I've just installed v2.20.920 of ccleaner. I was wondering if the settings under the secure deletion options were just for normal cleaning or if they also apply to the Wipe free space option.
I have the settings for secure deletion set to Gutmann 35 passes. Does this mean the wipe free space option will overwrite all free space on drive with Gutmann setting, or does wipe free space have seperate settings?
I believe, from an early post by one of the developers, that wipe free space uses one pass of zeroes whatever is coded in the secure delete option, or indeed if it is set to normal deletion.
One overwrite pass is quite sufficient for erasing data permanently: there's plenty to read in the forum on this topic. Thirtyfive passes is, and always has been, a waste of time. Please don't ask why as it's been done to death here, just Google.
35 passes is a complete waste of time. No one has ever been able to recover 1 pass let alone 35.
I'm no expert in this but have read a lot so please enlighten me if i am wrong, but Craig Wright who is a forensic scientist examined 1 over pass under controlled conditions and examined the drive surface with a magnetic-force microscope to see if there was any data. The answer was NO.
whats more worrying and some thing i do plan to research is that windows apparently saves copies of files in a 'special location'