Augeas
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Posts posted by Augeas
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No, I don't have cipher on my version of XP Home. Cipher is not intended for frequent use, according to Microsoft. Perhaps because it takes so long?
I'm going to try Disk Redactor, freeware at http://www.cezeo.com/products/disk-redactor/ This - according to the blurb - overwrites all free unused space and writes zeros over all deleted files. The filenames remain but the files are zapped. It's not only free but small (375 kb) and portable.
Rgds.
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It was new to me too, but after Googling it, yes, it is a command line option, not a CCleaner option.
To think that the answer to everyone's 'How to get rid of deleted files' question was under our noses all the time. I wonder why such a useful tool seems to be so unknown? In my XP Inside Out book it isn't even mentioned.
There seems to be some doubt whether it's available in XP home, which I'm using. You should be OK in Pro. Let us know if you try it.
Rgds.
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An easier way to delete multiple 'one-off' folders is to have a master folder, called crap or whatever you wish, and enter this in the custom folders to delete in CCleaner. Then just drag all the folders and files you want to delete into this folder, and run CC. Everything will be wiped.
This way you don't have to mess around adding and deleting folders in CC. It's rather like CC having its own recycle bin.
Rgds.
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However, nothing is getting securely deleted.
Gurtz
Hooray! I've posted about this at least three times before with absolutely zero response, so it's a relief to know I'm not alone in the universe.
I've found this to be common with all releases of CC, at least in the last year when I started to use secure deletion. CC seems to delete some files, overwriting the file name with a random capital letter, such as LLLLL.LL, but the vast majority of files remain under their own name and many are recoverable with ease in an unblemished state. CC appears to overwrite those files I dump into a custom folder which I have set up for CC to empty, but all the rest, including temp internet files, are untouched.
I'm running XP/SP2 home, IE 6.0 with no other security s/ware except AVG a/virus.
Rgds.
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Well yes, in a way. As far as I can tell files will be written in the first available free area of the disk. So if you wrote 100 files and then used CC the space that these 100 files occupied becomes free space and will be overwritten with the next 100 files you write. However if you previously wrote 1000 files and then went into the pattern of using CC, writing 100 files, using CC etc. then 900 deleted files will not be overwritten and will be accessible.
To get rid of these notional 900 files just stop using CC for a while and as you write more files, using up more free space, they will be overwritten. This theory of course depends on the files you are writing not being sensitive. Just do a lot of browsing on some harmless websites.
I think that this is a crude representation of how disk cleaners work, by completely filling the disk with large files, overwriting them multiple times, and then deleting them and their entries in the file allocation tables.
Rgds.
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1) No. It means that the space occupied by all older files have been overwritten by later (2007) files. It's just chance, or should I say the way the file mgmt software works. I also have two files from the original install showing, they must be somewhere way off the beaten track. If you use CCleaner regularly then files will go through the process of being overwritten frequently.
2) No. If there is a particular deleted file I want scrubbing I don't use CC for a while, and eventually it gets overwritten, then I run CC. Apparently the facility to delete 'deleted' files is being developed.
Rgds.
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I have not noticed any significant difference in the number of files retrieved between versions (the odd one or two in 12,000 or so).
The OP doesn't say what o/s he is using, but Windows is somewhat of a shifty character, so I would expect some difference in files found when Recuva is run. Possibly the best thing is to install each version of Recuva as portable pgms on a flash drive and then run the tests, but even then you couldn't be sure of Windows stability. Not that this is going to change the number of files retrieved from thousands to zero.
To backup Steve, I have found one occasion when a 288k deleted file was shown as and recovered as 1k by 1.03, and 288k by a previous version. I haven't looked for any more.
Rgds.
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The state of the file as shown by Recuva should not necessarily be taken as gospel, it's the best estimate the Recuva software can make of the prospects for recovery. It looks as if your files have been overwritten in part or whole since they were deleted. In this case recovery will not be possible, or should I say recovery to as deleted condition will not be possible.
Rgds.
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Ron,
Yes, I recovered the 288k file with V1.01.069. It recovered all 288k but the file isn't executable (as it had been deleted by CCleaner with overwrite option). I also recovered the same file with V1.03, but this remained at 1k.
Rgds.
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Right,
I have an old portable version of Recuva on a flash drive (1.01.069) so I ran this and the two deleted recuva.exe's were found with a path of crap, although with their file names changed. I ran the installed 1.03 version again and they were not (apparently) found.
I checked dates, size, names etc. on all the stuff with a path of crap. One of the advantages of overwriting (from a folder at least) is that CCleaner renames the files to a string of capital letters, such as LLLLLLL.LL, which makes date/time modified the same as date/time deleted, so I could look for the missing files more easily. I found that the deleted files were being detected by the 1.03 version of Recuva, but the file size in both cases had been set to 1k. The old version of Recuva reported the files as their proper sizes, 208 and 288k.
Rgds.
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I'm beginning to have some sympathy with the OP.
I have a folder called Crap into which I put any unwanted files. This folder is marked by CCleaner to be emptied and overwritten. I also have a few old copies of recuva.exe.
I moved an old recuva.exe into the crap folder and ran CCleaner. I then ran Recuva and couldn't find any trace of the file.
I then moved another old recuva into crap, took more notice of the size (288k) and ran CC, then looked for it. There is no file of this name and no file of this size. There is no file close to this size that has a suspicious name. There is nothing with a path of Crap larger than 36k except for one 164k file deleted three days ago.
Where have these files gone?
Rgds.
(PS I'm not sure whether this should be in the CC or Recuva forums, half and half I guess)
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Yep, I was just wondering what Jourei was trying to achieve with CC. Rgds.
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Hi Bril,
I can't add to your lengthy exposition, but have you checked that CC actually overwrites all files it deletes in a session when using the overwrite options now available? I find that with overwrite selected some of the files appear to be overwritten but a considerable amount of files are most certainly untouched and are capable of being recovered in all their original glory.
Rgds.
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OK, it's late so I might be easily bemused, but what's the point in running CCleaner on any CD/DVD, good or bad? And how would CC recover data from a faulty disk?
Rgds.
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Click on Path to sort the path names. Look for c:\recycler. Is your file listed there? The recycler files will have different names (but the same extension) so you will have to dig around a little.
There's always the possibility that some other activity on your PG has overwritten the space the deleted file occupied, perhaps one of the umpteen processes that Windows can't seem to live without.
I don't follow the logic behind trying later. I can't see how a deleted file can hide somewhere then pop up later.
Rgds.
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Do you mean how do you switch from list to tree view (and back again)?
Select Options in the top r/h corner, and select either List or Tree in the view mode box.
Rgds.
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Hi,
CC v1.40.520, single overwrite, XP
If I run CCleaner, look at the deleted files with Recuva, and sort them in modified date order, at the top of the list is a number of files that have been renamed with a variation on a capital letter, e.g. LLLLLL.LL, LLL.LLL. LLLLLLLLLL.L etc. This is handy, as they act as a marker for the run of CCleaner. They will always be at the head of the modifed date list as they were modified (by CCleaner) at the time CCleaner was run. This file renaming only seems to apply when secure deletion is selected (I run with single overwrite).
This renaming shows however, that only a minority of the files deleted in a particular run are renamed. In other words there are a lot of un-renamed files from sites I've visited since the previous run of CCleaner. Why is this so, and what are the rules for which are renamed and which are left with their original file names? It doesn't seem to matter where they come from, as most originate in temp internet files.
This highlights another issue. I have recovered some of the 'capital letter' files marked as Excellent and all appear to be overwritten. as they should be. I have also recovered several of the un-renamed files, and those have NOT been overwritten. It seems that the overwrite function is only applying to a small percentage of the files which are deleted. I apologise for slipping this in here, but I have raised two threads on this subject previously with absolutely no response, which rather surprises me.
Rgds.
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Hi,
I'm just curious about where Recuva gets its deleted file list from. Does it come from some file allocation table, or does Recuva scan the entire disk for file clusters? It seems too quick for a full disk scan, yet if it just scanned some FAT then surely there would be lots of files lying on the disk undiscovered. (I'm on XP with an NTFS disk.)
Please excuse any failure on my part to grasp how files are addressed.
Rgds.
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Hi,
Win XP/CC 1.40.520/IE6 - CC with 1 pass overwrite.
With CC set to 1 pass overwrite, it does not appear to overwrite all or even the majority of the deleted files.
Looking at the results with Recuva in last modified date order, there are a few dozen files with the name modifed to a random capital letter, such as LLLLLLLL.LL. Some of these don't have a defined path, some are from temp internet files. They all seem to be overwritten as I can't make head or tail of any I recover.
The rest of the files deleted in the same CC session keep their file names, many coming from temp internet files. Many of these are recoverable, not overwritten at all.
Why are the majority of the deleted and 'overwritten' files still recoverable?
Rgds.
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In the light of "CCleaner's issues on xp is pretty much flawless" from rridgely in another thread, and the mildly worrying fact that nobody has responded to this thread, can anyone please confirm that this is happening to them too?
If it's just me then I'll go away and start to get paraniod.
Rgds.
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Hi,
Win XP/CC 1.40.520/IE6 - CC with 1 pass overwrite.
I have been using CC for several years, and I'm now using Recuva as well, both excellent products. I notice that when I run CC (as I do every couple of days) and then look at the results with Recuva in date order, I end up with a few hundred files with the name modifed to a random capital letter, such as LLLLLLLL.LL (I rather prefer the old lower case z's though). Some of these don't have a defined path, some are from temp internet files. They all seem to be overwritten as I can't make head or tail of any I recover. So far, so good.
The rest of the files deleted in the same CC session keep their file names, and many come from temp internet files too. Many of these are recoverable, not overwritten at all.
Why are some file names overwritten and not others? Why are many - the majority - of the deleted ('overwritten') files still recoverable?
Rgds.
Wipes out files starting with "~"
in CCleaner
Posted
I would think so, as the opposite applies - i.e. a folder specified for emptying deletes all subfolders.
It's easy enough to test.
Rgds.