Another Issue with "Wipe Free Space"

[Mastaclocksetta]

When I run "Wipe Free Space," the wiping finishes (gets to 100%) but the green progress bar (for overall progress) stays at 96% and never finishes. I tried letting CCleaner do its thing overnight, with the above results. So I eventually had to click "Cancel" and it said that the cleaning was incomplete. I think this must be a bug. I am running the latest version of CCleaner on Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP2 with all the latest updates installed, with 8 GB of RAM, and a hard-drive capacity of 582.31 GB, if that helps at all.

[AnglinaS]

When I run "Wipe Free Space," the wiping finishes (gets to 100%) but the green progress bar (for overall progress) stays at 96% and never finishes. I tried letting CCleaner do its thing overnight, with the above results. So I eventually had to click "Cancel" and it said that the cleaning was incomplete. I think this must be a bug. I am running the latest version of CCleaner on Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP2 with all the latest updates installed, with 8 GB of RAM, and a hard-drive capacity of 582.31 GB, if that helps at all.

 

 

Hi,

 

Did you try canceling it and run the program again? I am using Windows XP it is working ok with it.

[hazelnut]

Hi,

 

Did you try canceling it and run the program again? I am using Windows XP it is working ok with it.

 

 

Good question Angelina.

 

Just a pity you had to go and spoil it by putting a spam link in your sig which I've just removed

[Mastaclocksetta]

Hi,

 

Did you try canceling it and run the program again? I am using Windows XP it is working ok with it.

 

Yes, and with the same results.

[marmite]

When I run "Wipe Free Space," the wiping finishes (gets to 100%) but the green progress bar (for overall progress) stays at 96% and never finishes. I tried letting CCleaner do its thing overnight, with the above results. So I eventually had to click "Cancel" and it said that the cleaning was incomplete. I think this must be a bug. I am running the latest version of CCleaner on Windows Vista Home Premium 64-bit SP2 with all the latest updates installed, with 8 GB of RAM, and a hard-drive capacity of 582.31 GB, if that helps at all.

Seems like you're not alone anyway ... http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showtopic=24425 ... and they all seem to be related to the free space wipe.

 

Have you tried running just a free space wipe ... nothing else? Not that it would be an acceptable solution ... but it would be interesting to see if there's a difference.

[Flyv?pnet]

I thought I'd just add my voice to the chorus and confirm I'm bamboozled by the fact "Wipe Free Space" never stops running, even after several hours. A different application, several years ago, was touted as doing nothing but wiping the free space; and it never stopped, either.

 

Could it be this is a process which takes an inordinate amount of time? Let's say you've 500 Megabytes of free space. How many hours would it take for CCleaner to wipe it with the one-pass setting? Maybe I just need to get psyched up for a long-haul process.

 

 

=^..^=

[Alan_B]

Could it be this is a process which takes an inordinate amount of time? Let's say you've 500 Megabytes of free space. How many hours would it take for CCleaner to wipe it with the one-pass setting? Maybe I just need to get psyched up for a long-haul process.

 

500 MBytes. Are you sure ? ? ?

 

The next Patch Tuesday update could easily fill that with Restore points.

 

If my 15 GB partition C:\ had only 3% free space I would not expect to be able to defrag,

and I am sure that many "normal" operations would be severely impeded.

 

Alan

[marmite]

Could it be this is a process which takes an inordinate amount of time?

No; I think the hang is a ccleaner 'feature'. Most people report than the ccleaner claims to have completed the actual free-space wipe ... it then just hangs somewhere and doesn't return control to the user.

 

I used another tool (see this post http://forum.piriform.com/index.php?showto...st&p=149391) which wiped about 16Gb in half-an-hour (give or take ... I didn't note the time but I certainly wasn't hanging around all day). Also note that I was happy that the space was wiped securely.

 

With regard To Alan's comment above I think he's right about defragging; I suspect that only 500Mb of free space would stop any defregger I've seen.

 

However it shouldn't be a factor in the ability to wipe free space ... in fact it should be very quick!

[Flyv?pnet]

I apologize, Alan_B, for not having done a better job of posing my question. That free-space figure I used is hypothetical ("Let's say....") as I was looking for an educated guess on how long it might take CCleaner to wipe free space. Let's forget the "500 Megabytes" and use whatever figure everybody's more comfortable with: if I've [insert acceptable figure here] of free space, how long should it take CCleaner to complete a one-pass wipe? It seems a reasonable question to me; and any estimates will be greatly appreciated.

 

 

Marmite, are you an acquired taste? (Sorry, I couldn't help myself.) Anyway, thanks for the sdelete.exe link. Well, I clicked on "Open" and up came a command-line box along with a EULA box; and when I accepted the EULA both boxes vanished. Upon clicking "Open" again, the dreaded black box appeared for a split second and vanished once more. Maybe it's busy doing something behind the scenes? I'm not a big fan of command-line stuff 'cause it's user unfriendly - for users like me, anyway. I'll wait and see if it reappears, or something.

 

 

=^..^=

[ePost]

I tested (on a small amateur scale) a few programs and they were even slower. Revo Uninstaller for example does a fine but slow job cleaning freespace but it's a very, very aggressive program, that I do not dare to recommend. I only use it after having backed up everything. Inside Dial-a-fix one can also find cleaning tools (sort of) that will give you more freespace. They are well hidden behind a very small hammer icon. Unfortunately the program's main functions doesn't support Vista, Windows 7 or even quite a few of IE8's features. There is also a risk involved in using the advanced DAF tools. Some of them can't be used if IE8 is installed and it'll ruin IE8 if you try.

 

It's really a tragedy that Dial-a-fix is not updated.

[marmite]

... thanks for the sdelete.exe link. Well, I clicked on "Open" and up came a command-line box along with a EULA box; and when I accepted the EULA both boxes vanished. Upon clicking "Open" again, the dreaded black box appeared for a split second and vanished once more. Maybe it's busy doing something behind the scenes? I'm not a big fan of command-line stuff 'cause it's user unfriendly - for users like me, anyway. I'll wait and see if it reappears, or something.

Yes it is a command-line tool ... though that is explicitly mentioned in my post. So yes, if you try and run it from Windows you won't get far

 

I can give instructions but I'm reluctant to do so because sdelete is also a file wiping tool - put the wrong parameters in and you start wiping your files and directories. I'd rather you only tried this if you are confident in your command-line skills.

 

Edited to add (and straying off-topic) ... for anyone interested in some basic command-line stuff here's a couple of links to start with ... it's a skill that's always useful ...

The Command Line in Windows and Using the Windows command line: basic DOS commands

[Flyv?pnet]

Thanks, ePost, for your warnings about the perils of merely blundering into free space and flailing about - which is probably something I'd unwisely attempt were it not for admonitions from more knowledgeable people such as yourself. I think I'll shelve my curiosity about wiping free space for the time being.

 

 

Your cautionary advice is well taken, marmite! I'll leave the command-line stuff to those who are more familiar than me with the secret lives of computing systems.

 

 

=^..^=

[fireryone]

=^..^=

 

Now completely off topic:

Nice website and images?

What is this it looks rather fast

[Flyv?pnet]

At the risk of falling afoul of The Powers That Be hereabouts, fireryone, let me direct you here whilst mentioning that 1,228 km/h is indeed fast! (I visited the U.K. last year and one of my hosts during that tour lives at Coventry, West Midlands.)

 

 

=^..^=

[ePost]

Hint: Flyv?pnet is Norwegian for air force.

 

Major edit and correction: Flyv?pnet was the name the Norwegian Air forces used during WW2, Google reveals.

[Flyv?pnet]

I don't doubt you're correct, ePost; but as it happens my username was taken from the backpack which you can see here, here and here. That particular word, which appears on the backpack, caused some confusion on a Bj?rk board full of Scandinavians and a scanlation board whose Webmaster is Swedish; so I suppose it's only fitting that the spelling dilemma carries over to this board.

 

 

=^..^=

 

P.S.: Aha! Thank you very much, ePost, for clearing that up! I shall pass along your welcome discovery to those other two boards I mentioned above. Mystery solved! Case closed (we hope)! Thanks again!

 

[ePost]

But I was incorrect and I have corrected it. Norway and Sweden are two sides of the same hills so I'll gladly believe that you found a Norwegian backpack in Sweden. Or vice versa. They walk and drive to and from all the time. No passport needed. They have a deal on that.

[ePost]

Fly means (air) plaine and v?pen means weapon. Nowadays they call them selves defence (force). You know political correctness and social democracy and all that jazz. The word flyv?pnet lives, though, among ordinary people.

[Flyv?pnet]

Thanks for those explanations, ePost. I appreciate your going to the trouble of passing them along to me. I'd never have learned the true etymology of Flyv?pnet had not CCleaner got stuck in all that free space!

 

By the way, it so happens I was in the air force - the U.S. Air Force - back in the day. I'm glad you passed along your finding, that the use of the word Flyv?pnet by Norwegian armed forces dates from the Second World War. My trusty backpack is, perhaps, as old as me!

 

 

=^..^=

[ePost]

Yes, it is a retro thing you have there. Flekkefjord L?rvarefabrikk a/s where it was made - according to the photos - does not exist anymore, Google told. Google Translate just got all these new languages a few months back. They doubled the numbers. Almost.

 

PS: I like your sense of humor!

[fireryone]

Hey thanks for the link identifing the vehicle,

and you weren't gonna get in any trouble with "the powers" and could have left the link in you sig if you wanted to.

[Flyv?pnet]

You're quite welcome, fireryone! F.Y.I., I received a cordial message from DennisD calling my attention to the rules governing signature blocks; and a hyperlink leading to one's Web site is not permitted. But it's here all the same.

 

 

=^..^=

[DennisD]

I can't speak for the other guys, but I'm fine with a text link to your site, which I've seen for myself doesn't contain any ads or links to commercial software.

 

It was the oversized graphic being used as a link which was the problem.

 

Forum signatures are to be used respectfully, so do not annoy our members by making your signature into some sort of web ad.

 

We have to draw a line somewhere otherwise we'd have more space taken up with signatures than discussion, and it sometimes ain't easy deciding where to draw that line.

 

A case in point is the smiley and the nifty little graphic appearing in your posts.

 

 

If that's a permanent feature, then I would respectfully suggest that you think about making that your signature, with maybe a text link to your page instead of the graphic image. But not both.

 

Although it's not part of your sig, it's having the same affect in that it's taking up the same amount of space, and adding to the length of every topic.

 

Such a piddly thing seemingly, but if everyone "extended" a signature in that way, the threads would soon become more space than content.

 

Nothing personal Flyv?pnet. For my sins I try to treat every member the same, and always do it with a polite pm, and not on the forum.

 

On this occasion I feel I had to put the record straight. Politely of course.