Jump to content

Wipe free space to clean more that it could


ericmo

Recommended Posts

Ok, so I was running CCleaner and when it got to the wipe free space part, it said it would remove about 41000MB.

But the thing is, I have used only 40.5GB of my 200GB hard-drive, so what the hell is CCleaner going to wipe?

I'm used to run CCleaner every day, so there shouldn't be 40GB of trash floating around on my hd.

Anyway, I stopped it and came here to ask about it.

 

I'm running the lastest version of CCleaner (I've just updated it) on Windows XP.

 

So, any words on it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've downloaded Recuva, and apparently I was mistaken, I do have some big loads of junk in my PC (not sure if sums up to 40GB, anyway, probably it doesn't). But still, I don't know why that didn't show up before if I do run CCleaner on a daily basis.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think your getting confused over the free space thing, it is not cleaning up junk files as such. When you delete a file it is not physically removed from the disk, windows just allocates that area as free, then in time other files will be written over the deleted file. Before they are overwritten by other files they can be recovered by software like Recuva, some consider this a security risk (ie, if someone got hold of their computer they may be able recover any sensitive files you thought were deleted). The purpose of the wipe free space option is to overwrite the free space with random data so that all those files are no longer recoverable. This is something you would only ever need to do occasionally, certainly not every time you run CCleaner as it will make CCleaner take a very long time and also increase wear on your hard drive.

 

As I mentioned the purpose of Recuva is to restore any files that you may have deleted accidentally, what Recuva finds are not junk files, just a list of deleted files you could restore if you wanted.

 

There is more info about CCleaner HERE and Recuva HERE

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for answering.

 

I knew that wipe free space removes deleted files for good (while recuva allows to recover deleted files because they're not deleted for good!), but hadn't really thought about what would be written over.

 

But, anyway, not sure if that helps. What I meant is that I do run CCleaner on a daily basis, including the wipe free space routine, and it never said there was such an huge amount of free space to be wiped. Two days ago, I've runned CCleaner and there was no unusual thing. But now, suddenly, there're 40GB of free space to be wiped, even though I couldn't have deleted such huge amount of data in this period. Can't say that this isn't weird!

 

Updating the situation: I did run CCleaner with the wipe free space routine on all the way, and guess what, apparently nothing happened (if I try to run CCleaner again, it will still want to wipe the same amount of data). Also, I did try to use Recuva to "remove securely some big files", and then when I tried to wipe free space on CCleaner there were more free space to be wiped, which is the opposite of what should happen, as that space would have been wiped by Recuva..

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I've just figured out why the behavior of the software changed, and that is because I was running CCleaner from a non-admin account until a couple of days ago, and now I did run from a admin account. I've changed to a non-admin account a couple of minutes ago and it didn't even enter the wipe routine (I did check the box).

 

But the fact that I can't securely remove files in Recuva, and the free spaced to be wiped doesn't get smaller in CCleaner is still weird.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

But now, suddenly, there're 40GB of free space to be wiped, even though I couldn't have deleted such huge amount of data in this period. Can't say that this isn't weird!

It doesn't matter how much you've deleted, it wipes ALL free space on the disk. If you have 40Gb of free space it will overwrite 40Gb free space regardless of how much you've deleted since last run, that has no bearing on the operation.

 

And I would recommend not running the free space wipe every day (unless you have reason to be ultra paranoid about stuff you're deleting every day), as I said it will massively slow the operation of CCleaner and provide unnecessary wear on your disk)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, thanks for answering, it did clear some things for me. But I still think it's not working properly, as Recuva finds all the bits of files that were there before I've runned CCleaner's wiper, even though none of them are recoverable. Anyway, I think I'll stop wiping my hd because I'm not that paranoid, so I guess this topic should be shut down.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ok, thanks for answering, it did clear some things for me. But I still think it's not working properly, as Recuva finds all the bits of files that were there before I've runned CCleaner's wiper, even though none of them are recoverable.

Yes it can still find some filenames but as you say the actual files are unrecoverable so there is no issue with someone potentially recovering them.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.