Comments on: How to erase file information on unused disk space

By: Jack

Jack — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 11:47:35 +0000

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.

By: fsr

fsr — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 11:26:11 +0000

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 !

By: fsr

fsr — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:21:16 +0000

Testing with Recuva I have 61.000 files in my Vista machine !

By: fsr

fsr — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 16:15:38 +0000

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.

By: Adam M.

Adam M. — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 19:40:23 +0000

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.

By: Martin

Martin — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:39:56 +0000

Adam are you sure it is related to Eraser ? It does not interfere with existing files at all usually.

By: Adam M.

Adam M. — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 15:26:30 +0000

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?

By: Martin

Martin — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:17:28 +0000

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.

By: Adam M.

Adam M. — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 10:11:23 +0000

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

By: Do not Tempt Fate

Do not Tempt Fate — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 00:10:45 +0000

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

By: 加密你的数�?�信�?� » Ghacks CN

加密你的数�?�信�?� » Ghacks CN — Tue, 18 Sep 2007 09:33:39 +0000

[...] 别的一些你�?注�?的事项，清�?�缓存或使用一个软件如Eraser�?�删除信�?�。 [...]

By: Protect your data from physical access

Protect your data from physical access — Sun, 16 Sep 2007 09:15:42 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: Martin

Martin — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 06:11:50 +0000

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.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 13 Sep 2007 02:46:54 +0000

I ran eraser and it only makes it to about 6% and then it has to shut down

By: Make Files Unrecoverable with Eraser Verify | gHacks tech news

Make Files Unrecoverable with Eraser Verify | gHacks tech news — Tue, 08 May 2007 19:27:25 +0000

[...] 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 [...]

By: fredden

fredden — Tue, 08 May 2007 15:17:26 +0000

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.

By: Steve J

Steve J — Fri, 04 May 2007 01:36:15 +0000

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.

By: Steve J

Steve J — Fri, 04 May 2007 01:30:29 +0000

yep I should have said I’m also using XP on NTFS

By: Roys

Roys — Fri, 04 May 2007 01:22:06 +0000

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 :)

By: Steve J

Steve J — Fri, 04 May 2007 01:07:44 +0000

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