Products > Computers

How to Wipe Out Deleted Files

(1/8) > >>

bostonman:
I tried using a hard drive file recovery program to see which files I deleted years ago. Unfortunately, I came across files containing important personal information that I deleted and hoped new files over wrote them. Obviously I don't want these files to be recovered again, and looking to wipe them from existance.

After research, I found a free program (which I already had) called CC Cleaner to wipe out deleted files. I ran it and currently doing another scan. So far the program has found many files implying CC Cleaner didn't wipe out everything. I'm uncertain why, I would think it would write junk files to take the place of the ones I want deleted, and then delete those.

Does anyone know how I can wipe out these files for good without compromising files that I want to keep? If a program is the best option, I'd prefer a free one.

bostonman:
The file being corrupt was my thought, however, I was able to view pictures. Since the recovery software I am using is unlicensed, I'm unable to actually recover them, but allowed to preview.

james_s:
When you delete a file, all that actually happens is the entry in the allocation table is removed, the data itself is still present on the drive until something else overwrites it. There are loads of secure delete programs out there, some wipe the entire drive but it sounds like you want the other variety which securely deletes individual files. They work by overwriting the file with random data and then removing it from the table.

Keep in mind some software caches things in other locations, web browsers of course, and things like Office applications auto-save, some media software creates thumbnails or copies data into a library so depending on what the files are and what you're doing with them there can be other copies in various forms scattered about.

james_s:
That can be very dangerous when a novice is trying to nuke a few specific files and leave the rest of their data alone. Someone who is not used to Unix may be surprised by the way there is no safeguard or confirmation for certain commands. Years ago I once accidentally deleted the whole /bin folder on my work PC because I bumped Enter before I was done typing the path.

bostonman:
This may be a silly question, or maybe it's too time consuming, but why can't a simple program be created that will write a large text file and keep writing until the drive is full, then delete the file?

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page