How do you permanently delete files?

Category: Geeks r Us

Post 1 by puppya (335) on Tuesday, 14-Jul-2009 2:43:53

I downloaded recuva from puriforms site, and it recovers files that have been supposedly deleted from my computer. What can I do to make sure the file I delete is permanently gone no longer being able to be found or recovered?

Thanks,

Jenn

Post 2 by monkeypusher69 (I'll have the last word, thank you!) on Tuesday, 14-Jul-2009 14:13:32

well you would have to use a secure delete application. You see what happens when you delete files is that all it does it tell the operating system that its ok to write over this spot on the HD with new info .. (this is of course after you empty the recyling/trash bin, or if you use Shift+ Del when you delete the file thus bypassing the recycling bin) So when you run a program like recuva if that spot hasn't been sufficiently written over yet by the operating system (in this case windows) then recuva will be able to bring it back. A secure erase app will not only tell the operating system that it can write to that spot again but will write 1's and 0's to that spot erase and repeat and erase to make it so a program like recuva couldn't pull it back up. unfortunately i can't think of the names of any secure erase apps. You can also do this on a whole drive basis by using other third party formatting tools and not the one that comes with the windows install.

Post 3 by Nitrogen (Zone BBS Addict) on Tuesday, 14-Jul-2009 15:53:32

hmm,
a program I know of is called east tech eraser.
It will shred the files/folders which you wwant permanently deleted.

Post 4 by b3n (I'm going for the prolific poster awards!) on Tuesday, 14-Jul-2009 19:22:47

I've never been in your exact situation, but when i've needed to sell harddrives, I've done a low level format on them (Google lftool) and then run killdisk.
The above requires some hardware knolidge, eyes and will remove all data from the drive.
Fyi, i've never found a windows based app that will deleet stuff that well - i've always been able to get stuff back.

You may think that i'm going over the top but its a big concern for me and it should be for you to. I buy and sell fairly frequently on sites like ebay and I know for a fact that very few people take adequat steps to protect there data. It can take some time, but chances are that it'll come back on you if you don't remove stuff properly.