recuva able to recover securely deleted files

[normishmael]

I use CCcleaner on secure delete. either 7pass or 35 pass.

When I then use Recuva ,I find some of the files are recoverable.

If i then delete them with the delete function in Recuva,

they are mark "unrecoverable" in the list mode,but if I switch to thumbnail mode,and select

recover,they are recovered in good condition.

Is there anything I can do to really delete the files?

thank you for all assistance

[Augeas]

Make sure that these files are being deleted by CC, and not by some other action such as your browser clearing its cache. CC will rename securely deleted files, so if you can still see the filename with Recuva then you aren't using CC for the deletion.

 

If you can 'see' the deleted files with Recuva, have a look at the info tab and make sure you are not actually seeing another file's contents that have overwritten your deleted file.

 

Some small deleted files may live in the MFT and cannot be overwritten by Recuva (but they can be deleted securely with CC).

 

If you use Recuva to securely delete overwritten files (see above) it will overwrite any residual sectors and mark the file as unrecoverable, but you will still be seeing the contents of the file that overwites it, and you will still be able to recover those contents.

 

Recuva's opinion on whether a file is recoverable is not always veracious, it's just a piece of software trying to make sense of the world. It will not stop an attempt at recovery.

 

I am not a fan of anything but a one-pass secure overwrite. Anything else is just a waste of effort. Rgds.

[normishmael]

Make sure that these files are being deleted by CC, and not by some other action such as your browser clearing its cache. CC will rename securely deleted files, so if you can still see the filename with Recuva then you aren't using CC for the deletion.

 

If you can 'see' the deleted files with Recuva, have a look at the info tab and make sure you are not actually seeing another file's contents that have overwritten your deleted file.

 

Some small deleted files may live in the MFT and cannot be overwritten by Recuva (but they can be deleted securely with CC).

 

If you use Recuva to securely delete overwritten files (see above) it will overwrite any residual sectors and mark the file as unrecoverable, but you will still be seeing the contents of the file that overwites it, and you will still be able to recover those contents.

 

Recuva's opinion on whether a file is recoverable is not always veracious, it's just a piece of software trying to make sense of the world. It will not stop an attempt at recovery.

 

I am not a fan of anything but a one-pass secure overwrite. Anything else is just a waste of effort. Rgds.

 

 

 

Thanks Augeas ,

 

That is the the thing. I noticed some of the files were not downloaded in the first place,but were browseing tracks.

I have firefox free set to keep no history,due to the history cache still being visable after sandboxie sandbox was closed.

Something about a change in the way Firefox stores history.

[SleepingTheNight]

Something about a change in the way Firefox stores history.

 

You could be using the new Firefox 3, which I think is still in release candidate form.

 

Now when you said the files were recoverable, maybe that was the case because CCleaner does not know the valid paths to the files to delete? Very rarely, you may have to set these manually.

[davey]

You could be using the new Firefox 3, which I think is still in release candidate form.

 

Now when you said the files were recoverable, maybe that was the case because CCleaner does not know the valid paths to the files to delete? Very rarely, you may have to set these manually.

I find that if everything else is closed and I run Recuva "secure delete" with all files checked then everything that can be overwritten by Recuva is overwritten.The only thing it will not touch is the MFT and with good cause.

People using multiple browsers and many different utility programs must do this every now and then.

I started out with over 100,000 deleted and not overwritten files.Now I am down to less than 2,000 that are all in the MFT.

Of course that figure changes with daily use.Most of these are little tidbits used to make up various website windows and such.

Anyone thinking that CCleaner and Recuva can eliminate everything is fooling themselves.

They do provide sufficient security for the average user.

 

Best wishes,

davey

[SleepingTheNight]

I find that if everything else is closed and I run Recuva "secure delete" with all files checked then everything that can be overwritten by Recuva is overwritten.The only thing it will not touch is the MFT and with good cause.

People using multiple browsers and many different utility programs must do this every now and then.

I started out with over 100,000 deleted and not overwritten files.Now I am down to less than 2,000 that are all in the MFT.

Of course that figure changes with daily use.Most of these are little tidbits used to make up various website windows and such.

Anyone thinking that CCleaner and Recuva can eliminate everything is fooling themselves.

They do provide sufficient security for the average user.

 

Best wishes,

davey

 

Though it may be sad to the security of the average PC user, that is completely true. Would you like me to post an external link to some file shredding applications for you?

 

And what you said about CCleaner and Recuva is true, but I noticed that CCleaner is 10 times better when it comes down to securely deleting files than Window Washer. There is evidence that Window Washer does not securely delete your files, if I can find the link I'll post it up.

 

A data recovery expert could easily recover any files deleted by all three of the programs, but an average or novice user couldn't.

[SleepingTheNight]

Now, if CCleaner only had a file shredding feature embedded into the program, it would get much more than 165 million downloads!

[davey]

Now, if CCleaner only had a file shredding feature embedded into the program, it would get much more than 165 million downloads!

"Secure deletion" of files that CCleaner deletes is enough file shredding.It is already there.

CCleaner used to run much faster but each new thing slows it down some more.

Use Recuva, as it is a specialized tool and as such is not used as often but is not necessarily expected to be speedy.Although I find it very quick to "recover" or "secure delete" data.

Remember Recuva's main job is to do everything possible to recover as much as possible for the user to try to get back as much data as possible. It has been updated to include the "Secure Delete" features and it does an excellent job of this in a very short period of time.

 

davey

[SleepingTheNight]

Hello, Davey,

 

I hope you didn't take what I said the wrong way though. I am not against CCleaner - quit the contrary! I am just recommending a feature that would make this awesome lightweight freeware application even better.

 

I mean an embedded feature like this .

[SleepingTheNight]

Now I don't mean something exactly looking like that, but maybe just a simple interface where you can drag/drop files and also browse to a directory where the file is and select it into the list. Or, maybe selecting a whole folder and having CCleaner wipe all the contents in it is also a good option.

 

But having the feature of wiping the free space of a folder or drive is useless for CCleaner, because it goes beyond it's purpose as a program.

 

While we're on the subject, if anyone is looking for some freeware file shredding applications, go here, or here.