We all know that it is important to securely delete all files on a hard drive before giving it to someone else. This holds especially true if you plan on selling the hard drive on Internet sites such as eBay. I know that some users buy used hard drives on eBay purely for the thrill of trying to find data that was deleted on that drive. This could get you in a world of trouble if you think of the private information that you save on your computer.
I was thinking of something different though. What if I want to keep my hard drives for now but make sure that deleted data can’t be recovered by any means ? I tried and ran some file recovery programs such as Recuva and it showed thousands of files that were still referenced on my system although they have been deleted before. I think that this is a privacy problem and decided to look for a way to delete all file information on the unused part of my hard drives.
I decided to use Recuva first and see how many file information it would find. After that I would run a program named Eraser which I will use to clean the unused disk space of any deleted file information and finally run Recuva again to see if this reduced the amount of files that could be undeleted from my system.
Testing my Hard Drive with Recuva:
Recuva found 33720 files on my hard drive f: that could be undeleted. This is a large amount of files.
Running Eraser:
After right-clicking the central pane I was able to create a new task. The first option was unused space on drive which is the default option in the menu. I selected the f: hard drive from the list. Eraser was showing my newly selected task in the central pane and I had to right-click that task once again and select Run from the context menu. It took two and a half hours to overwrite all the data on my 100 gigabyte hard drive.
Testing the result with Recuva:
Recuva found one file on drive f: Everything else was not found anymore which leads to the conclusion that this is an excellent way to erase file information that exists on the unused space on your hard drives. This is probably not enough to erase it for the big boys if you know what I mean but every amateur should have problems getting information about those files.
Related posts:
Make Files Unrecoverable with Eraser VerifyErase Files
Recover accidentally deleted files
Disk Space Analyzer
SSD Security: Erase Solid State Drives Data
Wipe Disk and Wipe Files
Securely Delete Files
Recover Deleted Files
22 Responses to “How to erase file information on unused disk space”
Trackbacks/Pingbacks
-
[...] have been writing about a program called Eraser some days ago which I used to delete all file information that existed on the unused space of my hard drives. I verified the results with a recovery program [...]
-
[...] measures that you should undertake could be to clean the caches on exit and using a software like Eraser to regularly delete information about former files on unused disk [...]
-
[...] åˆ«çš„ä¸€äº›ä½ è¦?注æ„?的事项，清ç?†ç¼“å˜æˆ–使用一个软件如Eraseræ?¥åˆ 除信æ?¯ã€‚ [...]
I use Disk Redactor. Not sure it’s that secure but it’s really fast – I guess only simple overwriting.
Maybe I should test the results with Recuva one of these days :)
Decided to do my own test using Recuva and Disk Redactor:
50gb Partition with 13gb free
Recuva reported 22950 files
ran Disk Redactor (single erase)(took about 7 minutes)
Recuva reported 22948 files
ran Disk Redactor (double erase)(took about 15 minutes)
Recuva reported 22946 files
So it would seem although it’s faster than Eraser it’s not as effective
as an after thought I decided to run Eraser on the same disk since I thought it would give a better idea of the speed comparison (took about 20 minutes)
Recuva reported 3 files
Hi Steve, thanks for testing for me :) My guess is that Disk Redactor doesn’t clear the file entry in the Master File Table (I’m using XP with NTFS) that’s why it’s so fast. I think I should switch to Eraser now :)
yep I should have said I’m also using XP on NTFS
I should also probably have said that when I ran Disk Redactor (and while I was running it I was also doing other things on the machine) I didn’t set it to run in the background since as far as I could see Eraser doesn’t have that option and I wanted a truer comparison,I did notice that while running Disk Redactor my machine became sluggish, this didn’t happen at all when I ran Eraser.
If you’re looking at erasing a hard disk completely, try DBAN (http://dban.sourceforge.net/). Its default settings (or “autonuke” at the prompt) are fine and make it very difficult to recover _any_ information from the drive. This will also erase existing files as well as removed (deleted) ones.
I ran eraser and it only makes it to about 6% and then it has to shut down
That’s a strange behavior for Eraser. I would suggest you contact the developers of Eraser and report the problem to them, they surely can help in that matter.
What an excellent program!I have been looking for this for years. I ran File Recovery (PC Inspector) and found Tons of Porn on unused space on my hard drive. This used laptop I bought looks brand new so I was shocking. Movie clips deleted over a year ago are still recoverable.
Thank you
Quick question, I was using this “eraser” program as well but i noticed when i set the task on my C: drive it was showing the names of all my files, so here are my two questions
a.) If i set the eraser to delete the unused data on my C drive will it ruin my windows? or will it just delete the “Hidden” old deleted files that weren’t completely deleted.
b.) As in my first question what would i set the task to if i wanted to sell my hardrive but erase all the hidden files.
~A.M
Adam if you set Eraser to delete the unused disk space on drive c it will only delete old file information on that drive. All current files will remain untouched which means your Windows installation will remain as is.
If you would sell you hard drive I would format the hard drive and make Eraser delete the unused data – in this case everything – on that drive.
Ok, now i have a bit of a problem. After i used the eraser program to clean out my Drive C of unused data. I opened my mozilla firefox and fonts all look messed up. quite small actually, anything to fix this?
Adam are you sure it is related to Eraser ? It does not interfere with existing files at all usually.
Yeah, i dont know what it did but it must have erased some important files cause not only did it mess up the fonts & outlook of my internet browser i also had problems with some of my video games. All is good, I reloaded windows so it’s fine now.
Martin, you say it “took two and a half hours to overwrite all the data on my 100 gigabyte” HDD. How many passes are you doing ? I read somewhere only 1 pass will do, file will be irrecoverable.
Testing with Recuva I have 61.000 files in my Vista machine !
I don’t get it. After the Eraser pass, the only way Recuva shows less files than before is unchecking “show 0 byte files”. Right now I have 65.000 unrecoverable files with 0 KB, even more than before !
Hello,
Can anyone help please? I’ve been using Eraser to manually delete files (I’m not technically minded in any way). Now, for the first time, I’ve just scheduled it to over-write the unusued space on my hard drive (I’ve been looking to replace Evidence Eliminator which hasn’t worked properly for some time). Eraser took ten hours on my 160Gb (at DoD setting) then just stopped. The log reads:
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSPoliciesx86_policy.8.0.Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_x-ww_caeee1508.0.50727.762.policy (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSPoliciesx86_policy.8.0.Microsoft.VC80.MFC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_x-ww_0f75c32e8.0.50727.762.cat (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSPoliciesx86_policy.8.0.Microsoft.VC80.MFC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_x-ww_0f75c32e8.0.50727.762.policy (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSPoliciesx86_policy.8.0.Microsoft.VC80.OpenMP_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_x-ww_7d81c9f98.0.50727.762.cat (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSPoliciesx86_policy.8.0.Microsoft.VC80.OpenMP_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_x-ww_7d81c9f98.0.50727.762.policy (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.0.0_x-ww_ff9986d7atl.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.0.0_x-ww_ff9986d7mfc42.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.0.0_x-ww_ff9986d7mfc42u.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.0.0_x-ww_ff9986d7msvcp60.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.9792.0_x-ww_08a6620aatl.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.9792.0_x-ww_08a6620amfc42.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.9792.0_x-ww_08a6620amfc42u.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Tools.VisualCPlusPlus.Runtime-Libraries_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.9792.0_x-ww_08a6620amsvcp60.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.ATL_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_cbb27474ATL80.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.42_x-ww_0de06acdmsvcm80.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.42_x-ww_0de06acdmsvcp80.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.42_x-ww_0de06acdmsvcr80.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700msvcm80.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700msvcp80.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6b128700msvcr80.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_91481303mfc80CHS.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_91481303mfc80CHT.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_91481303mfc80DEU.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_91481303mfc80ENU.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_91481303mfc80ESP.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_91481303mfc80FRA.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_91481303mfc80ITA.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_91481303mfc80JPN.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFCLOC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_91481303mfc80KOR.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_3bf8fa05mfc80.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_3bf8fa05mfc80u.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_3bf8fa05mfcm80.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.MFC_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_3bf8fa05mfcm80u.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC80.OpenMP_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_8.0.50727.762_x-ww_6c18549avcomp.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC90.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.21022.8_x-ww_d08d0375msvcm90.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC90.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.21022.8_x-ww_d08d0375msvcp90.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.VC90.CRT_1fc8b3b9a1e18e3b_9.0.21022.8_x-ww_d08d0375msvcr90.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.0.0_x-ww_1382d70acomctl32.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.2600.2180_x-ww_a84f1ff9comctl32.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.Common-Controls_6595b64144ccf1df_6.0.2600.5512_x-ww_35d4ce83comctl32.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.CPlusPlusRuntime_6595b64144ccf1df_7.0.0.0_x-ww_2726e76amsvcirt.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.CPlusPlusRuntime_6595b64144ccf1df_7.0.0.0_x-ww_2726e76amsvcrt.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.CPlusPlusRuntime_6595b64144ccf1df_7.0.2600.2180_x-ww_b2505ed9msvcirt.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.CPlusPlusRuntime_6595b64144ccf1df_7.0.2600.2180_x-ww_b2505ed9msvcrt.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.CPlusPlusRuntime_6595b64144ccf1df_7.0.2600.5512_x-ww_3fd60d63msvcirt.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.CPlusPlusRuntime_6595b64144ccf1df_7.0.2600.5512_x-ww_3fd60d63msvcrt.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.GdiPlus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.0.0_x-ww_8d353f13GdiPlus.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.GdiPlus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.2600.2180_x-ww_522f9f82GdiPlus.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.GdiPlus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.2600.3352_x-ww_81af8e88GdiPlus.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.GdiPlus_6595b64144ccf1df_1.0.2600.5512_x-ww_dfb54e0cGdiPlus.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.Networking.Dxmrtp_6595b64144ccf1df_5.2.2.3_x-ww_468466a7dxmrtp.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.Networking.RtcDll_6595b64144ccf1df_5.2.2.3_x-ww_d6bd8b95rtcdll.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_Microsoft.Windows.Networking.RtcRes_6595b64144ccf1df_5.2.2.3_en_16a24bc0rtcres.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_System.EnterpriseServices_b03f5f7f11d50a3a_2.0.0.0_x-ww_7d5f3790System.EnterpriseServices.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:22:17 AM: Failed to erase unused space on C:WINDOWSWinSxSx86_System.EnterpriseServices_b03f5f7f11d50a3a_2.0.0.0_x-ww_7d5f3790System.EnterpriseServices.Wrapper.dll (Protected File).
23/12/2008 11:33:42 AM: Removed a task (C:).
Thanks for any advice.