Greger

Now there are more "A00#####" files, with various file extensions. A huge bunch of A00#####.mst, a few A00#####.msi and some A00#####.exe. I don't know if it's Recuva messing up, but according to Recuva the .mst files are from/were most recently changed 2007, two years before I got my external hard drive. I guess it could've been manufactured around that time or before, but without really understanding Alan_B's answer above - why do these files, as well as the others mentioned before, pop up now all of a sudden? After securely deleting files, that is. And are they anything to be bothered with? On a side note, and now I'm going completely off topic, but when I checked the properties on my personal file folder on my external drive today, it contained 4,81 GB of data. However, checking the properties on the whole drive (E:), it says there's 5,97 GB of data on it. What could that extra amount of 1+ GB be? I made sure hidden files and hidden system files could be seen, then highlighted all the local "system" folders/files, and it only went up to about 1 MB of data. It's an NTFS drive btw.

I use XP, but I'm not sure if that matters since I found these files on my external hard drive. But I reckon the A00#####.ini files are nothing to care about either, then? Thanks again btw!

I just securely deleted a couple of files on my external drive again, and upon doing another standard search with Recuva, it now found another few files: RestorePointSize - two of them, each 8kb A00######.ini - three of them change.log Are these nothing to be bothered with either, and why did they suddenly appear now?

Alrighty then. Thanks!

Not really. But thanks anyway. But I'm wondering: When securely deleting a file, or wiping free space (using CCleaner) - as I've done several times on my external hard drive without the bootex.log file disappearing - does it pose a "threat", as in that it still holds information of files that I have just, or on former occasions, securely deleted? Or what's the file for?

I cannot for the life of me understand what this file is all about, or why it keeps showing up whenever I run Recuva on my external hard drive - and why it won't let itself be deleted. I've done several "wipe free space"-runs on the drive - yet it's still there. And the file says it's from early 2011, even though I've wiped the free space on my external hard drive many times both before and after 2011. The file's only 9kb in size. What's it all about? And why won't it disappear?

Alright, thanks for the answers!

Ok, I'm not sure I'm following you on this one as I'm not too familiar with all options available in CCleaner. But I've read a few older posts by you and others, so let's see if I've got the hang of it. CCleaner won't securely delete files that have already been deleted (i.e., shft+delete deleted or simply emptied from the recycler). To securely delete these files, then, you have to use either Recuva or CCleaner's Wipe Free Space (and Wipe MFT Free Space if you want to have the file names wiped and renamed). Am I right? However, if you have not yet deleted a file and want it securely deleted, wiped from MFT and renamed - you can do so by deleting it via CCleaner. Am I right? My question is then, do you do this by choosing the include alternative in options, or how do you do it? Also, I'm not really sure what this is supposed to mean: "CCleaner can only securely delete files which have not yet been deleted from the Recycle Bin. If you have already delete files insecurely (for example, using Windows Explorer), you can delete them securely using Recuva." But if I run a wipe free space (with everything else checked, including the Secure file deletion (Slower) option) - won't these already deleted files become securely deleted. Or is that just a terminology thing - where these already deleted but not securely deleted files will become wiped?

Whenever I've deleted a few files on my hard drive(s), I usually use Recuva to search them up and write them over one by one until they read "Unrecoverable". However, the file names remain intact, and Recuva does not have an option to wipe the free MFT space, which to my understanding stores the file names of these deleted files, yes? So, as an effect of this I then usually use CCleaner to get rid of these file names (with everyting checked in settings, i.e. Secure file deletion, Wipe Free Space, Wipe MFT Free Space etc). However, as this takes a rather long time just so that I can get rid of the file names, and as I've already used Recuva to securely delete the files, is it enough to simply check the Wipe MFT Free Space box in CCleaner, instead of wiping all free space with Wipe Free Space as well? And is it secure enough, i.e. will these file names be securely deleted? Also, and with the above mentioned in mind, have I understood it right that I can use CCleaner to individually delete and wipe/securely delete files and their file names of not yet deleted files? I.e., instead of deleting the files, then using Recuva to securely delete them and efter a while, wipe all free space (including MFT) with CCleaner? If that's so it sounds like a pretty faster method than my current one.

Alright. Thanks for the answers!

So they're nothing to give a crap about, then?

Hello all! I just discovered three hidden folders on my external HDD, after I'd unchecked the "Hide protected system files" in folder options. As the topic says - one $RECYCLE.BIN, one RECYCLER and one found.000 folder. So... 1.) In the $RECYCLE.BIN folder, I found två empty recyclers. Yet, right clicking and checking properties they are both 4kb each. Is that the amount of space the recyclers themselves take up, then? 2.) Right clicking and checking properties on the RECYCLER folder, it says it contain 8 files. However, entering the folder, there are only four recyclers with various names but similar sizes. The file names begin with S-1-5-21-4242425(...), and such. However, checking the Disk Cleanup option on the external drive, it said that the recycler consists of 0kb. 3.) In the found.000 folder, there were two sub-folders and one file named file.0000.chk (0kb, yet right clicking/properties said otherwise). I did a quick search on the internets and found out it was safe to delete, and so I did. So, as a person who uses CCleaner and Recuva to securely delete files and wipe free space from time to time, are these hidden folders and recycle-files of any concern? Should I delete them, or just let them be?

Thanks. I did that yesterday, as well as turning on the "Show hidden files and folders". Still can't see these random thumbs.db files neither on my main HDD nor my external, except for those belonging to my graphics card that is. Another disk cleaning software should do the trick as you say. Got any tips? However, since I've deleted the folders which originally contained the files that I thought were gone, and then used Recuva to wipe the thumbs.db files that were stored in them, shouldn't that be enough for now? On a sidenote though, I made a little experiment yesterday as well. I digged out an old CD-R with pictures on it, copied the inevitable thumbs.db files that were stored in the various folders to my computer and checked them with a trial version of DM Thumbs. Many long since forgotten files showed up in the various folders, and the main/original "My Pictures" folder seemed to store a "main" thumbs.db file that also had the info from all the other thumbs.db files in the various sub-folders. If possible, maybe a thorough cleaning and wipe device for these files in CCleaner or at least an update on the FAQ page could be an option, since a wipe free space obviously aint enough (if you have set your computer to store thumbs.db files, that is).

Well, I didn't get much smarter from reading that. Despite being a thorough explanation, most of these computer terms are pretty foreign to me. Anyway, I take it it has nothing to do with my main concern - i.e. the thumbnail cashe and thumbs.db files. My first guess would be that the thumbnail cashe is the place where thumbs.db files (despite being located in folders and sub-folders) have a common repository, but that doesn't seem to be the case. Reading up on it a bit, it seems CCleaner won't delete/wipe these hidden files or the information they store if one deletes a couple but not all files in a folder, unless they (thumbs.db) are manually removed by either deleting the file(s) themselves or the folders they're in, am I correct? Anyway, I just tried searching for thumbs.db files with advanced settings in Windows search, and I only found a bunch of 20 or so for my graphic card. Which is strange, since I do have some folders with files in them on my main HDD. I tried doing the same with my external HDD, and the search took less than a few seconds without finding anything. Anyway (again), I entered my external HDD and created new folders for pretty much everything I've got stored there (since many of the folders were old and the thumbs.db files in them could possibly contain information that I had previously assumed would be "completely" wiped with the wipe free space option in CCleaner/then using Recuva afterwards). After I was done, I could see that by checking properties on the new folders, there was an extra file in some of them, but not all, for whatever reason. I then clicked the "show hidden files and folders" in the tools/option bar, but the (new) thumbs.db files could still not be seen, even though they were obviously there. Anyway, I then ran Recuva and found a lot of thumbs.db files, which I wiped. So, this brings me to my next (and probably confusing) question. Since most of the old thumbs.db files I deleted with Recuva were stored in sub-folders, wouldn't the folders and sub-folders that contained the the sub-folder(s) I set out to delete, also contain their own thumbs.db files which in turn consist of information of the sub-folders' thumbs.db, and then the other sub-folders thumbs.db, and so on... if you get what I mean (this is some complicated stuff )? And even if they don't, will the new thumbs.db files in my new folders restore information from the old thumbs.db files in my old folders, that I deleted? Last, I wan't to appologize if this is a bit or completely off topic and for my (I assume) somewhat confusing explanations, but it's an interesting question since from my understanding, a wipe free space with CCleaner should be considered a safe option, without having some lurking thumbs.db files storing information you thought were gone. EDIT: I now saw that these files can be manually indluded and deleted in CCleaner. Does this work; is it safe; and does it work on external HDD's?

Lets say I delete some files in some various folders/directories during some time, yet don't delete the folders where I stored these files since I still have some other files left in them. Then I start CCleaner to clean my main HDD/external HDD and wipe free space (and the files that I've deleted over time) - will the thumbnail cashe/thumb.db files/whatnot in these folders still store information about those deleted files, or will CCleaner clean them out and wipe them as well? Otherwise it seems to me that the wipe free space option as well as the subsequent options below (whatever they do) would be somewhat less efficient. And if CCleaner does not remove and wipe these thumbs.db files, will they be deleted if I delete the folder they're in, and then get wiped when I run CCleaner's wipe free space? And last, what does the option "Clean Alternate Data Streams" (I don't know the correct translation since I don't run CCleaner in English) in CCleaner's option window do? Does it have something to do with these kind of files? I use Windows XP btw. Thanks in advance.