I installed CCleaner today, and tried to wipe the free space on my C hard drive using the 3 pass method. The wipe process works until it gets to about 33 to 35 % complete, which takes about 30 minutes, and then it stops wiping and the " Drive Wiper" starting screen again appears. I tried the process 3 times, but it never completes the job. I don't get any error messages . I have Windows Vista . The other functions of CCleaner , such as deleting Temporary Internet Files, Thumbnails, etc. seem to work ok. What's wrong ?
Away from the topic, why do you want to wipe free space? Unless you are planning on selling your hard disk. Wiping Free Spaces will not help you get more free space than you already have.
I have never used WFS so maybe someone experienced can help you with that.
Is chkdsk appropriate ?
Just a guess, but perhaps bad sectors in the free space may cause W.F.S. to throw a wobbly and restart.
n.b. Do not ask me how to run chkdsk - it make me nervous to even think about it ! !
Alan
n.b. Do not ask me how to run chkdsk - it make me nervous to even think about it ! !
Right click (C:) > properties > tools > error checking > check now > ☑auto fix > start > schedule disk check
Sounds, to me, more like the freespace that remained after the 35% was actual freesapce and so the overwrite went quickly. Sadly there is no (last I checked) "Cleaner has finshed" confirmation at the end of wipes.
Also to follow on what Ishan said, wipefreespace is 100% useless (and kinda bad for your drive) unless you are selling the drive.
New guy to the CCleaner forum here. Will you please explain 'bad for your drive' and, separately, '100% useless'?
I added CCleaner due to the recommendation in the book WikiLeaks by The Guardian's Leigh and Harding, that everyone using the internet for communication have access to and use Secure Socket Layer, Pretty Good Privacy, The Onion Router Network and a DRIVE WIPER. I am subject to my US State's freedom of information law but can't be legally liable for what I don't have and can't find - so I clean up regularly.
My question, that brought me here in the first place and that I will repost as a new topic, is there an algorithm that will predict how long CCleaner's Drive Wipe should take and for each 'version' from 1X to 35X?
I have already answered doug's question in his own topic