Run Demo” Button. Registration Information is not required. For further information about running in demo mode, refer to the Read Me file in the documentation folder.

– If you want to purchase this app, and have not already, click “Buy Now”.

To verify whether the App is already registered, choose “Preferences” from the “ShredIt X” menu.

– If the App is unregistered, the “Register” dialog will be blank.
– If the App is registered, the “Already Registered” message will be displayed. In addition, if the App is registered, the Register Dialog Box will not be displayed when you run the App.
– If you are already a registered user and you have downloaded a free upgrade, your old registration information is retained. You don’t need to re-register.

You can use ShredIt to
– erase a file
– erase a folder
– erase the free space on a disk
– erase previously deleted files
– erase a hard drive
– erase an external hard drive
– erase a USB Flash Drive

For complete instructions, refer to

– the ShredIt Read me in the documentation folder that comes with ShredIt or download the ShredIt Read me (pdf) now
– Go to the ShredIt X Tutorial

In order to wipe Free Space, you need to have Administrator write access to the root directory (/).

If you are the only user on the computer, you should have that by default.

If there is an Administrator for the computer,
– Log in as the Administrator
– Run the Disk Utility and Repair Permissions on your startup disk
– Run ShredIt again.
If its still not working, then
– launch the terminal and type this command: sudo chmod ug+w /
– You will be prompted for the admin password.
– Then run ShredIt again.

If following these steps doesn’t solve the problem, contact support.

None of the files left in a ShredIt X Items folder are completely erased. You need to drag the ShredIt Items folder on to the ShredIt X icon to finish erasing.

If the files will not erase, there may be a problem with your hard disk. Please contact Support.
(Please Note: ShredIt X did not cause the problem with your hard drive. The inability to erase is often indicative of bad sectors on the drive, an early indicator of a failing hard drive.)

Yes, but you want to ensure that Time Machine is not backing up the ShredIt X temporary file when you are wiping free space. Configure Time Machine to “not” backup the ShredIt X Freespace folder. (You only need to do this once, not every time you shred freespace.)

Follow these instructions:
– Run ShredIt X and start wiping free space. (You have to create the temporary file so you can exclude it from Time Machine.)
– Open the System Preferences and Select “Time Machine”.
– Click the Options button.
– Add the ShredIt X Freespace folder to the Time Machine “Do not back up” list On the Time Machine “Do not back up” Dialog, and Click “+”
– Using the window, find the folder HardDrive>ShredIt X FreeSpace
– Select it using the “Exclude” button

Throwing a file in the trash does not remove the file contents from the hard drive – it just removes the file name from the directory, leaving the data intact and vulnerable. In order to securely delete the file contents from the hard disk, you need to overwrite the area on the disk where the file contents are stored with other data. This is what ShredIt does. In addition, you need to ensure that you securely delete all copies of the file. When you edit a file, the app will create and delete working copies each time you save, leaving multiple copies of your file on the hard disk in the disk free space area. In order to securely delete these copies, you need to shred your free space. ShredIt also does this. For more information, read “Secure Delete versus Delete – What’s the difference?“

If you are using a File Recovery App and you shred files using ShredIt or NetShred, you will be able to recover the names of the files you have shredded, but not the contents. For an explanation of why, read on.

A File Recovery App will recover files that have been erased. It does this by keeping a separate directory of the files on your hard drive and keeping the current location of the last contents of the file. So, if you accidentally deleted your doctoral thesis, you could recover the file using a File Recovery App. But, if you had made changes to your thesis first, saved it and then deleted it, your File Recovery App could recover the file, but not recover it the way it once was, before you changed it.

Both NetShred and ShredIt work by overwriting the contents of each file with other data before deleting the file. So, even if you use a File Recovery App, it can’t recover data in the file the way it once was before NetShred or ShredIt overwrote the file with other data. It can, however, recover the file name since it stores this in it’s own directory file.

Since the function of a secure delete app is to make files unrecoverable and the function of a file recovery app is to make files recoverable, you have to decide which is more important to you. We’d recommend the following:

– Since a File Recovery app stores the file name in it’s own directory file, using such an app will make it possible to recover the file name. If you don’t want this, don’t use a file recovery app on your computer.
– If you don’t want to be able to recover the contents of any file you have shredded, but do want to be able to recover the contents of any file you have deleted, use both a file recovery app and a secure delete app on your machine. (Just make sure you don’t shred a file you might want to recover.) This will be a good compromise provided that the ability to recover the file name does not compromise your security.

To assess your risk, take the ShredIt Quiz

By shredding | wiping | erasing, we mean that for each requested file ShredIt will overwrite the contents of the file. The pattern of bits which ShredIt will use to overwrite with is configured by the user. The default pattern used is proprietary. The number of times the data will be overwritten is configured by the user. The default number of times the data is overwritten is proprietary.

Check our Support Page

Yes there is. Click here to go to the ShredIt X Tutorial