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Introduction
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We’ve all heard the horror stories about someone buying a used hard drive at a flea market or garage sale and then finding tons of personal data left on the drive by the previous owner. Or even worse, people getting their credit trashed by ID thieves that make their living by taking that information and using it to wipe you out financially. “That would never happen to me” you say. “I’ll delete all the files first” or “I’ll re-format the drive before I trade it in or sell it.” Not so fast there Scooter! That data you think you erased is still stored on the drive. When you delete a file it isn’t really removed from the disk. The operating system (OS) only removes the reference to the file from the file allocation table. This is like going into a book or magazine and removing a chapter reference from the table of contents. The actual chapter is still in the book. The only thing removed was the page number reference in the table of contents. With the file location reference removed the OS now sees that disk space as being available for use. However, the file content remains on the disk until another file is written over it. Basically the same thing happens when you re-format a hard drive. Most of the data remains; the space on the drive is just made available to be written over. The DOS and Windows file systems use groups of disk sectors, known as clusters, to store data. These clusters are of a fixed size which is normally determined by the size and number of partitions of the disk volume itself and the file system being used. If the data you’re storing requires less space than a full cluster, the entire cluster is still reserved. For example, you’ve saved a file that required 15.5 clusters of drive space. Because the OS can’t reserve a half cluster, the allocation table had to reserve 16 whole clusters for the file. That remaining half cluster that was not used may still contain data from a previous file. That unused half cluster is known as “slack space”. Data recovery programs can read slack space and retrieve the data stored there. Even worse, let’s say the file system places your 15.5 cluster file over the “unused” area of a deleted file that originally took up 35 clusters. More than half of the previous file would still be retrievable! You could have thousands of clusters on your hard drive (a.k.a free space) that contain data you thought was deleted! Scary thought, huh? The only true and permanent way to make data irretrievable is to completely and utterly destroy the hard drive. That action is probably a little more severe than you or I need. We really only need to make sure we are protected from data recovery programs and the like. That’s where the programs in this category come into play. To be as safe as possible, you must overwrite (erase) both slack space and free space. Also, the Windows swap file (a.k.a page file) could contain private data that you wouldn’t want to have fall into the wrong hands. |
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Discussion
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If Eraser is overkill for your needs, try 
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5.8.7 
Unrestricted Freeware 
Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/20003 Server/XP/Vista/DOS
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I'm about to try a program called Roadkil's Disk Wipe:
http://www.roadkil.net/program.php?ProgramID=14
"Securely erases the contents of a disk replacing it with random data or leaving the drive completely blank. Numerous passes can be performed to ensure data is totally unrecoverable. Program works on hard and floppy disks aswell as USB/Flash drives."
Do these erasers also erase the BIOS ? Just want the hard drive erased not the BIOS>
They can only erase the hard drive and the BIOS is not on the hard drive, so no.
thnx
Hi,
I have used eraser with Windows XP without any problem.
I tried to use it with Vista and it's impossible to erase a file. It always says "Administrator privileges required".
How is it possible to use it with Vista?
Thanks in advance for your help
Fernando
Check this out
http://www.fileshredder.org/
I guess if I was that concerned about the data on my hard drive I would just have to buy a new one. I am not technical at all. But you seem to indicate that it's quite difficult to remove data. If I take it somewhere will others be able to remove the data? This sounds like a tough road to hoe. online casino
Thanks for the great review. Along with the comments, it shows that (a) there are simple solutions for average users and (b) users with more serious security issues should either destroy their disks or do a lot of research before proceeding.
I would like to make a small clarification for anyone considering Derick's Boot and Nuke. The process is simple, but the shredding does not start immediately on booting from the CD, at least not as originally downloaded. So users don't need to fear that simply booting the computer with the CD in the drive will destroy their hard drives.
For users type (a) eraser will do, but for (b) users try as you said Derick's Boot and Nuke or Active Kill disk for integral disk wiping or use HDDEraseWeb where it can be used. For files or folders case(b) only bcwipe will do what it claims or else encrypt the files and "forget" the key.
I have a bot on my computer. Will a simple reformat of the hard drive remove it? Or do I need a disk scrubber?
Yes simple format will remove everything on the partition, obviously including any type of malware. Disk scrubber is only needed if you want to prevent deleted data from being recovered with an utility. The most typical case for the average user is when a hard disk is sold and you want your sensitive data being permanently removed.
you can also try this secure delete and wipe utility JDelete wich is cross plateform (Windows XP/Vista/7, Mac OS, Linux, ...)
When data is written to a magnetic medium, such as a disk, there is created a pattern of magnetic "ones" and "zeros". When that data is overwritten (as when erasing for security purposes), a new pattern is impressed onto the existing old data. Two possibilities for data recover exist at this point:
1. The read/write head may track slightly differently depending upon from which direction is was moving between tracks. This leaves a very small "edge" of the old data exposed along with the new data.
2. The "density" of the "ones" in an area where there had previously been a "one" will be greater than a new "one" in a place where there had previously been a "zero". Clever software can read these differences and discover what the previous data had been.
To what degree can either of these methods recover old data? I don't know. I have read articles in tech manuals that claim the two systems used together, as needed, can read through more than 5 overwrites, and some claim that at least partial data can be recovered following even more -- the exact number, of course, unknown until recovery is attempted.
If the data is sufficiently sensitive (national secrets, patient records that could result in a law suit, or your wife climbing out of the shower and your level of paranoia is sufficiently high, I would recommend my favorite "eraser", an afternoon of target practice with my .40cal service pistol, followed by a tension-releasing session with a large hammer!! I have heard also that a few minutes with an acetylene torch works quite well ! ! !
Your .40 cal method would work. Reference this article where it states the only true way to make a drive secure is total destruction. Keep in mind that all these software companies that state their software meets DoD 5220.22-M standards are using an out-of-date reference. The Defense Security Service (DSS) issued an update to the NISPOM (DoD 5220.22-M) in February 2006 and later Industrial Security Letter #2007-01 (dated Oct 2007) which removed ALL over-write options to sanitize a hard drive. Their only approved method now is either to degauss with Type I, II, or III degausser or by total physical destruction. DSS recognized that recover software is getting too advanced for the overwrite method to continue to be viable.
JohnB
I found a freeware program called: Revo Uninstaller:
http://www.revouninstaller.com/. It has Many features to permanently
uninstall programs, files, folders, etc. and perform several other functions, including cleaning up and optimizing your pc.
There is a tool Revo calls "The Evidence Remover" which claims to do the following (found here: http://www.revouninstaller.com/evidence_remove_secure_delete_wipe.html):
"Deleting your files and folders does not mean that they are gone forever. When you empty Windows Recycle Bin your files and folders are just marked as deleted but they are not erased physically. There is a chance to recover deleted data from a 10 years or older PC and this data may be very important and confidential. With any recovery tool or un-delete program you can easily get back your important documents and other files that you have deleted. And here comes the Evidence Remove tool of Revo Uninstaller. Evidence Remover will eliminate all chances to get data back from your hard drive. It will erase forever files and folders, which already have been deleted but left physically on your hard disk. No matter what tool you or somebody else will use to recover the data, including professional and expensive recovery and un-delete tools, the result will be always one and the same - the data erased with Evidence Remover is impossible to recover!"
I have read all the comments on this Best Free Secure Erase Utility posting.
Could someone tell me if, in fact, Revo Uninstaller really can make it impossible to recover the data erased?
Thank you.
I don't understand why an erasing application doesn't give the option of replacing everything with nulls (or spaces). Is this due to operating system restrictions? Even if it's an efficiency issue, I would still want to have the option. I would rather wait longer than leaving any chance of recovery.
Everytime I erase something with eraser (Using the uber-setting of Gutman-32), Recuva easily finds some of the files, what gives? I did better using Gutman-32 option in Ccleaner.
I think it can see the file name but not actually recover the file, maybe you could try to recover some to make sure.
How about East-Tec Eraser 2008?
CyberShredder
http://cylog.org/utilities/cybershredder.jsp
Hi Guys if ya after wiping a full drive just use a ubuntu disk and format with ext3 or ext4 job done ya wont get anything back after that when ya run recuve no way have fun.....
Format, even on linux, is not at all a secure erase tool. Most of the data is untouched.
Very true.
dd if=/dev/urandom of=/dev/hda
get's the job done though. Good luck recovering anything after that :)
thanks very much for this article
Regards
________
sohbet
Has anyone tried Hard Disc Scrubber? See http://www.summitcn.com/hdscrub.html
I saw this mentioned on a PC magazine "top freeware" site.
I Use The Free Edition Of Active Kill Disk.
The Only Thing I Hate About It Is The 1 Pass Limitation.
DBAN Does Not Seem To Work On My 2 500GB Sata Drives.
Just thought I would add my thoughts, as even though this topic is now old, as some people appear rather confused.
If you require good basic security, use Eraser with 1 or 2 wipe passes: the result will be job done. If you need to wipe a disk before disposal use Dariks Boot and Nuke, with one or two passes - again job done.
If you really require good security, encrypt all hard disks BEFORE use, with something like Truecrypt. You can choose your paranoia level by selecting various options, like two or three factor authentication etc. this way, when you dispose of your PC or hard disk, you will not need to perform any wipe procedure - just detroy the encryption keys instead. The other benefit of this method is that the data will also be protected if you PC gets stolen.
The downside is that if you loose your 'keys' AND / OR if you have a hard disk failure, you're pretty much stuffed.
Therefore, before embarking on the 'Full Disk Encryption' route, I would heartily recommend investiing some time and effort in getting your backup procedure sorted :-)
Tim.
The program that I have been using is called "Sure Delete". It not only shreds files and folders it will also shred the empty space on your drive.
* When you delete files in Windows by moving them into Recycle Bin - all the data remains on your hard disk.
* Windows just mark the file/s location as free.
* What does this mean ?
* This means that anyone with proper software can recover this data.
* Ask yourself this question "Do I want everyone to see what I've done on this computer?"
* What you need is Sure Delete.
* Sure Delete is a tool for Windows based computers to completely remove data from your hard drive.
* No more worrying if your sensitive data can be recovered.
* No more headaches.
* Sure Delete offers a file shredder as well as HD cleaner.
http://www.docsdownloads.com/Tier1/sure_delete.htm
Eraser has its strengths but secure erasing slack space etc. is not one of them. Try doing so in Eraser then running a Recuva everywhere all-file deep scan and you will be amazed at what is still on your disk. I run Vista but I don't think that this makes a difference as Eraser is run in administrator mode. I've tried various erase software but still haven't found one that does the business in secure erasing file names and data for all except valid current MFT entries.
Yes, in the end of the process you will get a long 0 KB list, MFT doesn't seem to be processed. But it is. Those 0 KB files are created like normal files until all the free space is occupied (in order to overwrite all the free space) then they are deleted. So I disagree with your statement, because there´s nothing to recover there, Eraser does what is supposed to do.
No it doesn't, certainly not on Vista anyway. Recuva's deep scan is evidence of that, finding many thousands of recoverable files, including images. Perhaps Eraser hasn't got around to implementing that feature on Vista yet, which is a shame.
I'm using Vista ONLY ! Currently, Eraser cannot remove files under winsxs - that's not recommended anyway - but that's it, all the rest is erased.
I doubt that very much. Perhaps someone else would like to do the test - take one well-used Vista machine, run Eraser to clear all unused space (including cluster tips) on the disk, then afterwards run Recuva in Deep Scan mode. Report back what you see. I do like Eraser a lot but it doesn't do what it claims to do.
Have you tried recovering the files?
Thanks
In your opinion are the shredders available in all-in-one type programs such as Ashampoo Winoptimizer or Axcrypt good enough or would it be safer to opt for one of these specialized tools? In particular Ashampoo has a few settings available like auto-rename before shredding and three levels of wipe. Both these programs integrate into the right-click context of windows and I don't want to clutter up my menus with more unnecessary cr*p. I've had a few problems with Eraser and uninstalling it was a nightmare so I'd be nervous about using it again.
Thanks!
Eraser is probably the best freeware choice, because it has features, thoroughness, and configurability not present in non-specialized programs. For example, when overwriting files, Eraser can overwrite cluster tip area, file names, and alternate data streams; when overwriting unused disk space, it can overwrite the cluster tip area, directory entries, and master file table records (or, at least, it claims to do so).
I've also had problems with previous versions of Eraser (system hangs, right-click context menu anomalies, etc.), but everything has run smoothly with version 5.86a. Just in case you need to completely (and much more easily) uninstall Eraser again, make sure to use programs like ERUNT ( http://www.larshederer.homepage.t-online.de/erunt/ ) and TOTAL UNINSTALL ( http://www.freewarearena.com/html/Downloads/details/id=1867.html ) before installing Eraser (or any other program). A.K.
Thanks for your reply, I know I will give Easer another try as for the most part it is an excellent product and nothing else really does the job to the same standard.
Eraser portable version http://portableapps.com/apps/utilities/eraser_portable
there's a portable version of Eraser at PortableApps.com
hi,
can somebody help me that why my eraser's version is 5.86.1 ,but when i was downloading it i thought the version is 5.86a ?
i tried to register and ask from hidi site but without result .
regards . adam
Can you still store new files on your hardrive once the cleaning is done?
Of course, what do you think, that secure deletion will create unallocated space (=unformated) ?
Are you recommending Eraser to erase unused HDD space ? I wan't to get rid of System Restore left-over pieces.
I need to know what is the best program to use to toltaly remove all unwanted files. I kid down loaded some porn and I want to remove it from my hard drive. I am on probation and If they come in and check my computer and find this crap I am up sh**s creek with out a pattle. Can you help me
mlctlc0@verizon.net
Also try the parental section. Vista has a lot of parental controls bundled, try googling it.
Try Eraser.
Ive tested many programs such as Eraser, bc wipe, windows washer etc. All up to date as of today 8/12/08. i use different options such as quick wipe, 3 pass wipe, 7 pass and was able to recover files using different consumer recovery programs such as file recovery , power data recovery etc. However, those recovery programs could not recover files shredded by "east tec eraser 2008". even the 3 pass (RLL) was sufficient enough for data to be unrecoverable with consumer recovery software. If you are really paranoid there is an option in east tec eraser to configure how you want it to erase your files. my buddy works for a computer company and has the hardware to recover data that can still recover files after being pass wiped 35 times. the default 35 gautman is ok but is still recoverable. I tweaked the settings to pass wipe 35 time with my own design and the hardware was unable to recover.
1) How did you configured "East Tec Eraser 2008" so that
a Hardware -Not Software- File Recovery was Impossible?
2) Can you, please, test R-Wipe&Clean 8.0
against your -Hardware- File Recovery method?
Thank you!
Hi
Were you able to see the names of the files you erased or did you actually recover it?
Thanks
what do you mean? some tests that i have done did not recover the file name but recovered the file. some recovery programs can recover the file and file name, depending on the level of wiping you use.
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