Running Piriform Defraggler I discovered a very large amount of defragmentation which defrag doesn't deal with. I was surprised to find 306.8 GB of used space on my 465.8 GB hard drive. I expected to see only approx 75-100 GB used space.
I then ran WinDirStat to identify what was using the space and discovered one massive 246 GB file: WIPETEMP1.
I don't know what this is. Is it maybe to do with Piriform CCleaner, Wipe option (Secure File Deletions, 35 passes).
Is it supposed to be there or not? Can/should I delete it? Is it safe to delete?
I'm desperate to know how to deal with this and very frightened as to the risk it poses.
Whenever I run a WFS (and that's rarely, usually to check queries such as this) I end up with a few large deleted files but not anything called Wipetemp, or anything like it. However it is typical for a cancelled WFS to leave behind a large peculiarly named file - it's what CC uses to overwrite free space.
So I would go ahead and delete it. If you're still a little apprehensive you could delete it to the recycler and after a few hours or so of happy PC use finally clear it out.
Thirtyfive passes is just a waste of time, If you must use WFS then one pass will do (search the forum for the reasons why).
By the way I don't guarantee anything I say, here or elsewhere.
If you recently wiped the disk or secure deleted a bunch of files, then restart and see if it's still there. It should be automatically deleted. If it's not, try CCleaner and set it to delete System>Temporary Files.
CCleaner doesn't create a file called "WIPETEMP1" regardless of whether using 1 or 35 passes.
Depending upon whether "Wipe MFT Free Space" is selected or not it either creates a single numerically named file (Wipe MFT box unchecked), or a single numerically named folder (Wipe MFT box checked) containing a host of other folders, each of which carries a name made up from variations of multiple Z's.
Some screenshots of those different scenarios here, in an unrelated thread I may add ...
I've just ran both options on my XP SP3 machine, and CCleaners wipe methods haven't changed, and in each case the temp file or temp folders are deleted if the process is interrupted.
The reason I'm illustrating this is to simply point out that something other than CCleaner has created this file, and it would probably be beneficial to you to find out what did create it for future reference.
There isn't much out there to be found on a file of that name, but there are a couple of hits. Both actually from your good self asking the same question at the "Dell" and "Microsoft Answers" forums.
There's no problem with that as you didn't get a definitive resolution at either, but there was a reference to "WinZip" and it's "Wipe" options. Does WinZip figure on your computer at all?
Even if it does, that's a big file to be created by WinZip.
Have you used any other disk utilities recently which could be responsible?