Recommendations for secure file deletion?

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What are lounge members’ recommendations for secure file deletion?

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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Access,

I use Eraser and/or CCleaner Tools:
37137-ccleaner-wipe
HTH :cheers:

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Aggressive, conventional multiple overwrite techniques successfully used with HDDs, can attract injury and possible non-secure erasure with some SSDs.

HTH

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There is no need for aggressive multiple pass wipes, simple overwrite, 1 pass, is all that is required on modern magnetic hard disks. The same may or may not work on SSDs due to the way data is written internally.

cheers, Paul

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nsa kgb mossad et al would disagree with you

There is no need for aggressive multiple pass wipes, simple overwrite, 1 pass, is all that is required on modern magnetic hard disks. The same may or may not work on SSDs due to the way data is written internally.

cheers, Paul

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nsa kgb mossad et al would disagree with you

speedball, I refer you to this rebuttal of the original theory of data collection from an overwritten hard disk.

cheers, Paul

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Thanks everybody. I’ll use CCleaner with one pass (as suggested by RG). I had eraser some time back, but I wasn’t sure if it was still recommended.

I don’t have an SSD, so that problem hasn’t reared its head yet!

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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http://eraser.heidi.ie/

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What are lounge members’ recommendations for secure file deletion?

drill holes in the hard disk

then smash it with a sledgehammer

if you are really paranoid
then disassemble first
and scrape off the magnetic coating before physically changing them

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drill holes in the hard disk

then smash it with a sledgehammer

if you are really paranoid
then disassemble first
and scrape off the magnetic coating before physically changing them

Won’t this mean I can’t use the disk afterwards ;)? I just want to ‘erase’ files after I delete them. And if I come to dispose of the PC, I can leave the OS on it for the next user. I don’t have anything that NSA et al would be interested in; I just want to stop other bad guys finding my personal details and using them.

And I don’t have an SSD (and am unlikely to get one either)

Eliminate spare time: start programming PowerShell

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You can overwrite free space on an SSD using the 1-pass method of CCleaner or other “eraser” programs. The truly secure way is to use “Secure Erase” command which wipes all data on an SSD in about 2 or 3 seconds. It’s done by sending a controlled voltage spike to all flash memory cells at once. Unlike the 1-pass “overwrite” method, Secure Erase command does not place any additional wear on an SSD.

Having said that, the best method of all is to obtain a powerful electro-magnet (such as a commercial handheld degausser) and wave it to and fro over both sides of the drive, be it an HDD or SSD. Note: the loud humming sound of the degausser may make your pets think that aliens have invaded the house.

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You can overwrite free space on an SSD using the 1-pass method of CCleaner or other “eraser” programs. The truly secure way is to use “Secure Erase” command which wipes all data on an SSD in about 2 or 3 seconds. It’s done by sending a controlled voltage spike to all flash memory cells at once. Unlike the 1-pass “overwrite” method, Secure Erase command does not place any additional wear on an SSD.

Having said that, the best method of all is to obtain a powerful electro-magnet (such as a commercial handheld degausser) and wave it to and fro over both sides of the drive, be it an HDD or SSD. Note: the loud humming sound of the degausser may make your pets think that aliens have invaded the house.

For a mechanical HDD (MHDD) Eraser is more than enough. CCleaner’s single-pass wiping option is made better if you first encrypt the drive, then overwrite it. Same with a file you really want to get rid of on a MHDD.

The TRIM Command in Windows can be leveraged to effectively wipe a SSD completely in just minutes. The method is outlined with illustrations HERE.

A more complete explanation of what happens with SSD wiping is found in this Kingston article about sanitizing a SSD.

-- rc primak

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For a mechanical HDD (MHDD) Eraser is more than enough. CCleaner’s single-pass wiping option is made better if you first encrypt the drive, then overwrite it. Same with a file you really want to get rid of on a MHDD.

The TRIM Command in Windows can be leveraged to effectively wipe a SSD completely in just minutes. The method is outlined with illustrations HERE

Yes, encrypting before erasing is an excellent idea and, depending on the amount of data involved and cpu power, encrypting may be much quicker than doing multiple over-writes of the data.

Really enjoyed the article on using Windows Management to effectively perform a Secure Erase by invoking TRIM on the deleted partition. Should work fine in Win 7 or 8 but not Windows XP (no TRIM support). There’s utility program called Parted Magic you can download and burn to DVD or to a flashdrive. It has a bunch of useful little programs including Secure Erase for almost any type of drive. i took a chance and bought Parted Magic for $4.99 and it has proved very useful over the last couple of years.

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An article related to this topic was published just a couple of days ago:

How To Securely Delete Files From Your HDD Or SSD In Windows

Bruce

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I use the Microsoft-supported sdelete command, by SysInternals/Microsoft guru Mark Russinovich. Check it out at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897443.aspx. Russinovich is someone you can trust to get it right, the first time. His SysInternals team has published many useful utilities to fill gaps here and there.

As a hobby project, I tried to figure out how to add sdelete to the context menu in Windows Explorer file lists, so I could securely delete the same way I can copy, delete, etc. This would make it much more convenient, obviously. I’d welcome anyone’s pointing me to a tutorial on how to do this.

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