Is editing and renaming a file an effective way to wipe its original data from your drive?

If you already have that file, and its not on an encrypted filesystem, delete that file, then make a file that takes up the rest of the space with random data so theres no option for the filesystem to compress it. Then flush the fs cache, and delete that file. To flush the cache in linux, the command is “sync”. To make that file in linux, you can dd from /dev/random until you run out of space. But keep doing this, and you’ll wear out your flash cells, so you don’t want this to be a habbit. If your going to store a file that you know you want securely deleted later, store it encrypted or in an encrypted container as the others have said. Some OSes have a secure delete, but you’ll have to look into how they work. They could be snake oil.