Wipe free Space

[Augeas]

How can you put forward an article entitled 'Single drive wipe protects data' as evidence that it wont?

 

How can you say that newer technology would make the job even easier when Gutmann says that 'Any modern drive will most likely be a hopeless task'?

 

How would your 'good intelligence or recovery professional' even start to recover overwritten data?

 

Why do you say that CC's overwrite 'achieves next to no security' when recovery professionals say that recovery can't be done?

[crazyperson]

My gosh I was just browsing through this topic and my head hurts. Looks advanced to me. I think for the most part I'm okay with 1 secure wipe thank you.

[Robbie]

a 1 pass secure wipe is probably sufficient. Unless your computer contains state secrets then the idea behind using a free space wipe is surely just to add an extra layer of security by deleting files that are "dumped" by Windows into free space. I can't see what a 3 pass or 7 pass could achieve that a 1 pass overwrite couldn't. If it does contain state secrets then I think something a bit more permanent than CCleaner would be used anyway...

 

That said, I do use the 7 pass secure wipe for secure deletion but I don't know if this method applies only to the normal running of CCleaner (when the Windows and Applications normal operation is ran, such as Internet Explorer, Firefox etc) or whether it also applies to the free space wipe either. I've only ran the free space wipe on CCleaner a very small handful of times anyway, mainly to test it out, and it didn't take that long to run that I had to think about 1 pass, 3 passes or 7 passes.

[J-Mac]

In all fairness, both sides of this argument are/were correct IF you could ignore time and technology advancement.

 

Gutmann's original paper indicated that data should be overwritten 35 times to accomplish a safe wipe. However Gutmann has amended that based on how newer hardware stores data, and now says that a simple scrubbing is sufficient for most situations.

 

So it would appear that john_a's info was correct in the past, but that it is flawed today.

 

Jim

[login123]

Good Grief!

 

Go lookie here: http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...mp;#entry126929

 

Then just burn the hard drive, pound the ashes with a wooden mallet, and soak'em in battery acid.

[RITAP]

As a newbie just looking for a couple of answers, I find this conversation interesting. Anyone note how someone is trying to compare a "free" program to a $60 program? You get what you pay for folks. Personally, I'm happy with CCleaner - it has helped me keep a lot of junk off the HD and keep my PC working fine. Just thought you all should know.

[JDPower]

Anyone note how someone is trying to compare a "free" program to a $60 program? You get what you pay for folks.

You reckon? So if you won a Ferrari in a competition it would be a worse than if you'd just forked out a hundred grand on one?

[GameKing]

I suspect that most of us realize two things:

 

• A multi-function programme, such as CCleaner, is not as good at cleaning your HD as a dedicated application, such as Eraser.
  
• A single wipe is not going to give you the best clean.
  

 

 

However, I have a question that I don't think has been discussed here: If I run the Wipe Free option 2 or 3 times a month, will that give me the same protection as using a more advanced cleaner and selecting the "Clean SEVEN times" option?

[Godfather78]

I have read this forum im a dutch guy but i dont understand what happens when i activate: Wipe Free Space?

can anyone please explain to me? will i lose files or something? or is it like a FORMAT but only for free space?

[GameKing]

I have read this forum im a dutch guy but i dont understand what happens when i activate: Wipe Free Space?

can anyone please explain to me? will i lose files or something? or is it like a FORMAT but only for free space?

 

First, you will not lose any files. Actually, it is a little like the Format utility in Windows, the difference is that it formats only the free space on your hard drive.

 

Simply speaking, as you use your computer you are adding and deleting files. However, the deleted files are not really deleted, they are marked as "available for use" in the File Allocation Table; this allows other programmes to write fresh data over the old `deleted`data. So, anyone with a little knowledge can recover your "deleted" data.

 

Wipe Free Space checks your hard drive to find all the free space (some of which will have your "deleted" information) and then it writes random over the top of it. This makes your computer much more secure.

 

However, the Wipe Free Space included in CCleaner is quite basic, and there are experts who can still recover your data. So programmes, such as Eraser, write over your "deleted" data as much as 35 times making it impossible for anyone to recover--albeit you will hear claims from some who say they know how to do this!

 

Hope this helps.