Because the last piece of a file may not fill up the small section of the drive where it's stored, the space that's not used can contain old data from a previous file - some erasing apps can oversrite those small spaces too. On a regular hard drive overwriting storage space both deletes the old data & writes new - with an SSD that same thing takes two separate operations. Since having to clear a space before you can write to it would make SSDs slower, they use Trim processes that automatically clear the storage space formerly used by now deleted files *before* you need to write fresh data there. That said, it may not be possible to completely erase all of the data stored on flash RAM, & some drives have a special command or feature to delete everything, but how well that works can vary. When you write to a regular hard drive the write heads float above the spinning platters on a cushion of air. There's a little bit of wiggle room where a head might write a track a little to the right or left instead of dead center. When you overwrite part or all of the disk that means that there might be old data left on those fringes, especially if say the data was written to the right & the head was to the left when it overwrote that data. Actually reading any data left over that way requires an expensive specialized lab service, but nonetheless, most erasing apps give you options to run multiple passes, to better ensure that nothing gets left behind. Now, to your initial question about rest/refresh tools. wherever they write files they overwrite any data that was stored there previously - wherever they leave any disk free space, old data may remain. While it's not guaranteed the most accurate way to tell what's still there, you can always run one or more file recovery apps to see what deleted files & file fragments still remain. Shredding individual files doesn't actually work against advanced file recovery methods. SSDs spread the wear by writing blocks to least used slots. Try it now.This means even modifying an existing file will typically write the file in other cells than their previous location, and mark the previous location as now available for new use.Įven on HDDs, SMART can remap clusters silently if they start to fail. Erase hard drives, desktops, laptops or servers free with a Darik's Boot and Nuke (DBAN) download. WipeFile erases files and folders secure and fast. When your computer is getting full, BleachBit quickly frees disk space. KillDisk allows you to destroy all data on hard and floppy drives completely,Įxcluding any possibility of future recovery of deleted files and folders. 1 Free, Powerful and All-in-one utility for cleaning your PC View more What are some alternatives? When comparing CCleaner and Eraser, you can also consider the following products The one I have used and recommend is Eraser:įile Shredding C Drive Without Shredding Windows OS?Įraser is the type of app you are looking for. I want to shred, i'm looking for a good file shredder software, if anyone is using one and can give me some advice it will be great Depending a how big the drive is it could take a long time. Use Eraser it overwrites the data you can set how many times you want it to do. I usually have my drive accessible on a windows box and use to fill up all the unused space with pseudorandom data at 1 pass.
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