CC Cleaner - Wiping Free Space Only - Help Me Understand Please -

[msufan413]

Running the below function now on C drive. I read that it only "wipes" free space (see below). It leaves "normal files" in tact. Can anyone elaborate on what "normal files" are / consist of?  Thanks.

 

Method 2 (Manually wipe with Drive Wiper):

1. Select Tools > Drive Wiper
2. Choose the type of wipe you require:
   1. Free Space Only will leave your normal files intact
   2. Entire Drive will erase all of the files on the drive.  WARNING, this means the whole of the partition will be erased.  The drive will still be formatted, but all data will be erased.  For safety reasons, this feature is disabled for the boot drive.
3. Choose the type of security you require (Simple Overwrite is ok for most situations)
4. CCleaner will warn you before proceeding

 

--- thanks.

[dvdbane]

"normal files" is undelete data that you and windows use

example your picture, document etc

[Nergal]

Normal files means files that are live (what you think of as just plain files). What it's saying is that, because the c drive is running Windows at the moment, you can only wipe free space and cannot delete the entire drive.

[mta]

1. Free Space Only will leave your normal files intact

 

or to give you another spin on what's already been given;

 

it only wipes space on your drive that isn't occupied by files.

and by files, I mean personal files or system files.