Re: How do you erase deleted files ?


"Gary" <not@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:s24uo4pgjgmipgmm10p5q18oqlr7d1q8bl@xxxxxxxxxx
On Sun, 8 Feb 2009 09:15:51 -0600, "Harry Thompson" <me@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:


"Gary" <not@xxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:9auqo49hrvgqm1f05rfmi6kpg8gn238irq@xxxxxxxxxx
I'm thinking about giving an old computer to a young great-niece (12).
Trouble is that over the years I may have had files on it that I would
not want her to see. Bank accounts, stock accounts, passwords, etc.
(posts to usenet:) All that stuff has been deleted but I understand
that deleted files can be recovered. Is there a program -- or any
way to permanently erase deleted files ?

Another resource for answering questions like this is the microsoft
support
newsgroups. In microsoft.public.windowsxp.general I found this pointer.

==========
Re: How do you securely delete data from a drive?

"Peter" <peter@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:2vblo45qhia5jfkit4d26d5q5ef1etb6lu@xxxxxxxxxx
Is there any good software that securely delete the data?


Not an XP question, but I use Eraser (http://eraser.heidi.ie/). It can
securely delete your the data and wipe your the free space; can also
create
a DBAN (http://www.dban.org/) "Nuke Boot Disk" for blatting partition(s)
at
boot-time. There is a choice of depth levels (different algorithms &
number
of passes) - because "securely" is a relative term.

Failing that, Googlus Amicus Est.
==========

I'm assuming that you are using XP. I will test Eraser myself. It's for
free, and works on a number of Windows versions.

Thanks Harry.

What got me concerned about deleted files is that I downloaded this
tool that promises to recover deleted files a few days back -- just
to see how it worked. It's free.

http://www.undeleteunerase.com/

When I ran it on my XP "C" drive I was astounded to see it display
about 20,000 files that I thought had been deleted long ago. I had
never thought about it before -- but somewhere in that mess is bound
to be something I don't want anybody to see or know. The thought
occurred to me that if I died -- my computers would probably be given
to one of our younger nieces. So I decided to try and hide those
deleted files from prying eyes. Why take chances ?

I found that Eraser yesterday. It seems to do pretty good but it
left a few files.

This morning I am trying that tool that Sordo suggested.

http://www.jetico.com/bcwipe3.htm

Let me know your results.

Eraser couldn't clean the "tips" of locked files, and after running it, IE
didn't work right until I restarted. It did clean the "tips" of all other
files, and cleaned "unused" (which may have been previously used) disk
space.

I think eraser should be used at your own risk.


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: How do you erase deleted files ?
    ... Bank accounts, stock accounts, passwords, etc. ... that deleted files can be recovered. ... would be possible to have a company recover at ... Hard drives are cheap. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: How do you erase deleted files ?
    ... Bank accounts, stock accounts, passwords, etc. ... that deleted files can be recovered. ... would be possible to have a company recover at ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: How do you erase deleted files ?
    ... Bank accounts, stock accounts, passwords, etc. ... that deleted files can be recovered. ... would be possible to have a company recover at ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: How do you erase deleted files ?
    ... Bank accounts, stock accounts, passwords, etc. ... that deleted files can be recovered. ... securely delete your the data and wipe your the free space; ... I will test Eraser myself. ...
    (soc.retirement)
  • Re: Hard Drive
    ... Sandi writes: ... >I am giving my computer away and want to clean the hard ... deleted files from your hard disk. ... entire subdirectory trees in a single operation. ...
    (microsoft.public.security)