secure deleting

Recuva
21
if the file has been overwriten and it is still visable in the preview box, what else can i do?

I'm beginning to think that calling in an exorcist wouldn't be a bad idea.

If a file has been overwritten than what you will see (in Recuva preview) is what it's been overwritten with, not the original file. Maybe what it's been overwritten with is as bad as the original file.

Are you taking the advice of not clearing any of your temp internet or other temp files, with CC or any means, including straightforward deletes? If so then your bad files should be overwritten by now.

This is probably a case of being fixed in five minutes if one of us could get our hands on your pc.

Or download eraser or some other disk wiper. The only one I have tried (Redactor) on a 40 gb disk took an age to run so it isn't an easy answer.

Rgds.

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Have you downloaded and tried the latest version?v 01.11.257 www.recuva.com

yes

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yes

Hey Novis1, I think I might finally have an answer for you. :)

-It's a FREE program called, "Revo Uninstaller". ( http://www.revouninstaller.com )

After you open up Revo Uninstaller, click on the "Tools" icon at the top. That will open up the "Optimization" box. At the bottom of Optimizations, click on "Tracks Cleaner". Now, click on the white down-arrow that's underneath "Evidence Remover". Finally, click on "Unrecoverable Delete".

Once you're in there, click the "Add files to be deleted" button. You can browse to find the file (in your case, the picture) that you want to delete, or if you know the location of the file, you can of course just enter that information. When you're done, just click "DELETE FOREVER", and that should take care of it.

If you don't know the location of the file(s), or if you want to wipe previously deleted data, you can use the Evidence Remover tool in Revo that I mentioned earlier. It's really easy to use, so I'll spare you the directions. WARNING: There is always the potential of deleting things that you want to keep with this sort of tool, SO USE WITH CAUTION.

-While I was writing this, something popped into my head. Maybe what you're seeing in Recuva is just the thumbnail of the picture that you want to delete, and NOT the actual picture itself. This might explain how Recuva is showing a picture that you have deleted. So, if the above steps don't help, you can try clearing Windows thumbnail cache in order to delete the file. Here's a site with the instructions:

http://www.wikihow.com/Clear-the-Thumbnail-Cache-in-Windows

I want to add a couple of things to their instructions though:

1) If you're using Windows XP, and you use Search, you'll need to check the box for "Search hidden files and folders" in the "More advanced options" drop-down menu. If you did everything right, you should find a lot of files named "Thumbs.db".

2) Instead of using "Select All" and "Delete" for removing the files, I would make a new folder on the Desktop, put all the files in the new folder, and then delete the folder using Revo's Unrecoverable Delete tool.

-Well... that's all for now. I REALLY hope this helps, and you can finally put your mind at ease. Good luck with everything! :)

24
While I was writing this, something popped into my head. Maybe what you're seeing in Recuva is just the thumbnail of the picture that you want to delete, and NOT the actual picture itself. This might explain how Recuva is showing a picture that you have deleted. So, if the above steps don't help, you can try clearing Windows thumbnail cache in order to delete the file.

It may be a thumbnail, but not, I think, the thumbnail cache. As far as I can see (and test) Thumbs.db does not contain a representation of any image in a form that can be displayed. Of course it's still a good idea to get rid of these annoying helpers that Windows foists upon us, so Novis should do what you advise. Rgds.

25
After you open up Revo Uninstaller, click on the "Tools" icon at the top. That will open up the "Optimization" box. At the bottom of Optimizations, click on "Tracks Cleaner". Now, click on the white down-arrow that's underneath "Evidence Remover". Finally, click on "Unrecoverable Delete".

Once you're in there, click the "Add files to be deleted" button. You can browse to find the file (in your case, the picture) that you want to delete, or if you know the location of the file, you can of course just enter that information. When you're done, just click "DELETE FOREVER", and that should take care of it.

If you don't know the location of the file(s), or if you want to wipe previously deleted data, you can use the Evidence Remover tool in Revo that I mentioned earlier. It's really easy to use, so I'll spare you the directions. WARNING: There is always the potential of deleting things that you want to keep with this sort of tool, SO USE WITH CAUTION.

Doesn't that just do the same as Eraser's free space wipe (which was already suggested)?

26

Hello Novis1,

We don't even know if you are the father worried about what his son may find on the computer?

You could be the son.You can have any reason.

As you can see deleting previously recorded data can be very complex to remove.

You have received some excellent advice from some very experienced users of Recuva,Eraser,and Revo.

JDPower, I know, has much experience in using these products.He is especially experienced in the use of Revo and Eraser.If he recommends Eraser I would use that product.

If you have other reasons not to use those products,then all I could recommend is to wait for Recuva to mature to the point of being able to delete the remaining traces of that file.In my testing of Recuva I could not secure delete a partially overwritten .jpg file until one day it worked.In the future I am sure they will be able to even remove the file name etc. .It takes time to develop such software.Piriform

is very methodical and safe in the development of their products as far as I have seen.

In the meantime you can do as others have suggested and fill up your hard drive as much as possible.Sooner or later those remaining clusters are going to be overwritten.Depending on the size of your HD this could take some time.Of course you could put 20 to 50 movies on it.

This thread is now too long.

As you can see it all comes down to your decision.

Good Luck,

:) Davey

27

thankyou all very much :)

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It may be a thumbnail, but not, I think, the thumbnail cache. As far as I can see (and test) Thumbs.db does not contain a representation of any image in a form that can be displayed. Of course it's still a good idea to get rid of these annoying helpers that Windows foists upon us, so Novis should do what you advise. Rgds.

Hi Augeas. :)

I'll be honest with ya, Augeas; I don't know the answer to Novis1's problem, or what goes on in those mysterious Thumbs.db files. I could be wrong, and that's OK. I'm no expert. I do know that, so far, going the route of traditional file deletion has not worked, and Novis1 is still seeing the image of what they want to delete in Recuva's preview box. I figure Recuva has got to be getting the information from somewhere, so this is where I came up with the thumbnail cache suggestion.

Right or wrong, for some reason, I keep thinking the picture is in a cache somewhere. With all the different caches on a computer, and within Windows, there are so many places this picture could be hiding. This thing could be anywhere! :blink:

Basically: Recuva is getting the information from somewhere, traditional deleting isn't working, and I'm trying to come up with ideas of other things to try. It's totally OK if people disagree with me, or think I'm wrong. I just want everyone to know why I'm suggesting these things, and that my main goal in the end is to be helpful.

So that's my side of the story. Rgds to you as well, Augeas. :)

*Some helpful reading:

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Doesn't that just do the same as Eraser's free space wipe (which was already suggested)?

Hi JDPower. :)

I don't know how Revo's Evidence Remover compares to what Eraser does. I've never used Eraser, so I don't know, but I've seen it mentioned and recommended a lot, so it must be a pretty good program.

You can read about Revo's Evidence Remover here, if you're interested:

http://www.revouninstaller.com/evidence_re...elete_wipe.html

Hope that link is useful to you. What about Eraser's free space wipe? Is it safe and effective?

Thanks, JDPower. :)

*Some helpful reading:

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So that's my side of the story. Rgds to you as well, Augeas. :)

No problems, I certainly wasn't trying to be in any way dismissive of you or any poster, just trying to get to the bottom of this. I did a little test to try to show what was in a thumbs file - and failed. It is indeed a mystery why these files are still shown.

Some time ago I had a url autofill entry that I just couldn't get rid of. I searched everywhere that it should or could be with no avail. I think I found it eventually in one of the more obscure index.dat files and deleted it. So yes, things do hide themselves at times.

I hope Novis will let us know when the files do eventually go, and what actions caused them to go, if any. Rgds (to all!).

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Hi JDPower. :)

I don't know how Revo's Evidence Remover compares to what Eraser does. I've never used Eraser, so I don't know, but I've seen it mentioned and recommended a lot, so it must be a pretty good program.

You can read about Revo's Evidence Remover here, if you're interested:

http://www.revouninstaller.com/evidence_re...elete_wipe.html

Hope that link is useful to you. What about Eraser's free space wipe? Is it safe and effective?

Thanks for the link, I use Revo but didn't even know that option was in there, and yes it does basically do just the same as Eraser. Is Eraser safe and effective? Well it's certainly effective, I've never seen a recoverable file after using it. Is it safe? Well with regards to the free space wipe function, I have only ever used that once so can't give a personal opinion on that particular option but it certainly seems so from other users opinions, and it HAS been mostly safe for what I use it for (I use it's right click>erase function to secure delete all files instead of normal deletion)

32
No problems, I certainly wasn't trying to be in any way dismissive of you or any poster, just trying to get to the bottom of this. I did a little test to try to show what was in a thumbs file - and failed. It is indeed a mystery why these files are still shown.

Some time ago I had a url autofill entry that I just couldn't get rid of. I searched everywhere that it should or could be with no avail. I think I found it eventually in one of the more obscure index.dat files and deleted it. So yes, things do hide themselves at times.

I hope Novis will let us know when the files do eventually go, and what actions caused them to go, if any. Rgds (to all!).

No, you're cool. You didn't do anything wrong. No worries, Augeas. :)

But on the topic of Thumbs.db files -- I was playing around with Revo Uninstaller, and I found out that the "Junk Files Cleaner" tool will bring up the Thumbs.db files. So no more need to do it the old way by hand. :)

I'm having a problem a little like Novis' actually. CCleaner is showing up Opera browser in the Applications tab like I have it, but I don't have it anymore. So I went looking through my computer files and registry looking for leftovers of Opera, with software and by hand, and I can't find anything. So I know what it's like not being able to find something. I even thought of installing Opera and then searching the registry just to find out where it installs itself. :lol: Now I'm starting to wonder if it's some kind of "false positive", and this MIGHT be Novis' problem as well.

Yeah, I would love to finally know what's up with Novis' file, too. :lol: Rgds.

33
Thanks for the link, I use Revo but didn't even know that option was in there, and yes it does basically do just the same as Eraser. Is Eraser safe and effective? Well it's certainly effective, I've never seen a recoverable file after using it. Is it safe? Well with regards to the free space wipe function, I have only ever used that once so can't give a personal opinion on that particular option but it certainly seems so from other users opinions, and it HAS been mostly safe for what I use it for (I use it's right click>erase function to secure delete all files instead of normal deletion)

You're welcome, no problem. :)

Thanks for the info. I'm really concerned about the safety of any tool that can permanently remove data. Ever since a registry cleaner caused me to have to reinstall Windows, I've been real leery about any software that is supposed to cleanup and "fix" my computer by deleting things. I know much better now, and now I know what is safe to delete, and that the registry is better left alone. I guess it's better to cluttered registry (and hard drive) than to destroy my computer in an attempt to clean it up.

Thank again for the help. I'm still scared of Eraser though. :o:lol:

34

Hello novis1,

We all do care about your situation.

This has been a big learning experience for all of us "helpers".

Please let us know the outcome of your efforts.

Also let JDPower fill you in on which version of ERASER and REVO that he trusts.

All software products have GOOD versions and BAD versions.

Good Luck,

:) davey

P.S. As regards my success in secure deleting a partially overwritten .jpg file using Recuva.

I had the success when I tried secure deleting 4 or 5 .jpg files at the same time with the file I specifically wanted to overwrite in the middle of that list.Maybe this will help in your efforts.

I am using Recuva v 1.11.257 .

35
Hello novis1,

We all do care about your situation.

This has been a big learning experience for all of us "helpers".

Please let us know the outcome of your efforts.

Also let JDPower fill you in on which version of ERASER and REVO that he trusts.

All software products have GOOD versions and BAD versions.

Good Luck,

:) davey

P.S. As regards my success in secure deleting a partially overwritten .jpg file using Recuva.

I had the success when I tried secure deleting 4 or 5 .jpg files at the same time with the file I specifically wanted to overwrite in the middle of that list.Maybe this will help in your efforts.

I am using Recuva v 1.11.257 .

thankyou davey and thankyou all very much.for now in refraining from deleting any history to try to overwrite anything.i will let you all know:)

36
thankyou davey and thankyou all very much.for now in refraining from deleting any history to try to overwrite anything.i will let you all know:)

Hi all. I have been having similar problems as novis 1. In fact I left a similar thread on this forum but being a bit of a newbie I can't find it! Anyway after a bit of investigating I found a piece of software called Ace utilities that can solve novis 1 problem, hopefully. Ace utilities is shareware (boo hiss) but if you open it up and navigate to 'protect', 'securely delete files',and then 'options' you can see that it wipes free disk space and deletes the MFT as well. I used this and it deletes thumbnails, previews, the lot. Be careful though don't come back to me if you delete your hard drive.Use with care.Hope this helps.