Permanent deletion of files and folders

Brainstorm
22

Yes, as I pointed out. However, there might be a number of other reasons why the user should want to delete something without storing it in Trash. If the user expects that the delete command deletes the files without storing them in Trash, going behind the users back and still storing the file in Trash, if only temporarily is not a good idea. And the point about undefined behaviour when the user shuts down the computer before the time for deletion expired still remains.

23

Trash/Recycle Bin from my understanding is the default in most user applications on every OS. It’s a safety buffer for accidental deletion. Users that want full data removal can add a shred utility to Dolphin’s context menu fairly easily.

1 Like
24

There are (at least) three ways to delete files:

  1. Move to Trash (default key in Dolphin is Del. This is what most users use most of the time.
  2. What Dolphin calls “permanently delete” (default key is Shift+Del). This is what the command rm does.
  3. “Shred” (i.e. overwrite the sectors after deleting the file, no default option in Dolphin). Some special utility is required, e.g. it can be done with dd.

@Justin, I’m talking about 2, you keep bringing up 1 and 3, about which there is no disagreement.

My point is that the option 2 should not have anything do to with Trash. There was a proposal that “permanently delete” would still involve temporarily moving the file to trash and then, after some time, it would be deleted from the Trash automatically. I am opposed to that idea, because of (at least) four reasons:

  • unexpected behaviour (the user wants to delete the file, he is holding Shift for that reason)
  • redundant behaviour (option 1 already does it)
  • annoying behaviour (there is already a confirmation dialogue when “permanently deleting” a file)
  • potentially buggy and unpredictable behaviour, for example with shutting down the computer before the timer runs out (the file might remain in the Trash).
6 Likes
25

How about giving the user a warning/notification about (Hey this thing was temporiarily moved to the trash and will be permanently deleted in X minutes, if you want to cancel this, just restore it like you would any item in the Trash)

26

shred is something entirely different though. Shred is the tool that deletes files and overwrites it with 0 or a pattern to not be restorable. And it is not recommended on SSDs (unless it works different now)