doesn't wipe free space

[lfdow]

I've been using CCleaner Pro on my Surface for a month or so and it's been apparently working correctly. I just purchased a new copy (unfortunately, one account won't allow installation on two computers!!) for my Alienware computer, which is my main machine. I downloaded and registered it, checked the "wipe free space" box at the bottom of the list, but it isn't wiping the free space. It completes the entire process in seconds, way too short for the free space existing on this computer. How can I get it to work properly?

[Augeas]

Instead of asking you whether all the boxes have been ticked, can you try a WFS using Drive Wiper, one pass?

[mta]

Hi @lfdow.

Welcome to the forum.

 

(I took the liberty of correcting the typo in the title)

 

What sort of drive does the Alienware have?

Also that box at the bottom of the list only wipes MFT free space, so that's going to be faster than say wiping free space in general.

[lfdow]

I apologize for the post, I found the problem which was that I hadn’t properly set the program up, something I did on my other computer but which I forgot about on the Alienware. I didn’t have the appropriate drives checked in Options/Settings, so the 1TB drive wasn’t being wiped. HOWEVER, as I was correcting this, I got a message that the C drive is a SSD drive (SAMSUNG SSD PM851 M 2 2280 128GB) and that wiping this drive will cause it to wear out quickly. Is this a real problem? I work with a lot of very sensitive data and I want to make sure that the entire computer is clean if someone should seriously want to know about the work I’ve been doing.

 

P.S. Also, sorry about the typo and thanks for the correction. I don't like it when these things get by me.

[mta]

No worries @lfdow, good to hear you got it sorted.

 

As to SSD's and life expectancy.

I'll start with the usual industry standard quote, I/O on the SSD should be kept to a minimum in order to extend it's life as much as you can.

And I still adhere to that rule.

However.... that was when they first hit the market, and now, they are finding those SSD's are still going strong.

So it doesn't seem to be too much of an issue.

BUT... the NAND cells DO have a finite number of read/writes (some measured in the 10,000's for MLC type cells) so you do need to keep on top of things.

SSD management really is a personal thing so I won't go on about the details.

 

If your work is sensitive, instead of wiping free space to clean up your tracks, how about looking at it from an encryption angle, with say, BitLocker.

Or move all your Doc, Pics, Email, Temp folders etc locations away from your SSD, to your HDD so you can wipe it's free space and do maintenance and such.

[Augeas]

Well, with TRIM enabled, which should be the standard on SSD's and O/S's in the last few years, every deletion (either shift/del or empty recycler) becomes a secure delete, in as much as the deleted pages are gathered up by the SSD's garbage collector and wiped clean. The old data on those pages is then beyond the reach of humankind.

 

Occasionally, when the pc is stressed, TRIM commands can be dropped, so a defragger optimise could be run every few months or so. An Optimise issues a device-wide TRIM.

 

You can run a Recuva deep scan to check all this. There will be thousands of file names found from the normal scan (which is run as part of the deep scan). These names are held in the MFT which can't be TRIMmed, of course, and they will still contain the addresses of the data clusters/pages. In Recuva Advanced Mode look at the file headers: they should all contain zeroes.

 

There should be no files found with the [000123].ext naming format as these are the deep scan files, which should not exist.

 

The moral is, just do normal file deletions and run a defrag Optimise every now and then. Don't use secure file deletion, don't run wipe free space, and for those who don't believe any of this and insist on doing all that, never, ever select more than one pass overwrite.

 

There is one caveat: Small files, say 700 bytes or fewer, will bypass all this as they are held entirely in the MFT, so TRIM will not catch them. Most will be overwritten as newer files are allocated in the MFT. If this is a worry then an occasional WFS with one pass could be run, either from Drive Wiper (easier) or Options/Settings with Wipe MFT checked.

[lfdow]

Thanks again to all, this information has been very helpful. I’ve checked and TRIM is enabled on my machine, so perhaps I don’t have to worry about the SSD at all. I already run defrag periodically. I’ve considered encrypting but it’s always seemed to add a lot of complications and breaks up the work flow.  I’ve already moved most of my work and storage to a HD that I can wipe. I’ve tried to move everything but I’ve been worried about what may remain in working memory on the SSD. I think it is a good suggestion to checkout BitLocker. It’s obvious that I have a lot to learn about these things. It’s a bit complicated but I’m learning and getting better – in no small part thanks to folks in this and some other forums I use.