Wipe Disk and Wipe Files

Choice is good, most of the time at least but to much choice can also lead to confusion. I’m talking about five applications that practically perform the same operation or a tool that can delete files securely using one of fourteen different algorithms. It’s not really that easy for inexperienced users - and probably even most of the experienced computer users - to find the best algorithm for a task.

Wipe Disk and Wipe Files (via Download Squad) are two applications that can delete disks and partitions or files securely so that they cannot be recovered by normal means. Normal means are those typical file recovery applications like Recuva.

Both applications are available in different languages which can be changed in the Extras > Language menu. The default language of both applications is German. Both are pretty straightforward. A disk, file or directory is added to the queue and one of the fourteen algorithms is selected that delete the data securely.

Some of the algorithms are being used by the Department of Defense, the US Navy or Nato. I would always suggest to use a software like Recuva after deleting data on a disk to make sure that those cannot be retrieved by normal means.

Those algorithms use different ways to overwrite the location on the hard drive that was occupied by the data. A German basic description of every algorithm is available in the program’s help file.