I guess I'm asking the same question a different way. I thought running CCleaner would clean all files like picture files off of my computer? But after running Recuva i can see the file and the picture. Are those recoverable? Also how can I tell if CC has securlty overwritten the file? Finally is there a way to "select all" to securely over write the files. Recuva came up with some 1400 files!!
It's all down to the vagaries of the English language!
1) CC treats all files the same. All files have an entry in the MFT, the majority of the files will have the file data on the disk outside of the MFT zone which the MFT entry points to, and some small files will reside completely in the MFT. CC doesn't know the difference and just cleans what you've asked it to do, no matter where the files are. It's not possible to tell CC to clean or not clean the MFT only.
2) When a file is deleted its entry in the MFT is not removed but flagged as being deleted. These deleted entries are reused when new files are created. If you don't delete any files, either by not using CC or other software or simply not deleting them, then eventually all the deleted entries will be overwritten, so any embarrassing name will in time go. (Then you can clean up!)
5) I have never known CC to not rename or not overwrite a securely deleted file. CC will overwrite the file data of the current live version, there may well be older copies left over from edits, defrags, etc, as well as all the things that Windows does. I would not put too much importance on Recuva's guess at the state of the file, it's only software after all.
Just scanning with Recuva will not alter the state of the files. Whether you should secure delete them or not is up to you. Personally I don't bother except for a very few really important files (financial stuff and the like). I don't think that anyone is interested in the other 20,000 or so files. It's not worth getting paranoid, I doubt if I am of any interest to the rest of the world.
PS All this is only my guess how CC and Recuva works, probably the Piriform developers are sniggering up their sleeves.
How to Delete Using Recuva
in Recuva
Posted
I guess I'm asking the same question a different way. I thought running CCleaner would clean all files like picture files off of my computer? But after running Recuva i can see the file and the picture. Are those recoverable? Also how can I tell if CC has securlty overwritten the file? Finally is there a way to "select all" to securely over write the files. Recuva came up with some 1400 files!!